Eastbourne has beaten Brighton into second place and been named as Great Britain's number one resort.

The town threw off its fuddy-duddy image to take first place in the best UK resort category of this year's Group Leisure Industry Awards.

Brighton took the runner-up spot. But taking silver will be scant reward for a city which prides itself as the most happening resort in Britain, bar none.

Eastbourne Mayor David Stevens was at a ceremony in London yesterday collecting the award from category sponsors British Holidays/Haven UK.

While Eastbourne basked in glory, Brighton was pushed on to the defensive.

Broadcaster Simon Fanshawe insisted one award did not mean Brighton would take a back seat to Eastbourne.

He said: "One swallow does not make a summer. Brighton is an innovative, creative, quirky, colourful and bright resort.

"We can do Norman Cook on the beach. We have one of the biggest conference centres and arts centre.

"Anything that brings visitors to the South-East is really good news. Eastbourne offers a lot of different things and I am delighted it won."

The contest's winners were decided by readers of Group Leisure magazine, who voted for their favourite resort over the summer months. The contest's 18 categories focussed on group visitors rather than the opinions of individuals.

Robert O'Connor, general manager of the Palace Pier, Brighton, said: "We had up to four million visitors to the pier this year. I believe Brighton has had an exceptionally good year and people have flocked to the seaside throughout the summer.

"Group Leisure means coach operators to me in the 50-plus age category and I think Brighton is a bit more sexy than that.

"It has a great reputation for nightclubs and is a very cosmopolitan city. It is a city by the sea and not a seaside town."

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman aid: "This result is good news for Brighton and Hove and a real boost for Sussex in general. The council, local businesses and hotels have invested heavily in improving facilities in the last decade and it is clearly reaping rewards. About 13,000 jobs depend on visitors so that is 13,000 reasons to welcome this honour."

Meanwhile, Councillor David Elkin, vice-chairman of Eastbourne Hotels Association, said: "It is an excellent result for us and it is especially good because it was voted for by the readers.

"We are doing what we are good at.

"Places like Brighton are probably stronger at conferences but we are good for tourists.

"That is one of our strengths.

"It has taken a lot of hard work to look at what people want."

Group Leisure editor Rob Yandell said: "This year we had more votes than we have ever had before.

"The awards have been going since 1997 but this year we had a great response.

"The awards are good for the town because of the coverage they get. The results go into a brochure distributed at the awards evening which then goes into our October edition of the magazine."