There is a brisk trade in 100th-birthday cards in Highcliffe on Sea, where pensioners make up about 70 per cent of the population.

Ann Richardson, 63, a shopkeeper at G&T's World of Cards, says that she is continually restocking her range of five designs for centenarians. “We sell probably five or six a month,” she says. “The other branches of our shops don't do as well.”

The shop, which also stocks 11 types of cards for 90th birthdays, is typical of a high street dominated by outlets catering for an ageing population. Between the funeral parlours at either end of town there are seven charity shops dedicated to helping the elderly, a pair of tea rooms, a hearing aid shop and a sign for retirement apartments marked “last few remaining”.

Highcliffe is part of the Borough of Christchurch, where more than a third of the population is of pensionable age - the highest concentration in the country.

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The newsagent's window is filled with classified ads offering beginners' classes for waltz and cha-cha-cha and wheeled shopping trolleys (£18 ono).

Jim Pickles, 87, a former RAF airman and a retired bank manager, who has lived in Highcliffe for 44 years, says that the funeral directors do “a thriving trade”. He and his wife, Jeanne, have already chosen their burial plot. “We've got our place booked at the Woodland Burial Ground,” he says. “We're in the bluebell woods, facing each other. The plots have gone up a lot since we bought ours. It's a good investment.”

Mrs Pickles, 85, is not surprised by reports that Britain has an ageing population. “We're all getting older. We're being kept alive on tablets.” Asked why Highcliffe is so popular among the elderly, Mr Pickles opens his arms to gesture at the cliff-top views of the sea and the Needles at the tip of the Isle of Wight. “Highcliffe isn't too busy, compared to Bournemouth. It's an oasis.”

Christchurch, a haven for smugglers in the 18th century, became a leisure resort in the late-Victorian era and the community website still boasts of its mild weather and “health-giving atmosphere”.

George White, 70, has lived in Christchurch since he was sent at the age of 10, on health grounds. “I had chest problems. I was brought up in London where you had smoke and smog. It was life-threatening so my parents were advised to get me out of London.”

Sixty years later he survives as part of Britain's pensionable population. With luck, his relatives may need to visit Highcliffe for a 100th-birthday card.

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