Is Shoreham-by-Sea a good place to live?

[Angelsofmine]

I am also curious about whether Shoreham-by-Sea is a good place to live as it came up in a search I was doing in the Brighton area. I would be grateful if anyone can shed some light on whether or not people are friendly and open minded in the area? The reason I’m asking is because my husband and I are an interracial couple (I’m black and he’s white not to mention he’s an EU citizen with accent and I’m from the Americas also with accent, therefore we are very very foreign lol). Our two little boys are obviously mixed race. We currently live in London in a wonderful cul-de-sac with amazing neighbours. We know everyone, neighbours always stop to chat with the boys, we socialise outside and at each other’s homes, have street parties, collect deliveries for each other, take out garbage when someone’s on holidays and keep an eye on their house, we have each other’s numbers. The feeling of community is astounding especially as it’s in London granted not central but still. I should point out that all my neighbours are white British and they have made us feel included, comfortable and valued members of the community or rather street lol. Anyway, it’s wonderful and my entire family loves living here and I don’t want us to move to an area where we would feel uncomfortable and excluded and definitely not hostility. Unfortunately, we can’t afford to buy in the area where we currently live (we have been renting) as it’s very very expensive and since we have recently had a new addition and our contract runs out in a few months (which more than likely means our rent will be increasing if we renew tennancy), we decided that it was more feasible to buy. As my husband and 7 year old son love the sea (as I’m sure will the baby), we have been looking at various properties available in Brighton (also pricey) and came across Shoreham-by-Sea so thought I’d try my luck and ask and hopefully someone will be able to give some feedback. I’d also love to know about whether the schools are good and which you’d recommend for primary and nursery. We prefer schools with great pastoral care. If there are any groups and activities to do with kids their ages (7 and 5mths) or whether we’d have to go to Brighton for these sorts of things. Are there any areas/streets to avoid, rough? Any streets/areas you’d recommend? Also, are there any other areas within the same distance from Brighton centre (10-15mins) that you would recommend? Oh is Worthing any good? And finally, are there any dance groups/workouts that a girl can join to destress and get away from her boys for a bit? Thanks in advance for your feedback and taking the time to give it. Much appreciated!

I’ve only visited a few times and only know elderly family of friends with grown kids who live there. It appears to me as more of a retirement community than family oriented but it looks relatively pleasent. I hear from their kids growing up there, there wasn’t much to do. Could be different now. I’ve been to many of the small towns around west/ East Sussex in the last few years and it reminds me most of Bexhill even though there’s more regeneration in Shorehamt, or it looks more modern. We’re also a mixed race couple (and EU) and have to say the only place around there I feel comes close to Brighton is Hastings. Everyone is so friendly and polite you’d think it’s the Truman show lol. Most other areas are more expensive and/ or more rough or conservative. Saying this, I’ve never encountered hostility for being black or us being mixed race. It’s just the vibe varies. We don’t have children though so not sure how kids in school would be.

I agree with the above poster, Hastings is definitely much friendlier. We are the west side of Shoreham and although it's ok it is very much retirement area.
We are too a mixed race family, Indian and white. I also have a slight disability and when we're in Hastings it's always been a pleasure. Houses are very cheap too, the only downside is apparently there isn't much work in the area but if you're willing to commute to Brighton and north Sussex it's fine.

My retired MIL lives there - moved there from Hove and loves it, her neighbours are lovely on her cul de sac. Its definitely a retired area she is in and much less multicultural than Hove was. That said the green and playground near her are lovely and my mixed race kids like visiting and have never had an issue.

I don’t think it’s very multicultural, but it does strike me as having a strong community feel.

Hove is possibly slightly more multicultural but in my opinion doesn’t feel like much of a community at all.

Hastings is a friendly place but can also be very rough with a statistically high number of class A drug users.

I disagree - I moved to Shoreham from Brighton 10 years ago. It's full of young families like ours ( we have a 7 year old son) also has an established community of retirees.

It's profile has changed enormously since we moved here. It attracts lots of young families from Brighton / Hove looking for more affordable decent size homes, great schools, beach life, cafes and access to the Downs with good rail access to Brighton and London direct.

Downsides are: high street not greatest selection of shops, quiet in evenings. Traffic on coast road. Looks tatty in bits. Tory MP( sorry)

Upsides: glorious beach accessible with boardwalk, lots of food and drink places, beautiful church and old centre, great schools, river walks, farmers market is fab. Great schools.

Sorry about duplicating great schools!

I’m with MissFliss. We currently live North of Shoreham (about 15 mins away) and when I dream of moving back to the coast (grew up in Brighton) it’s where I think we’d go. We live quite rurally and when I’m searching for stuff to do with the baby there is always stuff popping up in Shoreham. The beach is amazing too! It has always been a bit Conservative and white but it does strike me as being a bit more progressive and up and coming now. I think it might be a bit of a shock compared to London though.

Worthing has a similar vibe but is further out from the action and arty community of Brighton so it depends what you want really.

