A SUNNY bank holiday Monday, and we were entertaining friends from the Guildford area.They weren't strangers to this town – they lived here some 30 years ago – but they were able to see the West Worthing and Goring areas with comparatively fresh eyes.
They were quite complimentary. "Everything is so clean, and there is such a nice variety of houses," they said.
Well, some Worthing residents might not recognise this description as applying to their locality, but people speak as they find. And i
t reminded me of TV's The Apprentice programme earlier this month when the hapless wannabes were asked to rebrand the image of Margate on the Kent coast.
While one team opted to re-highlight the attraction of sun and beach (had they seen Worthing's promo material?), the other crew chose a campaign to entice the gay holiday brigade. This latter idea didn't exactly go down a bomb with a selection of locals who were asked to cast judgment on the finished promotion. But the other team came in for a lot of stick, too!
And shortly after that, I heard a radio programme about a Blackpool initiative to attract French tourists. Perhaps its instigators thought a backdrop of the famous Ballroom tower would make up for Lancashire being so far away from Mr M. Eiffel's landmark counterpart in Paris... and that's before we even start thinking about gastronomic differences.
So what sort of image does Worthing want to sell to the world? Firstly, we have to get rid of the impression that here's the place where motorists are ripped off both in the multi-storey car parks and on the streets. Then we can concentrate on marketing the things that bring in the tourists, either day-visitors or those staying a few days or more.
Yes, we must remember to still plug the "Sunny Worthing" angle, and build on this climatic attraction with more outdoor facilities, in the right places.
An example of this is Montague Place. While I'm grateful the council hasn't allowed this open-aspect space to become just another seafront gateway closed off from the beach, I've always felt it needed a boost; particularly with one side being dominated by the high, blank wall of the former Woolworths building. It's a perfect place for more of the outdoor, continental-type café culture, as already evidenced on the area's western side.
I know the council is thinking of future usage of Montague Place, but let it be sure that full advantage is taken of such a unique position.
With, hopefully, more large, popular stores joining H&M in the town centre, the advent of a modern swimming complex, the hope of regular (or even permanent) ice skating in the town, plus a raft of further family-appeal ideas, there should be no trouble in Worthing earning a brand-mark which spells good value for money.
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