Jobs in Eastbourne | Pictures of Eastbourne

With a population of 136,000, the East Sussex town of Eastbourne is first and foremost a seaside resort. Like so many seaside resorts around the country, Eastbourne was kick-started into life upon the arrival of the railway which linked the town with Brighton and Hastings on either side, with London to the north.

As Britain continued on its programme of world domination which opened up new trading markets, industrialists at home got fat on their profits and looked for novel ways to spend their money; and Eastbourne was more than willing to grab its fair share of the pie. Hotels and amusements quickly sprang up along the sea front and the tourism industry was born.

Tourism remains the mainstay of the local economy providing work for 1 in 3 people in the area. But it is no longer as dominant as it once was.

Then and now
Eastbourne is an historic town and something of a permanent monument to the golden era of the seaside resort and the Great British Holiday, which probably explains why it has become a favourite retreat for octogenarians and day trippers which sustain the tourism industry in the area. As the gateway to the Downs, tourism generates over £330m a year for Eastbourne and the surrounding area, employing around 1 in 10 (over 5,200 people) of the workforce.

With 1 hotel bed for every 8 people in Eastbourne, it is hardly surprising that the hotel sub-sector is the biggest employer within the tourism industry, with more than 1,600 people (3.2 per cent) plying their trade in hotels - significantly higher than the national average of 1.2 per cent. And with a strong hotel business, restaurants and bars inevitably benefit – a trend that is set to continue as a result of a number of new developments in the pipeline.

Piggybacking this is what is commonly dubbed ‘business tourism’. Eastbourne has a long tradition of playing host to a number of trade conferences every year and despite the growing popularity of nearby Brighton and Bournemouth as leading venues, the new Cultural Centre will boost the existing conference facilities at Devonshire Park will ensure that this sector continues to extend its market share. As it stands, the conference sector contributes over £3.5m to the local economy.

So when you add the total number of jobs created by the hotels, bars, restaurants and conference sectors altogether, the overall tourism industry accounts for more than 30 per cent (around 16,600 people) of all employment opportunities in the area. And along with tourism, the public sector shares the title of being the biggest employer in the area.

Almost 17,000 people (33 per cent) are employed in the fields of public administration and health within the Eastbourne area. Of these, some 4,000 are employed in Eastbourne Borough general Hospital whilst a further 2,000 work for East Sussex County Council. But one of the biggest growth sectors over the next few years will be in the field of education.

With almost 5,000 people currently employed in primary, secondary and higher education, research has revealed that there are a growing number of families relocating to the Eastbourne area on account of the superior schools to be found there. This in turn, will fuel demand for teachers and associated education staff.

And propping up the tourism and public sectors is the financial and business services sector. Just under 6,500 people are employed in banking, insurance and finance, equivalent to 13 per of the working population. Whilst the manufacturing industry is responsible for around 1 in 10 of all jobs in Eastbourne – a fall of 20 per cent since 1998.

Despite employing relatively fewer people in comparison to the sectors above, Eastbourne’s manufacturing industry continues to be significant on account of the fact that it has become a world centre for pump and compressor manufacture, with 15 companies operating in this sector alone of which two are the European headquarters for international organisations.

Key business districts
Although Eastbourne has some industrial trading estates, it is essentially a seaside resort and derives its main income from tourism.

There are several large industrial estates on the outskirts of Eastbourne, more than 70 per cent of which were built before 1980. Hampden Park is the largest and is home to a number of warehousing and manufacturing businesses, such as BOC Edwards.

Elsewhere, Highfield has a high proportion of smaller units with the site currently undergoing further expansion and also includes an onsite restaurant, hotel and fitness club. Whereas Hawthorne Road and Compton, both large estates located closer to town has a number of smaller, light industrial based companies based there.

As for the future, a new multi-million pound science park is proposed to be created to halt the post-university brain drain in Sussex and provide hundreds of jobs. Eastbourne Borough Council is to set up the project board to look at forging a high-tech industrial centre in the town. Details have yet to be finalised but it has been suggested the park could be at the regenerated Sovereign Harbour.

If you're thinking of moving to the area, take a look at some of the current property available to buy or let in Eastbourne.

Take a closer look
A picture is worth a thousand words. You can see some images from in and around Eastbourne below.

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