Railway investment???

I note with considerable interest that the £9bn railway investment announced recently by the coalition doesn't offer much support to commuters living in the south other than the promise of even higher fares to pay for electrifying the line to Sheffield. A growing number of people are pushing strongly for the reinstatement of the Lewes to Uckfield line which would do much to take the pressure off rail services to London and congestion at Haywards Heath and East Croydon .

Lewes MP Norman Baker said "The reopening of the Lewes - Uckfield line is something I have campaigned for locally for over twenty years. It is vitally needed, not just to link the two towns again, but also as a key building block in providing an alternative to the heavily congested Brighton main line.".

Unfortunately, since he took on the job of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport he seems to have gone rather quiet .... other than suggesting “You will, I hope, appreciate, that a minister is not allowed to use his or her position to advantage their constituency”. So not even much chance of jam tomorrow then!!!

Eastbourne Town Team

I may unwittingly have upset some members of the Eastbourne Town Team when I took issue with their recent findings about what might make Eastbourne great. They wrote on their blog "Just back from a stint on the BIG IDEAS 'zeebo... and really impressive response so far. Amongst the most impassioned ideas to come up so far are: much more plants and flowers in the town centre,..."

Unfortunately, I believe we need a lot more than plants and flowers .....so here is the list I sent to them:

Remove paid parking especially around shops
Pedestrianise central shopping area
Cycle ways from Beachy Head to Sovereign Harbour
Pursue John Lewis to open in Eastbourne
Encourage more good quality street entertainers
More street cafes…not pubs on pavements
More street markets ….not just Wednesday
More police to curb nuisance behaviour around pier
Improved rail services (to London, Brighton, Rye etc)
Sort out our heritage (bandstand, congress, …)
Insist that owners of listed buildings look after them
Build an iconic structure near the wish tower
Improve the quality of hotels and guesthouses
Less of those folk who pounce on you for charity
Discourage (penalty) shop landlords for empty shops
Free entertainment on the sea front (bandstand?)
Longer opening hours at the Tourist Information Centre
Reduce VAT (probably not possible but important)
Ask what EBC does with £25 million in business rates

Please let me know what you think.

Another hotel for sale

Sorry to hear that yet another hotel in Eastbourne is up for sale. This time it is the Big Sleep which is part of a chain of hotels, predominantly owned by Cosmo Fry. The  50 bedroom hotel  has a price tag of £1.6 million and was described  by the Travel Trade Gazette as the 'Travel Lodge with sex appeal'.

A single hotel up for sale may not be too much of a worry but when it becomes part of a trend then someting needs to be done. The Heatherleigh,  Carlton Court, Palm Court, Claremont and the Alexandra....plus a load more guest houses are all up for sale at this time.

Of course the good news is that Premier Inn have bought  the old Co-Op building although buying the building and opening a hotel is not quite the same....and no sign of any work to date I have to say.
So my advice is book early to get a room then check that the hotel is still operating as you get closer to your stay. Alternatively book yourself into the da Vinci...is the best advice I can give!!!

Languages spoken here

Just been counting the number of different languages spoken by staff at the da Vinci including:

Albanian, Arabic, English, French, German, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Spanish, Tagalog and Urdu.

An impressive line up of talent I think!!!

Falling apart

Sometimes I wonder exactly what is happening to Eastbourne. First we hear the news that pieces are falling off the Congress Theatre, then it is the roof of the bandstand on the seafront. Who exactly is looking after our heritage in Eastbourne?

Unfortunately, not the council it would seem. We have a Conservation Officer but they only work part time - well one day each week in fact...and they don't have time to answer my emails

So we are now paying the price of these cut backs....scaffolding covering the Congress Theatre and a temporary structure to stop the roof of the bandstand falling on one of the tribute groups.

I have also asked what they intend to do about the building opposite which continues to rot away with no one taking a bit of notice...except me perhaps.

Bandstand

Getting ready for the high season

Very busy trying to get everything ready. Walls are being repainted. Others are being touched up. New wooden floors in the remaining rooms. Additional toilets on the mezzanine floors. New sofa beds in the family rooms and new furniture ordered for rooms 106, 206 and 208. We have completed painting the back of the hotel and sorted out the gardens at the rear. Resolved the leak in 105 and replastered the ceiling in the front lounge. Now I just need some guests so I can pay all my credit cards off.