Britain’s best and worst seaside towns

[PR1Berske]

I must beg to differ ...

Blackpool. At any time, tbh. But especially in poor weather and out of season is the most depressing place I have ever has the misfortune to visit.

Blackpool in season is an experience, good and bad. It's not alone in being down at heel when the tourists aren't there.

 

[StoneRoad]

Blackpool in season is an experience, good and bad. It's not alone in being down at heel when the tourists aren't there.

Rhyl, Skegness and I can think of several others.

But strangely, Whitby - perhaps because I used to be a frequent visitor - seems to be not so bad.

 

[Elpenor]

The “Hawaii of the north” is how locals proudly describe Tynemouth.

As in “Hawaii the lads”?

 

[Shechemite]

 

[pbsmooth]

if you liked Great Yarmouth, try Lowestoft... and good luck!

 

[Kev424242]

if you liked Great Yarmouth, try Lowestoft... and good luck!

I'm caravanning next week in Hopton, halfway between the two. Was planning on giving GY a miss ( visited many times) and checking out Lowestoft instead. You ain't exactly selling the place!

 

[pbsmooth]

I'm sure parts are lovely but it's not got a great rep locally. I know a copper in Suffolk and it's their main stomping ground

 

[ska invita]

ive spent a weekend in Lowestoft...theres just not really anything much there...a dock to walk around, the odd bar and restaurant, but it feels more like a working town than a holiday town, despite having a beach and a lot of BnBs etc.

 

[Serge Forward]

One autumn/winter, I lived on the seafront of St Leonards. It was not very nice.

 

[Spymaster]

ive spent a weekend in Lowestoft...theres just not really anything much there...a dock to walk around, the odd bar and restaurant, but it feels more like a working town than a holiday town, despite having a beach and a lot of BnBs etc.

I saw a sign to Lowestoft when I was in Norwich so I thought I'd go and have a look. I drove around it for a while looking for the good bit before realising that there wasn't one.

 

[albionism]

You realise there is a question we are all thinking

It was just your average Staffie dogshit.

 

[albionism]

I grew up and lived in Clacton till that age of 24. And this was exactly my experience - I had far more aggro there than in all my subsequent 30 years living in Leeds. Its may be ok for a brief visit - but living there is shite - place is full of narrow minded gammony old twats, wreckheads and violent fuckwits.

Yeah, I found it to be very violent. I lived there for 4 or 5 months and maybe
went out at night to the pub 3 times. Even during the day I didn't feel safe.
Had more fuckheads wanting to fight me for no reason than anywhere ever
before and that's not even including the several attempted muggings.

 

[ska invita]

I saw a sign to Lowestoft when I was in Norwich so I thought I'd go and have a look. I drove around it for a while looking for the good bit before realising that there wasn't one.

the beach south of the pier is great





the pier is standard stuff and quite nice too

the port is a good working port

the grander bit of town seems to be up by the lighthouse

 

[PR1Berske]

Morecambe, now there's a faded town.

 

[Maggot]

I have to say Great Yarmouth doesn't have a lot to recommend it, and I felt bad cos I was being shown around by someone who lives there (this was a few days ago). The pier and the town had the air of somewhere struggling desperately. It was sad and windswept. The beach and seafront are huge, empty and bleak, huge empty vistas. Many buildings have seen better days, and the shops all look like they're about to go under. Bleak times. That was the impression I got anyway. Maybe I missed the nicer bits.

I went to Yarmouth last Autumn and agree with this, it was quite a depressing place, although I did enjoy the museum.

 

[ska invita]

quite a depressing place, although I did enjoy the museum.

England in a nutshell tbf

 

[Serge Forward]

Morecambe, now there's a faded town.

Cue Colin Crompton videos.

 

[Plumdaff]

One autumn/winter, I lived on the seafront of St Leonards. It was not very nice.

Hastings and St Leonards are a wild mix of beauty and grimness. It's relative remoteness in SE England terms is both its charm and its curse On a day like today, nothing would be better than a walk up the East Hill, and some of the pubs are fabulous. But a lot of St Leonards is desperate

 

[Serge Forward]

Hastings and St Leonards are a wild mix of beauty and grimness. It's relative remoteness in SE England terms is both its charm and its curse On a day like today, nothing would be better than a walk up the East Hill, and some of the pubs are fabulous. But a lot of St Leonards is desperate

Best thing about it was falling asleep at night and hearing the swish of the waves on the pebbles, gently lulling me to sleep.

