Bournemouth is much more than just a beach - here's why

A newly published book is aiming to prove Bournemouth is much more than just a beach.

And with hidden gems all over the conurbation, you can't fail to be impressed by our history.

Written by Katherine Bebo, the book, 111 Places in Bournemouth That You Shouldn't Miss, describes the town as brimming with history, art, beauty, nature and fun.

From Napoléon’s wine cooler to Mary Shelley's grave, a war-winning bridge to locally made gin - she depicts a town which has it all. Even the Daily Echo building on Richmond Hill makes the cut!

We've taken a look at the book and picked out a handful of our favourites.

AIDS tile tributes, Pier Approach

This was unveiled in 2010 and created by artist Andrew Armstrong, who dreamt up the project to commemorate Dorset victims of Aids.

The wall, at the Pier Approach, is made up of more than 400 tiles, nearly all designed by secondary school students from Bournemouth or Poole.

But among the schoolchildren’s creations is one by Andrew himself. “It just says: ‘Too many friends, too many friends, too many friends’,” he revealed.

Andrew found out he was HIV positive in the 1980s, when diagnosis seemed an automatic death sentence. The fear was underlined by a public health campaign featuring a tombstone and the words: ‘Don’t die of ignorance’.

Andrew Armstrong with some of the tiles designed by Dorset schoolchildren

Anne Frank's Tree

This can be found in Bournemouth Central Gardens. As Katherine writes in her book, the Anne Frank Trust was formed in Bournemouth in 1990.

In front of the tree is a plaque, which states when the tree was planted - June 1998. It commemorates Anne Frank and all the children killed in conflicts in the 20th Century.

It can be found between the main war memorial and the tennis cafe.

Bobby's Balconies

Bobby's department store reopened in 2021, more than 50 years after the brand disappeared.

Bobby’s was one of the original old department stores, opening in 1915 in the Square.

The owners of the building are restoring the building to its original splendour, including new ornate first floor balconies. But the 'B' on the second-floor balconies are original from 1915.

Christine Keeler's pad

Christine Keeler hid out in Bournemouth when her role in the Profumo affair was scandalising the nation.

The former call girl was at the centre of a national scandal in 1963, after a relationship with the then secretary of state for war, John Profumo.

Mr Profumo assured parliament in March that year that he had not had an affair, but was forced to resign weeks later after it emerged that he had lied.

That spring, Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies – the showgirl who was also embroiled in the Profumo scandal – rented a flat in Talbot Woods in an effort to lie low. They became regulars at the Swiss restaurant and El Cabala coffee bar in Bournemouth town centre.

Christine Keeler (right) with Mandy Rice-Davies

NHS Grotesque

New stone features, including a nurse with a facemask and the Queen's cypher, were added to Christchurch Priory last year as part of a project to replace damaged gargoyles and grotesques.

A fresh insert of Queen Elizabeth II's cypher was installed, as well as a masked nurse with the blue NHS logo, as a permanent tribute to healthcare staff and their hard work during the pandemic.

The other four gargoyles include former mayor and burgess of Christchurch James Druitt, engineer Donald Bailey who invented the Bailey Bridge, an unnamed figure to represent all of those who have contributed to the Priory in recent years, and a fox.

Read here to find out why a fox

NHS tribute at Christchurch Priory

Talbot Heath school bunker

Talbot Heath School refurbished their shelter and used it as a Living Classroom.

During the war, it saved the lives of all the pupils and teachers at Talbot Heath School, including a certain Baroness Shirley Williams who was one of the upmarket young ladies who sheltered here while Hitler bombed the south coast during World War II.

The 100ft bunker is one of four shelters at the school and has been refurbished to look as it did when the girls scrambled into it all those years ago.

Talbot Heath bunker

The 'secret' air raid shelters in Bournemouth gardens

Where is your favourite 'gem' in Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch and beyond? 

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