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Want to live to 100? Then move to Bexhill-on-Sea

Dunya News

For almost 200 years residents of Bexhill-on-Sea have been noted for their longevity.

Now that reputation has been borne out by official figures, after the first detailed analysis of last year’s census showed that the Sussex resort has more centenarians per head of population than anywhere else in the countryAccording to a breakdown of returns published yesterday, there are 66 people over the age of 100 in the borough of Rother, which centres on Bexhill.A further 1,722 residents are in their 90s, with almost 7,000 in their 80s out of a total population of 90,600.Remarkably, the second and third highest concentrations of centenarians are in neighbouring Worthing and Eastbourne while the Arun area of Sussex also makes it into the top 10 alongside the Scilly Isles, Torbay and Bouremouth.But Bexhill’s place at the top of the list will some as no surprise to locals.A print hanging in the town’s museum commemorates a special dinner in 1819 attended by 25 gentlemen in their eighties – a unusual feat at the time, with 15 in their 70s waiting at the tables.Its headline reads “A Remarkable example of Longevity”.First settled in Anglo Saxon times, the village was known for its health properties even before it was developed as a coastal resort in the first half of the 19th Century.Although it does have some mineral springs, plans to develop Bexhill as a spa floundered because of the metallic water was judged unpalatable.During the age of Empire it was a popular place for British colonial officials to send their children to be educated, boasting around 350 boarding schools. Its reputation as a place to retire was already firmly established a century ago.“There is a local joke that people retire to Bexhill and then forget to die,” said Julian Porter, curator of Bexhill Museum.“It was always seen as a healthy place, a safe place and of course very sunny.”