Worthing’s little-known claim to world fame

It’s time to get your tomatoes in, and while you’re at it, reflect on Worthing’s past fame when it came to the red fruit.

Growing your own tomatoes is one of the most satisfying gardening accomplishments, and the flavour is far superior to the watery and tasteless supermarket tomatoes. So why not grow a few plants at home? Never mind if you lack a greenhouse: grow them in a sunny spot, either in pots of John Innes No 3 or in the ground.

I prefer to grow the indeterminate types: as they grow, remove the side shoots and tie the plants in until you have five trusses – then remove the tops to promote ripening. Feed once a week and don’t over water, which can split the fruits as well as reducing flavour.

Here in Sussex, there was a time when Worthing tomatoes were famous throughout the world for their exquisite flavour, and there was even a saying that whilst Worthing grew tomatoes, the Lea Valley manufactured them.

Tomato history

Tomatoes were first domesticated in Mexico, where the Spanish Conquistadors ‘discovered’ them in the 1520s. They introduced them to Spain and southern Europe, where they were enthusiastically received, but in northern Europe they were initially regarded as poisonous curiosities until around the 1750s, when some adventurous cooks were using them in soups and sauces.

Outdoor tomatoes were first grown in Worthing by Frank Bushby in the 1860s at his nurseries in Anchor Lane until blight and poor sales made him give up, although he was persuaded to try growing them under glass at his nursery in Cobden Road.

By the 1880s, consumers were becoming more sophisticated and started to use tomatoes in salads.   This sudden upsurge in demand was responsible for the rapid expansion of Worthing’s burgeoning glasshouse industry as many people erected greenhouses to exploit the high prices they were fetching. Initially, they often grew their tomatoes in pots beneath their grapevines which took 3-5 years before reaching full production. Up until 1914, 70% of Worthing’s glasshouses were still vineries.  

Worthing tomatoes were once famous throughout the world for their exquisite flavour.

Interestingly, the first tomatoes grown in Worthing were the deeply ribbed types, not the smooth varieties we eat today. The Worthing growers preferred to grow the ‘wrinkled’ varieties because they found they were better for early forcing.

During the First World War, Worthing’s growers were forced to remove up to half their vineries to make way for more basic food crops. The dumping of European grapes in the 1920s made it uneconomic for them to replace lost vines, and so began the supremacy of the Worthing tomato, which lasted for the next thirty years.

Why were Worthing’s tomatoes so special?

Every grower had their own theory as to what made the Worthing tomato so special. In reality, it was a combination of complex factors including the variety, the local brick-earth soil, the equable climate and the ample seaweed used as fertiliser. Essentially, they had perfect growing conditions and were mostly grown naturally without forcing.

The favourite variety was Ailsa Craig (still popular today), with a good flavour, although many growers saved their own seed to try and create the tomato best suited to their local conditions.  

Tariffs imposed in 1932 helped domestic growers face severe foreign competition. The most tomatoes were grown during the Second World War, when Worthing was one of the key areas to supply tomatoes to replace ‘lost’ imports, and a new ‘pool’ scheme dictated where they had to be sent.

After the war there was a sudden drop in tomato production as the larger growers began to specialise in other crops, such as flowers and mushrooms.

Tomato growing remained the major crop for the smaller family-run nurseries, but the insatiable demand for building land led to a rapid decline in these nurseries until the Worthing tomato simply disappeared. By the 1960s, only a few were being grown in the borough of Worthing.

Today, there are few tomato growers in the whole of Sussex, although the firm started by Eric Walls in 1977 at Barnham is one of the largest tomato producers in the south, with more than 28 acres of glass.

And luckily for consumers, they regard good flavour as essential!