Bognor Regis Observer readers tell us what you want for town

Last month we asked readers to tell us their top three options for the town’s regeneration.

After totalling up the surveys we can reveal the majority of people, some 27 per cent, think a new ice-skating rink would see visitors flocking to the town.

This was perhaps unsurprising as towns-folk have previously said an ice-rink would be the best way to breathe new life into Bognor.

But competition for the top spot was fierce, with the wish for a bowling alley placing a close second with 23 per cent of the vote.

The battle for third place was also competitive with the desire for more shops, with 12 per cent, just managing to pip a new soft play area and more restaurants to the post.

Ideas of a new casino or a second cinema were unpopular, managing to scrape just one per cent of the vote each.

Additional supermarkets also did not fare to well with our voters, managing an unimpressive two per cent, with half of those saying the only new store they would support would be a return by Marks and Spencer.

Not everyone agreed with the options we gave.

A number of voters said the only way to improve the town and put it on the map was to look at fresh ideas, not ones which had already been discussed for several years.

One respondent wrote: “None of the above, because potential visitors already have most of these things in their own towns.

“What is needed is image, image, image. An image that is so strong, so unique that everybody in Britain will recognise it and immediately come here.”

Another agreed, stating: “Bognor Regis needs to find its unique selling point. Unless we can do that we are, I am afraid, on a road to nowhere.

“We have the sea, the beach and the pier, but so do places like Brighton and Worthing, both of which are a relatively short distance away.

“We need to look at the weird and wacky ideas.

“They may seem mad but they do say genius and madness go hand in hand.”