Teville Gate in Worthing has reached a national shortlist - as one of the shabbiest places in the country.

The once-bustling shopping precinct, yards from the busy mainline station, today stands like a miniature ghost town.

A piece of graffiti warns "We R Gonna Rob You" but there's virtually nothing left to steal.

Almost all the dozen or so shops are boarded up and the municipal toilets are padlocked.

A Comet electrical store - once the largest in the area but now the smallest - gleams forlornly on the corner.

The nearby pharmacist and janitorial supplies shop retain their regular customers. But that's it. The newsagent, keyboard shop, bedding centre, bike shop and all the others are closed.

This week Teville Gate was shortlisted as the Shabbiest Street in Britain by listeners of Radio Five Live.

Reporter Gill Farrington, a former journalist with The Argus, broadcast live from the parade yesterday - and described it as "grim".

Gill had visited other shabby streets throughout the week, including Penge in south London and Rushden in Northamptonshire but said Teville Gate was the worst.

She said: "It is just one of the saddest places I have ever been to. It filled me with dread."

The other streets on the shortlist of three were Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh, and South Normanton High Street in Derbyshire.

Listeners were voting online yesterday and the result was expected to be revealed today.

Schemes to redevelop the area have been mooted over the past five years, including a cinema complex. All have fallen through.

A Worthing Borough Council spokeswoman said: "As leaseholder of part of the site it has been one of the council's prime objectives to see the site redeveloped.

"The council has now signed an agreement with a potential developer to help bring that about but is unable to give full details at this stage."

Friday April 16, 2004