Well, that depends what you want. Shoreham is a port with a active harbour. The sea side bit is a bit industrial and there is the airport with small/medium sized aircraft moving regularly.
Small selection of town centre based shops with mega tescos/M&S on the A27. Good road rail links to Brighton, London Worthing, any further west and you get stuck around Worthing/Arundel for a short while.
I lived in the area for few years up till about 12 years ago but still go back and haven't noticed much change.