Plan to open up Eastbourne streets like Covent Garden

At the top of the agenda is a plea to government authorities both locally, regionally and nationally to open up the town’s streets to be more like Covent Garden.

Christina Ewbank at the town’s Chamber of Commerce said this week, “When the fruit and veg market moved to Nine Elms Lane in the late 70s, Covent Garden reinvented itself as a visitor and shopping experience with al fresco bars, cafés, shops, restaurants and street entertainment.

“This is what we want to do with Eastbourne, starting at the seafront end of Terminus Road.

“We want to close the road temporarily with planters and barriers to test this out. If it works, we can make it permanent.”

The ideas to make sure Eastbourne’s economy begins to grow again are the brainchild of the Eastbourne Recovery Group, which consists of a range of representatives from across the different sectors in the town including retail, voluntary, hospitality and tech.

The main group meets regularly and is split into sub-groups, each working on a different aspect to support the local community on the road to recovery following closures due to Covid-19.

‘Opening Up Eastbourne’ as it is being referred to has also seen Eastbourne and East Sussex councils being contacted to ask for more space for business to be done in the open air.

Among the measures being requested are wider pavements to give pedestrians space to maintain two metres social distance; pedestrianised streets to allow restaurants, cafes and pubs to serve tables in the open air; pedestrian areas to allow shops to trade in the street as well as inside and access to green spaces like the Western Lawns and parks for hotels residents to picnic and eat Al Fresco

At the Eastbourne BID, spokesperson Leanna Forse said helping local businesses was paramount.

She said, “We will work with TechResort, the BID and Eastbourne Hospitality Association to develop a not-for-profit food delivery app, like Deliveroo or JustEat, so that local restaurants and takeaways can deliver food without losing 30 per cent of their turnover to the booking site.

“We will work on a local Amazon style App to allow people to buy local on line, and get it delivered as well.

“We will also be sharing the EHA and VisitEastbourne not-fot-profit hotel booking site to help UK residents discover our endless blue skies and pristine beaches.

“At the moment, if you book a hotel or guesthouse via Booking.Com, Trivago or Expedia, almost 20 per cent of the cost is hived off to the booking agency in Holland or America.

“The VisitEastbourne site will allow the hotel to retain much more of the fee and people’s investment stays in the local economy.”

All interested groups have also asked the county council to hold back on increasing parking charges until at least December to let the economy find its feet again.

Further afield more than 360 people from across the Sussex tourism sector all virtually joined forces at an online event to discuss the myriad of challenges facing the sector during the current coronavirus crisis and pandemic.

These include restoring consumer confidence, finding innovative revenue streams, adapting to social distancing measures and the use of technology in tourism.

With many venues and sites only re-opening when it is safe to do so, the focus has been on ensuring the sector continues to get the support it needs and is able to ‘survive, revive and thrive’.

The strong collaboration comes as a new report underlines the value of the visitor economy in the South Downs.

It also comes as English Tourism Week this year focuses on the theme of supporting the recovery of English tourism and raising awareness of the importance of the sector to the UK economy.

The independent study into trends, commissioned by the national park authority and showing the latest-available data, shows direct expenditure by visitors went up by over seven per cent – from just over £304.39m in 2017 to £327.25m in 2018.

The overall economic value was £436.81m in 2018 – up by over seven per cent from £406.12m in 2017.

The sector employed 5,775 people in 2018 – a rise of six per cent from 5,426 in 2017.

The data also shows that the number of visitors rose to 19.08m in 2018 – up from 18.88m in 2017.

Kat Beer, who leads sustainable tourism for the South Downs National Park, said, “There’s no doubt that the tourism, heritage and hospitality sector has been hit extremely hard and there are still uncertain times ahead.

“During this unprecedented time, I think it’s really important the sector pulls together and that’s why we are collaborating with partners across the region and across a variety of niches within the visitor economy.”

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