The Sackville Hotel was, originally, a row of four dwellings incorporated into one large building. It was opened by Lord Delaware in July 1890 and marked the beginning of the fashionable resort which flourished until the First World War. It is on the corner of Middlesex Road and De La Warr Parade.
The Earl’s son and heir, Viscount Cantaloupe, resided there in until he and his wife moved into the restored Manor House, in 1892.
In 1897, the family sold the Sackville to Frederick Hotels Ltd who owned it for the next 60 years.
A suite of stately public rooms was added in 1900 and these formed the setting for most of the town’s principal social functions, contributing a long-remembered atmosphere of distinction to all..
To many, sometimes scattered over the world and mostly servants of the old British Empire, Bexhill meant the Sackville and it brought the nostalgia of home.
In 1920, a lounge and promenade added to the main frontage but, over the years, the Sackville declined, as did many once great establishments along the coast when the traditional seaside holiday was replaced with the continental packaged holiday.
No establishment was more affected than the Sackville Hotel, which, for many years, had been a favourite rendezvous of parents of pupils at the town’s independent schools and who used to stay there on their half-term visits.
Nevertheless, it was a great blow to the town when, in the summer of 1956, the proprietors of the hotel announced that the 155-bedroom hotel would close during the following winter ‘for economic reason,’ only the licensed bar remaining open.
Finally, in 1963, the old Hotel was bought for conversion into flats, which is what it is today.