Signed up for another century

The signing by Butlins managing director Richard Bates and Cllr Gill Brown, the leader of Arun District Council, secures the holiday company's commitment to the town until 2133. The document they completed at the Shoreline Hotel last Thursday is the signal for long-term investment in the seafront site. The first result of this will be the second, bigger hotel rising just inside the main entrance. Piling is under way and the 200-bedroom seven-storey building is due to open next July.

In November, 256 ageing chalets will be pulled down in a statement of intent by Butlins that its accommodation is moving upmarket. The following years should see all the remaining 1,016 chalets disappear to be replaced by hotels and apartments.

Mr Bates said Butlins was delighted to have guaranteed its place in Bognor for the rest of the 21st century and beyond.

"I am thrilled to bits we have signed the new lease," he stated.

"Our new hotel is just a small part of the regeneration of Bognor, which is an exciting place to be. Like all businesses, we are demand driven. The Shoreline Hotel has been so successful and there is no reason to expect the second hotel to be any different. If that's the case, we will be looking at replacing all our current accommodation, though I'm not going to put a timescale on that."

Butlins' renewed commitment to Bognor was good news for the town, he remarked.

It would add to the tens of millions of pounds a year which Butlins brought into Bognor.

This was directly through the visitors' spending as well as staff wages and supply of goods.

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