Balancing buses, Royalty and immortality in song, Bexhill is fast becoming the place to be

For starters, everybody is talking about Richard Wilson’s Italian Job tribute art installation on the roof of the De La Warr Pavilion - a balancing bus which echoes the film’s classic final scene in which Michael Caine and his mob are teetering on the edge of a cliff with a load of stolen bullion.

The immortal line: “Hang on a minute lads, I’ve got a great idea,” sums this right up in terms of generating interest in Bexhill as a town.

Love it or hate it, this installation is certainly getting tongues wagging everywhere.

Also this week was a high-profile visit from the Earl and Countess of Wessex, to officially unveil Diamond Jubilee Way, part of the new £5.6million seafront regeneration scheme.

Crowds of people turned out in yesterday’s sunshine to see the Royals unveil the plaque and the water feature, which is subject to South East Water’s current hosepipe ban, was specially switched on with permission to mark the occasion.

Organisers of Armed Forces Day report Saturday’s event at Egerton Park was the best ever, with huge support from veterans, families, friends and community groups.

But this week’s snapshot is not the whole story - Battle band Keane are doing a huge amount to pull in visitors with the release of their song, Sovereign Light Cafe, which immortalises the Bexhill cafe of the same name.

The proprietors have reported a huge upswing in trade, with visitors from as far afield as Brazil coming along to enjoy a coffee on the seafront and soak up a bit of Keane atmosphere.

With the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in the past and the visit of the Olympic Torch in the future, it’s certainly starting to look as if Bexhill is beginning to find a solid antidote to economic gloom and dismissed as just being ‘that place between Eastbourne and Hastings’.

Long may it continue - as anybody who has lived here for any length of time will know, Bexhill has a very unique character which deserves to be shown off at its best.