Once a small fishing hamlet, the origins of modern Bognor Regis lie in the attempt by Sir Richard Hotham to develop this part of the south coast as a fashionable resort in the late eighteenth century. Hotham’s original profession is given in the name of the town’s JD Wetherspoon outlet, the Hatter’s Inn, while the pub originally called the Railway Tavern has recently been renamed the Hothampton Arms in memory of Hotham’s preferred name for his resort. The oldest pub still trading in the town is the William Hardwicke, which was built by 1817 as the New Inn. Bognor expanded with the arrival of the railway in 1864, which led to the building of new pubs such as the Terminus and the development of those already existing such as the Alexander Tavern.

David Muggleton takes us on a walking tour of this seaside town’s finest pubs, taking in the ex-Berkeley Arms, now home to the town museum; the Claremont Inn, whose interwar interior makes it a CAMRA heritage pub of some regional importance; and the Punch & Judy, originally the Orlando, but recently renamed as a reminder of the Tony Hancock film The Punch & Judy Man, filmed partly on location in the town. Well researched and beautifully illustrated, Bognor Regis Pubs provides something for everyone, whether they have lived in this venerable old seaside resort all their lives or are visiting this part of the West Sussex coast for the first time.