There have been a number of speculative developers throughout the history of the town, starting of course with Sir Richard Hotham who developed this seaside resort between 1786 and 1799.

He provided the basics for future generations.

In the 1820s there was a building boom around the Steyne and Waterloo Square. This was followed by a number of small developments.

The town had to wait almost 50 years for the next large phase, when Arthur Smith developed the Victoria Park Estate, commencing in 1865.

His work involved areas such as Victoria Drive, Norfolk Square and the post office in Charlwood Street. By the 1880s, another major plan materialised to develop the seafront with the Bognor Hotel Company when they intended to build about 32 terraced houses. However only four were built and these were amalgamated into the Carlton Hotel on the Esplanade.

Over the next decades there were many proposed developments, which never came to fruition. The town of course also experienced two world wars and a depression. However by the start of the 1950s things began to change.

Over the Whitsun weekend in 1950, it was claimed that over 37,000 visitors came to the town for the bank holiday.

Newspapers reports about the weekend claimed that "it looked as if all the cars in England have come to Bognor today" an exaggeration, but apparently the town's garages were "busier than they had known for years".

The report continues with details about the number visitor and the entertainment provided over the weekend.

One piece of information I found quite interesting was that there were 499 coaches which had parked in the East Coach Park, the site of today's Butlins.

Many of the older generation have told me of the great numbers that regularly came into the town.

Within a few years, the chamber of commerce was extolling the great opportunities that were being planned for Bognor Regis. However, in the 1950s when the town had a population of 25,000, some saw this as an "awkward size, – making Bognor betwixt and between – traders too ambitious with their ideas for projects, old retired residents shy of adding to their rates". Nevertheless the chamber had plans to expand the promenade, cleaning up the seafront and provide an arts centre, which according to one member could be adorned by "a figure of the Goddess of Art and Sculpture bearing a torch, which could be lighted to guide the fishermen home on dark nights".

In the early 1950s, there were many discussions on the way forward and on whether developments should be for the town's people or just for visitors.

For more on Bognor's local history, click here