Bournemouth is a seaside resort in the county of Dorset on the south coast of England. It is located about 107 miles southwest of London, at latitude 50.43N and longitude 1.54W. The town overlooks Poole Bay.

It was originally part of Hampshire but was ceded to Dorset in a 1974 local government reform. Evidence of this can be found at a roundabout at the end of the Wessex Way called "County gates" where the gate marking the divide between Hampshire and Dorset once stood, and which now marks the border between Poole and Bournemouth. On April 1, 1997 Bournemouth became an independent unitary authority.

Bournemouth is one of the most popular tourist destinations on the English south coast, because of its fine long beach, the wide range of accommodation and entertainment, the mild climate, and easy access to the New Forest, Jurassic Coast, Devon, and the Dorset and Hampshire countryside. This section of the English coast enjoys some of the warmest, driest, and sunniest weather in Britain.

Rapid growth in Bournemouth has taken place (see History). In 1880, it had 17,000 people, 60,000 by 1900 and had reached 150,000 by 1990. In the latest census, the town had a population of 163,441. Bournemouth is part of a conurbation with, to the west, Poole (population 138,385 in 2001) and to the east Christchurch (population 44,865), the whole area being sufficiently populous to be one of the major retail and commercial centres in the south of England. Traditionally a retirement town, Bournemouth now houses many students who attend Bournemouth University, which is noted for its Media School, and the Arts Institute.

The town is an important venue for major conferences and the Bournemouth International Centre (BIC), which stands on the cliff-tops near the middle of the town overlooking the sea and the pier, is the town's main venue for large conferences including in 2003 the Labour Party annual conference.
Bournemouth (and Poole, the town immediately to the West) have several chines (e.g.,Branksome Chine, Alum Chine), valleys formed by the action of water, that lead down to the beaches and form a very attractive feature of the area. Bournemouth Central Gardens are a separate major park, leading for several miles down the valley of the river Bourne through the centre of the town to the sea (reaching the sea at the pier).

The Russell-Cotes museum is located just to the east of the Central Gardens near to the Pavilion and next to the Royal Bath hotel. The museum includes many fine mostly 19th century paintings and the family collections acquired when travelling e.g in Japan and Russia. It was Sir Merton Russell-Cotes, one of Bournemouth's most prominent Victorians, who successfully campaigned to have a promenade built; the promenade now runs continuously along the Bournemouth and Poole shoreline.

The Royal Bath Hotel, located near the sea and just to the east of the Central Gardens, has attracted many important visitors over the years, including Oscar Wilde, H. G. Wells, Richard Harris, Sir Thomas Beecham, Shirley Bassey, and prime ministers Disraeli (who stayed for three months to help his gout), Gladstone, Asquith and Lloyd George. Royal guests have been Edward VII and Edward VIII when each was the Prince of Wales, George VI when he was the Duke of York, Queen Wilhemina of Sweden and Empress Eugenie of France.

A new £9.5 million Bournemouth Library was completed in 2003, winning the Prime Minister's Better Public Building Award, in the British Construction Industry Awards competition in recognition of its relatively low cost and high fit with client requirements.

Shopping
The main shopping streets in the centre of town are just behind the seafront on either side of the small Bourne river; indeed footpaths lead down to the sea (from The Square) through the lower section of Bournemouth Central Gardens.
The shopping streets are mostly pedestrianised and lined with a wide range of boutiques, stores, jewellers and accessory shops. There are major stores (Debenhams, Beales, Marks and Spencer, Bhs, Dingles), modern shopping malls, Victorian arcades (including the elegant arcade in Westover Road), and a large selection of bars, clubs and cafes (that tend to appeal to younger people). About a mile to the west of the town centre, in the district of Westbourne, there is an impressive selection of designer clothes and interior design shops. About a mile to the east, in the district of Boscombe, there is another major shopping area including many antiques shops and a street market. North of the centre there is a new out-of-town shopping complex called CastlePoint with supermarkets, DIY stores and larger versions of high street shops.

History
Bournemouth barely existed at the start of the 19th century. When retired army officer Lewis Tregonwell visited in 1810, he found only a bridge crossing a small stream at the head of an unspoilt valley. An inn had recently been built at what is now The Square (centre of Bournemouth), catering both for travellers and for the smugglers who lurked in the area at night. Captain Tregonwell and his wife were so impressed by the area that they bought several acres and built a home, which is today part of the Royal Exeter Hotel. Tregonwell also planted pine trees, providing a sheltered walk to the beach. The town was to grow up around its scattered pines.
Bournemouth quickly became a destination for affluent holiday-makers and for invalids in search of the sea air. In the 1860s, meadows either side of the Bourne stream were turned into the town's Central Gardens. The immaculately tended gardens are still much-loved and the Central Gardens contain the town's impressive war memorial, guarded by four stone lions.

A large sanatorium, overlooking the Central Gardens, treated patients with chest diseases. It has recently been re-developed as Brompton Court, a complex of retirement homes, preserving its remarkable chapel. Next to the sanatorium was built the magnificent Mont Dore Hotel, which is now the Town Hall. In the hotel's heyday in the 1880s it was renowned nationally and internationally for its sumptuous luxury which included possessing one of the first telephones in England - the number was "3".

Although the number of invalids sent to the town dropped in the late 19th century, the resort was still booming and its population increasing rapidly. As Bournemouth's popularity increased, the town centre spawned theatres, concert halls, cafes, cinemas and more hotels.

The town's first large entertainment venue was the original glass Winter Gardens, built in 1875 as the home of the town's municipal orchestra, (now the internationally renowned Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra). Elgar, Sibelius and Holst conducted there, but the acoustics were reputedly poor. In 1935, the original Winter Gardens was demolished. Its replacement, opened two years later, was intended as an indoor bowls centre, but by chance turned out to have superb acoustics, and after the Second World War it became the orchestra's new home. Before the opening of the BIC, the Winter Gardens welcomed just about every major entertainer of the day, including Maurice Chevalier, The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Morecambe and Wise. The building has been in decline since the late 1970s, and is now closed as the town council examines alternative uses.

The Pavilion dates from 1925 and was built on the site of the former Belle Vue boarding house, one of the town's first buildings. Theatrical legends, including Ralph Richardson and Trevor Howard, played the Pavilion Theatre in its heyday. The Pavilion faces the cinemas and upmarket shops of Westover Road, which prides itself on being the town's "Bond Street".

Westover Road's Odeon cinema began life as the Regent in 1929 and retains many of the art deco features of the era. It was known as the Gaumont from 1949-86 and used to host live performances as well as films. Stars who appeared there included Ella Fitzgerald, Dusty Springfield, Victor Borge and in 1963, the Beatles. The cinema now has six screens.

The nearby ABC cinema dates from 1937, when it contained one 2,600-seater auditorium. It has three auditoriums today, one of them boasting the areas largest cinema screen, and is the only cinema in the county capable of projecting epics in 70mm.

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