What's Shoreham by Sea like?

[Sparkletiger]

Looking at places to live out of London and Shoreham by Sea has popped up on my radar. A search shows an Ofsted rated outstanding secondary and good primaries, which are v important for me as secondary looms for my oldest daughter soon.

Is it a good place to live? By that I mean are people generally friendly, the atmosphere feels positive, range of shops, cafes, etc. Is the beach/seafront nice, surrounding areas nice? Is Southwick/Portslade nice/better? Any insights warmly welcomed. Also any other locations around Sussex/South coast that you'd recommend, I'd love to hear about it.

One of my close friends lives there and loves it. It's v near Brighton, easy to get into London (well apart from southern trains being awful) and yes the school is meant to be great.

We actually looked at moving there but decided to stay put instead.

thanks!

I'm a Shorehamer! Very lovely town. Good schools. The town is nice, it's become very coffee shop based more recently, there must be 10! Banks, estate agents, few independent shops and chemists, smiths boots etc. Very pretty narrow streets. Sandwiched between the South Downs and the beach. 5 miles approx each side is Brighton and Worthing. Lovely river with houseboat which adds to the towns slightly hippy vibe.
Southwick also nice but without the hippy feel and no river or beach access. Portslade has some nice areas but generally not as nice as Shoreham, same with Lancing although north Lancing is quite 'posh' and cheaper than Shoreham. Shoreham also has small supermarket and larger out of town Tesco/m&s/next retail park. Also good buses and train station! Smaller nearby towns like Steyning are worth a look - more villagey feel but no train station.
Ask away!