The hamlet of Worthing began to develop as a fashionable seaside resort
during the late eighteenth century. It attained town status in 1803 when
its administration was invested in a board of commissioners that first
met at the Nelson Hotel. Inns of greater antiquity were the White Horse
at West Tarring, the Maltsters Arms at Broadwater and the Anchor in
Worthing High Street. Other well-established pubs, such as the town
centre Warwick and the Cricketers at Broadwater, began as basic beer
retailers and brewing victuallers of the early Victorian period. Several
pubs in the area are of architectural interest. The ornate Grand
Victorian opened in 1900 as the Central Hotel, the half-timbered design
of the Thomas á Becket (1910) was in homage to the nearby medieval
Parsonage Row cottages, while the imposing Downlands was built in 1939
in the classic roadhouse style. Worthing Pubs takes us on a fully
illustrated tour of the historical hostelries in the district, yet also
acknowledges how the local drinking culture has been shaped by the
contemporary craft-beer bar and the burgeoning micropub scene.