Worthing

This article is about the town in West Sussex. For other uses, see Worthing (disambiguation).

Worthing Borough of Worthing
Town and borough
Clockwise, from top: Worthing seafront from Worthing Pier, Dome Cinema, Castle Goring, Cissbury Ring in the South Downs National Park, Connaught Theatre, Worthing Pier
Coat of Arms of the Borough Council
Etymology: Old English Wyrtingas
Nickname:  Sunny Worthing
Motto:  "Ex terra copiam e mari salutem" (Latin for "From the land plenty and from the sea health")
Location within West Sussex
Worthing Location within England Worthing Location within the United Kingdom Worthing Location within Europe
Coordinates: 50°48′53″N 0°22′17″W
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	England
Region	South East England
Historic county	Sussex
County	West Sussex
Borough	Worthing
Founded	In Antiquity
Town charter	1803 (1803)
Borough status	1890 (1890)
Administrative HQ	Worthing Town Hall
Government
• Type	Borough
• Body	Worthing Borough Council
• Leadership	Leader and cabinet
• Executive	Labour
• Leader of Council	Cllr Sophie Cox (Lab)
• Chief Executive	Catherine Howe
• MPs	Beccy Cooper (Lab) Tom Rutland (Lab)
Area
• Borough	12.54 sq mi (32.48 km2)
• Rank	277th
Elevation	23 ft (7 m)
Highest elevation	604 ft (184 m)
Population  (2024)
• Borough	113,866 (ranked 218th)
• Density	9,070/sq mi (3,501/km2)
• Urban	474,485
Demonym	Worthingite
Ethnicity (2021)
• Ethnic groups	List 91.4% White 3.9% Asian 2.6% Mixed 1.2% Black 1% other
Religion (2021)
• Religion	List 45.7% no religion 43.9% Christianity 6.3% not stated 1.7% Islam 0.7% other 0.7% Hinduism 0.6% Buddhism 0.2% Judaism 0.1% Sikhism
Time zone	GMT
• Summer (DST)	British Summer Time
Postcode	BN11–BN14
Area code	01903
ONS code	45UH
Highest point	Cissbury Ring (184m)
Grid reference	TQ147190
Website	adur-worthing.gov.uk

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Worthing (/ˈwɜːrðɪŋ/ WUR-dhing) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, 11 miles (18 km) west of Brighton, and 18 miles (29 km) east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of 12.5 square miles (32.4 km²), the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hove built-up area, the 15th most populous urban area in the United Kingdom. Northern parts of the borough, including the Worthing Downland Estate, form part of the South Downs National Park. In 2019, the Art Deco Worthing Pier was dubbed the best in Britain.

Dating from around 4000 BC, the flint mines at Cissbury and nearby Church Hill, Blackpatch and Harrow Hill are amongst the earliest Neolithic monuments in Britain. The Iron Age hill fort of Cissbury Ring is one of Britain's largest. The recorded history of Worthing began with the Domesday Book. Worthing is historically part of Sussex, mostly in the rape of Bramber; Goring, which forms part of the rape of Arundel, was incorporated in 1929. Worthing was a small mackerel fishing hamlet for many centuries until, in the late 18th century, it developed into an elegant Georgian seaside resort and attracted the well-known and wealthy of the day. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the area was one of Britain's chief market gardening centres.

Modern Worthing has a large service industry, particularly in financial services. It has three theatres and one of Britain's oldest cinemas, the Dome. Writers Oscar Wilde and Harold Pinter lived and worked in the town.