Worst thing was stepping out the front door in the wintertime with the kids, getting hit in the face by a load of icy rain and sea spray, then waiting ages for a bus that never came and eventually taking them back in the flat, defeated.

All that aside, when the weather was nice, it could be very pleasant.

 

[Chilli.s]

Newbiggin-By-The Sea

Easy parking is one of only two positives. The other being the lifeboat museum. Looks haunted, the charity shops were stocked with stuff people chuck out. The "meal" we bought was passable as food but was not actually saleable. Has a weird sculpture in the bay that looks like two people wishing they were somewhere else. Hammer Horror church and bone yard dominates the town.

 

[Maggot]

re Bamburgh , that whole lindisfarne to seahouses area is pretty magical tbf...

Agreed. Went to Seahouses last year and loved it. The beaches, the castles, the boat trip to the Farne Islands to see the seals, Lindisfarne (although it was very busy).

 

[PR1Berske]

From Instagram, Llandudno.

 

[ska invita]

Agreed. Went to Seahouses last year and loved it. The beaches, the castles, the boat trip to the Farne Islands to see the seals, Lindisfarne (although it was very busy).

great light - (it was sunny when i went)

 

[Maggot]

great light - (it was sunny when i went)

We were lucky with the weather too. I didn't rain the whole week. We would sit in a pub garden in Seahouses which had great views of the sunsets.

 

[Elpenor]

From Instagram, Llandudno.

Llandudno is a favourite of mine from family holidays in north Wales. So much to do that’s not on the beach as well, with the Orme, tramway, I remember going down a bronze mine as well, and a toboggan run. The St Tudnos church is always worth popping into, and the walk up the Orme via some gardens is enjoyable too. I only did the scenic drive (small toll applies) a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

 

[kebabking]

Yeah, big fans of Llandudno here. Fantastic beaches, really nice town, the Great Orme, and next to Snowdonia - what more could you want?

 

[cantsin]

our solid / perennial ' top 10 worst seaside towns' contender ( in N Devon ) felt v buzzy post lockdown : some sun, everyone v happy to be out n' about, and a lack of foreign hols take up meaning more / and a wider spread of, peeps you'd guess - it's also meant more people discovering the ridiculously ( comparatively ) low house prices, and this coinciding with big reported uptick in sales / prices UK wide ( WFH mania ) = lots of talk of house re : values going up etc.

We've luxuriated in 13 years , post LDN, of no one ever seeming to care about / discuss / consider house prices before in any meaningful way (nothing much to talk about ) , and seriously hoping we return to that when / if stuff goes back to normal ( and the Graun get's tired of running the same boring f*cking piece about our once great nearby / local secret beach, that hasn't been secret for the last 3-4 yrs, since they started banging on about it every summer, and is now packed to the rafters through July / Aug).

jeez... having (happily) been lured back here by a weird email notification, just found this ... sad to see this post, and it missed one even more crucial factor :

Last summer, R4 reported there were 300 + air b n b's listed for our ( fishing - just about ) town of 10k, vs THREE rentals available.

Our local Housing Crisis FB page now has a constant stream of posts from locals, often v similar in age ( 25-40 ish ) , describing what it's like to be facing imminent eviction from your rental home, as it inevitably get's turned into an Air B n B - losing kids schools, family support, friend networks , ie : life as you know it - just for another profiteering arsewipe to cash in.

Lots of these folks are ending up in emergency accommdation ( shared facilities in v challenging ex hotels / b n bs' and the like ) , or often in the next county, near motorways etc, where there's no Air B n B / holiday let potential. Post Beeching / the advent of package holidays, there's never been much down here apart from the sea, your friends and family, and a much cheaper way of life . All of it going now, for many.

AirBnBs and second homes 'turbo-charging' housing crisis

Urgent action to tackle the housing crisis in rural communities is needed

www.plymouthherald.co.uk

 

[ska invita]

Yeah, big fans of Llandudno here. Fantastic beaches, really nice town, the Great Orme, and next to Snowdonia - what more could you want?

Sun?

 

[Elpenor]

Yeah, big fans of Llandudno here. Fantastic beaches, really nice town, the Great Orme, and next to Snowdonia - what more could you want?

Herds of goats sweeping majestically across the plain?

 

[StoneRoad]

Don't tempt those goats, they pack a mean butt with those horns / hard heads ...