If we had to name the first pub in Worthing, it would be the Sea House, it joined several fishermen's huts that existed on Worthing's Common, as the foreshore was then known. Left: an example of what it may have looked like.

The common stretched much further out than today's current. It would have been a simple wooden structure with a pitched tar roof - nothing built there was ever seen as permanent. In 1762, Thomas Wicks took over the hut and named it 'Sea House'. It later became the Sea House Inn, supplying refreshments to weary fishermen as they returned with their catches day and night.

Inevitably, the original building was finally washed away in December 1772. It was rebuilt much further inland as a more solid structure, as depicted on the right. This was a fate that also befell the Half Brick further east.

Rebuilt as The Sea House Hotel and later renamed The Royal Sea House Hotel (1849), it caught fire on 21st May 1901. It remained a derelict shell for many years before being demolished and replaced with the present Arcade.

This illustration was by John Nixon believed to have been made in 1785. It is currently held by Worthing Museum.

It's been many years since the original Royal Sea House Hotel stood where the present arcade now stands, but in 2015 it made a return, or rather a bar with the same name. Be warned, it's on the roof.

Colin and myself paid a visit not long after it opened. I have to say, of all the drinking establishment along our coast, this has the best view.

UPDATE: July 2025
We don't think the Sea House is operational. A social links investigated have proved to be out of date.

 Time Line

 A little bit extra

1748 - Fisherman's Hut
1762 - Thomas Wicks
1772 - Washed away
1796 - Mr Thomas Hogflesh (died 1804)
1824 - Rebuilt
1838 - Parson's Sea House Hotel
1849 Renamed 'Royal Sea House'
1855 - 1963 John Fowler
1858 - James Banfield - Sea House Tap
1901 - Burnt out
1925 - Replaced with the present arcade

1884: An old boatman, Harry Blann, Recalled a set of wooden steps on the foreshore a the bottom of Bedford row, mid way between the beach and the low water mark. He said they were the remains of an old pub called the Sea House before it was washed away.