Bournemouth

Well what can we say about Bournemouth? Web designers seem to like a chilled out lifestlye and we all know that Bournemouth used to be known as an old people's town so you don't get more chilled out that that. Things have changed a big over the years in Dorset's largest town though. A lot of this can be attributed to the growth of Bournemouth University and Bournemouth's rather dubious popularity as a stag and hen night destination. As a result we now have a whole host of clubs, casinos, restaurants and strip bars so there's plenty to distract the good natured web designer.

Bournemouth is a little over 100 miles from London, which translates to a train journey of about 90 minutes, a coach trip of two hours or a rather long walk. So why stay in the big smoke when we can take our laptops with us and design websites in Bournemouth's beautiful gardens, a cafe in the square or anywhere along it's beautiful seven miles of golden beaches?

The town is also gaining quite a reputation as a financial centre. Ok, it's not quite Canary Wharf but some of the biggest employers in the town include Liverpool Victoria, Nationwide, J P Morgan, Standard Life, RIAS and Towergate Insurance. Bournemouth also remains a popular holiday resort and as such tourism plays a big part in the local economy.

Bournemouth has developed something of an identity crisis, despite being the largest of the three towns it's much younger than both Poole and Christchurch. Bournemouth Airport is actually in Christchurch and Bournemouth University is actually in Poole. The town used to be in Hampshire but now it's part of Dorset. Website design keeps our minds off the confusing process of changing post codes and not knowing what county we're going to wake up in.

Through the ages the town has been home to several well known characters. J.R.R. Tolkien, who wrote a little known book called Lord of the Rings, spent so much time here that there was a pub named the Tapp and Hobbit in his honour. Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstien, lived here for years and is buried in St. Peter's Church. Bill Bryson, Oscar Wilde and Robert Louis Stevenson add to the list of authors. The actor Christian Bale of American Psycho fame, Alex James of Blur and the mighty Benny Hill all attended Bournemouth School. There's a whole host of other people but frankly I've had enough of name dropping.

Well that's pretty much a web designer's view of Bournemouth. The town also has a pier, is twinned with Netanya in Israel, has a big baloon in the gardens you can go up in, it's pretty warm compared to the rest of the country, our football team is nicknamed the Cherries, there are a few too many chavs and the sewerage works is right next to the 'Welcome to Bournemouth' sign.

Paul Forsdick - Website Designer