Bottle Alley

Bottle Alley is a concrete covered seaside promenade in Hastings, on the south coast of England. The alley is open on one side to the beach, to provide cover from the rain for holidaymakers. It was built in 1930-32 by the borough engineer Sidney Little, who was known as the Concrete King.  

The walls are decorated in a mosaic of broken glass. There are millions of pieces of  broken bottle pieces in different colours, the whole height and length of the 480-metre long  “alley.” The walkway is dead straight, stretches as far as the eye can see, and is a weird experience to walk along.

As if this were not enough, there is multi-coloured lighting all the way along inset into a strip of the ceiling which springs to life in a spectacular five-minute show every evening at 7.30 and 9.30pm, with a special 30 minute show on Fridays.  

The lights run along the alley at high speed in a wave effect and flash in a way that is reminiscent of the closing scene of the Kubrick film 2001 or the opening titles of “Dr Who.”