Mayor opens Club Terrace at Cooden Beach Hotel

All Bank Holiday Monday's official opening of the new Club Terrace at the Cooden Beach Hotel lacked was sunshine.

But that was too much to ask of Easter 2008.

Instead, Town Mayor Cllr Paul Lendon and invited guests were treated to icy rain.

The Mayor congratulated hotel owners James Kimber and his wife Lesley on their enterprise, cracked a gag about Bexhill's motto being "Sun and health" and the supposed benefits of "healthy rain" and cut a ribbon across the road-side entrance to declare the new terrace open.

Once that was accomplished, His Worship, the guests and the plucky Peter Willson Quartet beat a hasty retreat to the warmth of the hotel - fully booked for the Bank Holiday and packed with visitors for an antiques fair.

Given the right weather, the Club Terrace will be a useful asset to the Cooden Beach Hotel, exploiting one of its greatest assets - its uninterrupted views over the Channel.

Mr Kimber explained: "The terrace will seat 60.

"We are going to have a separate menu out there - big white plates with a range of seafood, salads and drinks.

"It's called the Club Terrace because it's an extension to the Club Bar.

"People can order in the Club Bar and we will bring it out to them on the terrace.

"We will be extending the same range of furniture along the front of the hotel and will also feature a terrace area at the rear."

Those al fresco moments await the arrival of warm Spring days, rather than the snow, sleet and rain of the earliest Easter in 90 years. Once warmly settled indoors, Monday's guests remained there.