TOWN CENTRE PUB TRAIL

Worthing town has been home to over eighty public houses and a number of breweries. This number increases to over one hundred and thirty if outlying villages such as Tarring, Broadwater, Goring and Durrington are included.

The oldest in the main town is thought to have existed south of the current shoreline just east of the pier – the only evidence for its existence being an old painting held in Worthing Museum that clearly shows a small wooden building with a typical pub sign.

As with any town, over the years buildings change their usage from dwellings to pubs, to shops and very often back to dwellings. Many are not lucky enough to survive this process and are demolished to make way for a new development totally destroying any trace of original buildings.

Not all ‘hostelries’ originated as public houses, many were inns, taverns, beer houses, tap houses and brew houses, all of which were controlled by different regulations. These days, although inns and taverns still exist they all come underthe umbrella of public houses and are governed by the same regulations.

TOWN CENTRE PUB TRAIL

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