Eastbourne on Film: Eastbourne Beach 1946

We’re pleased to continue our partnership with Screen Archive South East to offer our reader a glimpse into their collection. Each month, we bring you a snippet from the archive, all filmed right here in Eastbourne.

Escape the winter blues for a moment and come with us for a trip to Eastbourne seafront in 1946. Despite the continuation of rationing and austerity in post-war Britain the holiday-makers in this film enjoy the beautiful sunshine. With Eastbourne pier only re-opening in the summer of 1946, and barbed-wire defences still in place along stretches of the coast, the elegant resort was early to remove its beach defences in September 1944.

Screen Archive South East is a publicly-funded regional film archive serving the South East of England and its six local authorities: Brighton & Hove, East Sussex, Kent, Medway, Surrey and West Sussex. Established in 1992 by the University of Brighton, the British Film Institute and a consortium of local authorities, SASE is dedicated to collecting, preserving, digitising, cataloguing and providing public and commercial access to its screen collection of films, videotapes, lantern slides and digital files. Its collection of over 25,000 items documents the rise of screen culture in the region and the nation and represents primarily the changing nature of life in the South East from the late 19th century to the present day.