Ocean Hotel, Saltdean

Memories of a holiday romance

By Karen Goodey(nee Norris)

As a child summer holidays in the late 70's until mid 80's, always the same place, Butlin's Hotel Saltdean.  We always went at the same time, meeting families that we only met once a year, exchanging photos of the year before.  What memories.

I remember running in each year to see what had changed, where was the TV room? Where was the games arcade going to be? In the later years what were the life guards going to look like. I could go on forever. My first holiday romance, my first broken heart, mended by the time I got home.  My children will sadly never have these type of memories.

The last time we went to Saltdean, we drove to the Ocean Hotel, only to discover it had been turned into flats, a sign of the times, I could have cried. In fact I think I did.

Editor's note: Have added a photo of the Ocean Hotel which will hopefully bring back more memories for you Karen.