Seaside town that is washing out its blue-rinse image

If the Conservative Party – currently locked in a vicious argument between its progressive and traditionalist wings – needs evidence on how the world has changed, it need do little more than poke its head outside the citadel of the Bournemouth International Centre next week. For this once sedate retirement haven has undergone a startling accommodation of old and new in recent years.

Under the watchful eye of its Tory majority council, Bournemouth now styles itself "the clubbing capital of the south coast" boasting more dance venues than Soho. It is also home to the fourth largest gay community in Britain while on its borders there now lurks the brooding menace of a Liberal Democrat MP.

While the passionate views of elderly Conservatives remain strongly voiced from the benches in its well-manicured parks, the huge increase in the town's university, as well as the clubbers that descend at the weekend, has injected the voice of youth.

"Bournemouth is a town that has said 'Let's embrace this, let's wake up, let's get moving,''' said David Mitchell, 53, the owner of Rubyz, a popular gay club in the town. "To my mind the Conservative Party say these things, but too many times. Don't just say it, do it."

But the imminent arrival of the Tory faithful has sparked little enthusiasm at Bournemouth University where yesterday first-year students were more interested in enrolling in sports and social clubs.

Dave Bowcutt, 19, a second-year student, was dismissive of what Iain Duncan Smith had to offer. "If you're fat, over 50 and bald, you are not going to be in touch with the students," he said.

Political apathy ruled throughout the university, which has swollen quickly to 14,000 students.

There are no student societies run by either Labour or Conservative activists but local Liberal Democrats turned up yesterday – offering free chocolate – with Annette Brooke, the MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, who described Bournemouth as a "swinging place".

Before 2001, Dorset had eight male Tory MPs. Now a female Liberal Democrat and a male Labour MP have broken up the true blue hegemony, with Bournemouth still keeping its two Tory MPs.

Despite the obvious lack of interest in the arrival of the conference delegates, the event still stirred some feelings on the campus. The conference means that one of the town's swimming pools will be off limits for a week because of the security cordon at the conference centre.

It also provides the opportunity to earn £5 an hour working at various functions. "I told my mum I might be waitressing there and she was disgusted," said Abi Dennison, 20, a third-year student. "I don't know what they stand for now. In the Eighties, the idea was you could strive and get anywhere you wanted to. That didn't work very well, now it's just sleaze and grey suits."

Across the town at the Boscombe Conservative Club, there was a palpable sense of gloom at the party's situation. Through the corridors to the Winston Lounge under the gaze of the committee (11 photos of which only two were of women, including the wife of the steward) Cameron Russell, 68, was pessimistic about his party's chances. But he said the party was not in a rut. "The only difference between a rut and a grave is that one is deeper than the other," he said. During the 19 years he had lived in the town, Mr Russell had seen many changes and not all to his liking. "If you came down here 20 years ago, it was very hard to find a half-decent pub. There is a plethora of them now, they're opening every week. It's a strange situation. I don't want a sleepy town, but I don't want Ibiza."