One of the most famous of these is The Rising Sun.

As Chichester Road ran out of the town, it was an obvious place to establish a drinking house and of course there were numerous possible sites along this road in 1895.

Richard Sharpe became the landlord of The Rising Sun on the site of the present Bersted Tavern. He opened the Rising Sun originally as a grocery store and inn.

But what was its claim to fame? Well, it was postage stamps and it was a place where thousands of visitors were to make this one of the town's most extraordinary and unique tourist attractions.

Richard Sharpe was born in nearby Hunston. He was a man who enjoyed music and was known to play the cornet.

With his interest in music, Sharpe was also responsible for forming the Bersted Brass and Reed Band, which was known for many years as Dickie Sharpe's Hog-weed Band. The uniform worn by the bandsmen was blue with red piping on the jackets plus a red trouser stripe.

They used the rear garden of the pub to practise. As they became more proficient, they gave performances at garden fetes, garden parties and other events all over West Sussex and they became even more famous.

Richard Sharp also collected postage stamps and this formed the basis of his future fame. As the years progressed, his stamp collection grew and he then began decorating a few picture frames with his stamps.

Then, in 1882, a customer bet Richard that he would not be able to cover part of a room with stamps, within a time restriction. Richard took up this challenge – as anyone would – and with 76,795 stamps he succeeded in covering all aspects of the room with stamps. He obviously won his bet.

But this was only the beginning. Little did his customer know what he had started with his challenge!

As time progressed and notable events occurred, Richard continued covering items such as tables and chairs with stamps. When North Bersted had planned nothing for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, he thought he could produce his own memorial, which would also further extend his hobby of stamp collecting.

He stuck stamps all over a complete room from floor to ceiling – it took him five years to complete.

And it was not a matter of randomly sticking stamps on the walls; he wove designs with the stamps, such as the words 'Jubilee Stamp Room' on one wall, while another wall displayed a large star design and the Bognor coat of arms was displayed above the fireplace. Other displays included a picture of Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales Feathers.

More than two million stamps were used worth about £28,000.

It was a continuing interest and as more visitors came and the inn's fame grew, more and more people began sending stamps for Richard to use.

Sometimes full sacks of stamps arrived at the pub. During its heyday, The Rising Sun was mentioned in many publications recounting that it was 'one of the sights of Sussex'.


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