I think Shoreham and Worthing are both nice. It depends if you really want to be in Brighton though, as if you do I would say Shoreham or any of the places between Shoreham and Brighton. If you live in Worthing you probably wouldn’t go to Brighton that much.

Worthing has a lot of community stuff but not that much nightlife. Depends what you need.

I think both places are very welcoming and if you have kids you usually make friends easily.

I think a lot of places labelled "retirement" have changed. When we did our research both Shoreham and Eastbourne had plenty of kids. We also looked at Bexhill and Hastings. In the end we bought in Battle due to secondary school catchment. However, couldn't comment on the racial aspect. It is not diverse at all. I am white and still find it a bit odd because it is not what I am used to.

Some pics from our Christmas Day Shoreham walk

Shoreham is very family friendly and a commuter town. I grew up there and have friends who have stayed there or moved down from London. This whole area is very white but in general I’d say Shoreham is more on the accepting side. I live in Brighton these days. The ten per cent that isn’t white is very ethnically diverse.

Shoreham beach is great and where I like to go. I think it’s much nicer than Brighton
For a paddle etc. The river and Downs are
Wonderful.

I moved to central Shoreham three years ago from London and have mixed feelings. The town is small and a bit parochial tbh! The high street is terrible and getting worse (charity shops and not much else), the pubs and restaurants are generally quite poor, there is a lack of diversity and it's all a bit Brexit. However there are lots of young families and associated activities, the beach is AMAZING, there's a small but active arts community, good commuter links, good schools and the people are generally friendly. Being absolutely honest I think Hove would have suited us better but we couldn't afford it.

Should add - there are no rough/bad areas in Shoreham, it's all much of a muchness. The primary schools are all good, Shoreham Academy is an Ofsted outstanding secondary but is now very oversubscribed so that only those living in east Shoreham are getting in - worth considering if you do move here. There are dance classes/yoga/music groups galore, although lots are aimed at and attended by retirees!

On the 'bit Brexit' comment I haven't seen any evidence of that, but i do know what you mean. There's a bit of a split in the town between white incumbent Tory retirees ( gross generalisation but in very broad demographic terms these are the voters of the crap brexit supporting Tory MP) and young families moving down from London or along from Brighton / Hove.

Hearteningly the gap in the last local election closed really noticeable and substantially with an active campaigning transgender Labour Candidate. She did superbly to shake up the incumbent lot.

It's changing. Attitudes are changing and the town is changing.

I guess it depends if it a pace too slow for you, in which case Hove would probably be better right now.

It certainly is changing - for all the whiteness mentioned here, 10% of the children in my daughter’s primary class are mixed race.

It’s worth mentioning that Shoreham really does have more than one community: the Shoreham Beach community is a little bit more liberal and independent minded, both historically and today, than the main town. That has its roots in the origins of the beach community as the beginnings of the UK film industry…

Thank you everyone for your reply. You’ve been amazing.

@beachquay where would you suggest are the most liberals living?

I don't think it's quite as you may have inferred from beachquays post. I used to live on Shoreham Beach and now live townside and know just as many liberals, to be fair o know most of them from my sons primary school and everyone is very chilled and very 'Brighton'

However if you can afford it Shoreham Beach is a lovely place to live and was historically where early stage and screen stars lived. It has a cool and very liberal houseboats colony and is likely to be further developed over time.

I'm from shoreham, the high street is a bit pants now but the restaurants are nice. Lots of park, Tesco is near, Brighton is fun.

It is quite white, definitely compared to where I live now. However it does fancy itself as a bit bohemian so there won't be any issues.

Shoreham academy is good now, but used to be appalling when it was kings manor. It will give your children a bit of an odd accent if my siblings are anything to go by. I and my other brother went to steyning grammar school which is nice (not actually a grammar!) but a half hour bus ride away.

Steyning Grammar is now a non-starter for Shoreham kids as we are out of catchment and therefore get allocated the Storrington campus (a 20 mile round trip with no public transport!). Would be interested to hear about these nice restaurants as I have eaten in most and they are mediocre at best. However there are a few very nice daytime cafes.

missfliss is correct about the large swing to Labour at the last election, which I was very heartened by and probably does point to changing demographics. Perhaps I'm just bitter as I've never in my whole life had a Tory MP until now and he's an arch Brexiteer to boot, bleurrgh.

I should say the town really does come into it's own in the summer - the beach is incredible. In good weather we swim after school every day and spend all weekend down there swimming, paddleboarding, having bbqs and drinks with friends. Summer 2018 was HEAVEN. Plus there are lots of little food/arts events over the summer and the bigger Beach Dreams festival every July.

Which ones did you hate? I haven't been down for a few months as dc2 hates the 40 minute car journey from Crawley.

I do prefer where I live now, despite it having such a negative image. It's multicultural, lots to do, some really good schools and we live in one of the nicest parts of the town. It took me about 5 years to like it though.

I'd love to live by the sea again, but I think I would be bored with having to travel into Brighton frequently.