With prices rising by £3k every year, the seafront is becoming a prime piece of real estate

A DAY on the beach is something we can all enjoy. But to be able to buy one of the iconic beach huts is something only an exclusive few of us can afford.

It is only April but already one estate agent has sold a council-owned beach hut in Ferring for £18,000, while a second, privately-owned hut in the area is on the market for £19,995.

Roger Curtiss, an estate agent with Symonds Reading, said the price of huts in the Worthing and Ferring area appeared to be increasing by about £3,000 every year, with buyers mostly not from the local area.

He added: “You don’t get too many that become available but when they do they go pretty well.

“You have got a cafe next door and a beach in front of you and everybody wants a little piece of Ferring; it is a nice thing to have.”

In Brighton and Hove, the council has been trying to deal with the huge demand by shutting waiting lists and letting newly-available huts on a five-year term, only to local people.

Councillor Geoffrey Bowden, chair of the economic development and culture committee, said there was also a problem of huts being left empty by absent owners.

In 2010, the authority built 17 new beach huts on the Hove seafront lagoon and offered them for sale to council tax payers in the city, for about £12,000.

Sarah Onions, whose family used to own a beach hut within walking distance of her family home in Saltdean, recalled an era when they were owned by local families on a regular income.

The 56-year-old said: “My sister had special needs so it was a way of relaxing, and my mother loved the warmth and loved swimming so it was a really special thing.

“We would go there sometimes even if the weather was not nice just because it was a nice thing to do. There was a water tap at the end where we could fill up the kettle for tea.

“It was lovely; I took it for granted really. Looking back now on the freedom of it, just playing outside with my sister.

“We were conscious of the tides, so we would go out and play on the rocks, and if the tides came up we could swim.

“We would look at the sea anemones and catch little fish.

“There was a cafe at the top of the hill and if we were lucky we were allowed to go and have a lolly.

“It was lovely to have that fresh air.”

Top ten chalet stories from across the years

1. May 2010: New beach huts, measuring 1.8 square metres, go on sale near Hove Lagoon for £12,000. Estate agents said they received dozens of queries very quickly. Barry Hough, from Parsons, Son and Basley, said: “The attraction of beach huts is simple. It gives a bit of privacy on the seafront, it can be used as a changing room and it gives you somewhere to brew a cup of tea. With a beach hut you can stay down at the seafront all day without needing to travel home.”

2. March 2011: A beach hut in Ferring went on the market for £9,500. Mark Oliver Estate Agency received hundreds of enquiries after putting the 50-year-old hut close to Bluebird Café in Ferring, near Worthing, on the market. Yet the new owner would not even have an unspoilt sea view, as the hut was set behind others.

3. July 2011: Jeff Allen is ordered to re-paint his hut on the Hove seafront in council-approved colours after a friend painted it in psychedelic colours.

Mr Allen, from Southwick, told the Argus: “I wanted the beach hut to be painted and told the decorator he could paint the door in any colour. But obviously he got it wrong and painted it in every colour. The council have said I have to change it within two weeks. I think I have broken the 11th commandment – thou shalt not paint a beach hut in different colours than those specified. No one in a million years could get away with that.”

4. September 2011: Pink Floyd star David Gilmour was ordered to pull down a beach hut at his listed £3million seafront mansion or face prosecution. The council told the rock musician the yellow hut he used to house his bicycles was an eyesore in the conservation area and had to go.

5. August 2012: Suzy Perry form the Gadget Show came down to the seafront to open a hut in Shoreham kitted out with all the latest gizmos.

The presenter said it was Britain’s most hi-tech beach hut, thanks to her choice of 15 top of-the-range gadgets.

The raft of beach hut gadgets, worth tens of thousands of pounds, include a Samsung 3D “on-demand” TV, PAL portable audio library, wind-powered lighting and its own home weather station.

6. August 2013: A beach Hut on Hove promenade went on sale for £14,000. At the time it was said to be the most expensive in the area. Agent Danny Ross said: “It really is prime position. They are incredibly popular, we won’t have a problem selling it.” Sitting in front of Hove Lawns, it had perfect views out towards the English Channel.

7. December 2013: Each year beach hut owners have a special advent calendar event in the run-up to Christmas.

Each night people gather around a designated hut. Owners spend weeks – sometimes months – decorating their hut or arranging for entertainment. In 2013, children from St Christopher’s School in Hove, were inside one of huts and performed carols.

8. February 2014: A violent storm destroyed around a dozen beach huts along Hove seafront. Devastated owners returned to their huts to find, in some cases, just a pile of wood.

9. August 2014: Lewes Football Club created four corporate box-style huts at its ground near the top of the club’s Philcox stand.

Fans were promised a seaside experience as they watched their favourite team.

10. November 2014: A beach hut was destroyed by fire after a handyman dropped a cigarette while giving the wooden building a new lick of paint. Firefighters said a workman repainting the hut on behalf of its owner had dropped a cigarette which set fire to some rags and then to flammable materials in the hut. It burned down in a matter of minutes. Huts either side also suffered some fire and smoke damage.