The Old England (Olde Englande), was a sunken bar forming the south western corner of the Warnes Hotel on Worthing seafront. It was,  I have to admit, a favourite haunt of mine in my misspent youth.

It was known locally as the Frog Pond which, at the time I never understood. It would later come to light that the walls of the sunken courtyard featured stone frog ornaments.

"Basement of Warnes Hotel, which burnt down in late 1980s. This cellar bar had (in one of its 2 rooms, anyway) lots of black beams with yellowed plaster between them; in early 1980s they took it into their heads to redecorate: bright red gloss on the beams & brilliant white on the plaster - truly revolting, & I think its former customers stayed away in droves thereafter, but in any event the bar & the hotel closed not that long beyond that. The bar was also called the Frog Pond; can't remember any signage with that name, but in front of the bar, facing the seafront, there was a courtyard sunken below street level; perhaps that had been a frog pond there once? The name "Frog Pond" was later appropriated for another unconnected bar which opened in the 1990s on the east side of Bath Place".
(Roger Cloake)

We are indebted to Mandy Skilton for the picture on the left showing her mum (in the pink) behind the bar of The Old England Bar in the 60s.

Mandy recalls as a child there being a two shilling piece deliberately stuck in a hole cut for the purpose in the wooden bar top. She was always trying to prise it out, as one would assume, everybody else was too!

Mandy informs us that Paul Boswell was the general manager of  Warnes Hotel of which the 'Old E' formed part. The bar had been known as the Frog Pond but apparently, it was Paul who changed its name to The Old England Bar in the 1960s.

Our thanks to Andy Furniss for the 'last' picture of the Frog Pond. As you can see, it was in the basement of the main building and probably designed as a guests-only bar in its thriving days as the Warnes Hotel.

I recall the coin being deliberately stuck in the bar, and watching as new people tried to pick it out under a cupped hand, hiding their act. I also remember the seating was a red leather material held in place with brass rivets, hundreds of them. The old wooden beams were fake, of course, but this was part of the 'Old England' theme.

 Time Line

 A little bit extra