Britain’s best and worst seaside towns

[ska invita]

Thinking of nice towns on the coast I've been to

Mallaig on the west coast of Scotland. Proper fishing port looking out to the Western isles

North Devon: Westward Ho! The name wins it. ETA: actually it's not that good, I just like the name. Heartland Quay is a good one pub spot.
Stunning picturesque spot: Porlock Weir

Minehead nicer than expected

 

[wtfftw]

Wasn't it part of rebranding British tourism when we were all supposed to not go abroad for some reason - prepandemic. So Brexit? £ slump? Locusts?

Like glamping for people who don't like tents.

 

[Dogsauce]

I loved Teignmouth as a kid in the mid-80s but the traction along the sea wall is fucking shit these days.

Haven’t really been to a lot of places to make comparisons, but I’m quite fond of Swanage these days, a dash of nostalgia from childhood holidays maybe, but it seems nicely balanced, not much upmarket twee organic bollocks and not a rundown smack haven. Beach huts and crazy golf, steam trains and nice chips. Plus you’re close to Durdle Door and all that Jurassic coastline stuff that is pretty. Beach could be a bit nicer maybe.

 

[Orang Utan]

I loved Teignmouth as a kid in the mid-80s but the traction along the sea wall is fucking shit these days.

what does this mean?

 

[Spymaster]

what does this mean?

Brunel's failed plans for trains in Devon to run on air

When the South Devon Railway was first built, trains briefly ran on air, not steam

www.devonlive.com

 

[Sprocket.]

Interesting article on Skeggers.

Sun, sand, sea … staycation Skegness

Sun, sand, sea … staycation Skegness

With Spain out of bounds again, hopes are rising for a new lease of life in England’s careworn seaside resorts – and nowhere more so than in the birthplace of Butlin’s

www.theguardian.com

I liked this not just for the story, but the fact that I used to deal with current Skegness mayor Sid Dennis. When he collected waste skips from where I worked and he was a part time club turn.
How times change.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Fourth page in and delighted to note that Weston-super-Mare, my old home town, is yet to appear at either end of the OPs limiters

When I was a kid we used to go to Weston regularly. There or Blackpool. Fond memories. The place basically seemed like Birmingham by the sea. I’m sure the locals were delighted....

 

[Sprocket.]

 

[brogdale]

No, it’s still holidays as we all get annual leave, just not everyone can afford to go on a holiday somewhere else, so they stay at home.

Indeed, and there are probably plenty on here of a certain age who, like me, didn't go on 'proper' holiday until they were independent adults. Because we were proper hard up & lived not far, the only holiday I knew as a kid was going down to Margate on the train for the 5 days my old man took off. Staycation or whatever, that was holiday and I fucking loved it.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I do have soft spot for the crap seaside towns. Great Yarmouth, Porthcawl etc. But probably the definitive crap seaside town is Westward Ho!

 

[ska invita]

Westward Ho!

UK seaside holidays:

The Dream

The reality

 

[SpookyFrank]

UK seaside holidays:

The Dream

The reality

Sea pools seem like a great idea, but they're really not. There's a beautiful art deco sea pool in Plymouth, but sadly it's just downstream from where the navy dump all the nuclear sludge from their submarines

 

[chilango]

Don't go to any Lincolnshire seaside towns. There's so much racism and dickhead attitudes in them it's virtually unbelievable.

I wasn't too upset to be banned from entering the county of Lincolnshire for a time.

 

[Sprocket.]

I wasn't too upset to be banned from entering the county of Lincolnshire for a time.

The locals have yellow bellies apparently and are proud of it according to the car stickers I see around here!

 

[Sprocket.]

We really liked Sandyhills beach in Dumfries. The landowners have got it shut off at the moment apparently.

 

[Spymaster]

Sea pools seem like a great idea, but they're really not. There's a beautiful art deco sea pool in Plymouth, but sadly it's just downstream from where the navy dump all the nuclear sludge from their submarines

The Royal Navy dump nuclear sludge into the sea at Plymouth?

Got a link to that please? Sounds like absolute nonsense.

 

[Tankus]

.......anyone mentioned Barrybados yet ? .... We shit on Weston , opposite ...literally ...heh ......If swimming , grit your teeth to sieve the chunks ! .. Now with added enhancement ...English radioactive sludge !! theres lovely for you

My personal fav (from my youth 60's early 70's ) is Saundersfoot ,I prefer it to Tenby ,a bit further along the coast . My family had a static caravan there up on the top........ "happy innocent days " too ...in the warm rockpools

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

The Royal Navy dump nuclear sludge into the sea at Plymouth?

Got a link to that please? Sounds like absolute nonsense.

Plus the lido at Plymouth isn’t a sea pool but a lido, very different things. Sadly when they redeveloped it they took down the diving platforms in to the sea that were massively popular with the youth of the city, citing danger. Now they just jump off the rocks instead

 

[SpookyFrank]

The Royal Navy dump nuclear sludge into the sea at Plymouth?

Got a link to that please? Sounds like absolute nonsense.

Plutonium levels near Devonport spark call for more testing

Levels of radioactive plutonium found near a nature reserve in Devon lead to calls for increased monitoring in the area.

www.bbc.co.uk

Ministry of Defence admits more radioactive leaks from nuclear submarines

from The Guardian, 18 May 2009 Radioactive waste has leaked from Britain's nuclear submarines nine times in the past 12 years, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has admitted. Two of the leaks – including one at Devonport near Plymouth two months ago – had not been revealed until today. Confirmation...

www.robedwards.com

 

[Spymaster]

Plutonium levels near Devonport spark call for more testing

Levels of radioactive plutonium found near a nature reserve in Devon lead to calls for increased monitoring in the area.

www.bbc.co.uk

Ministry of Defence admits more radioactive leaks from nuclear submarines

from The Guardian, 18 May 2009 Radioactive waste has leaked from Britain's nuclear submarines nine times in the past 12 years, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has admitted. Two of the leaks – including one at Devonport near Plymouth two months ago – had not been revealed until today. Confirmation...

www.robedwards.com

So a couple of accidental leaks as opposed to them dumping nuclear material into the sea.

Fool.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Plutonium levels near Devonport spark call for more testing

Levels of radioactive plutonium found near a nature reserve in Devon lead to calls for increased monitoring in the area.

www.bbc.co.uk

Ministry of Defence admits more radioactive leaks from nuclear submarines

from The Guardian, 18 May 2009 Radioactive waste has leaked from Britain's nuclear submarines nine times in the past 12 years, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has admitted. Two of the leaks – including one at Devonport near Plymouth two months ago – had not been revealed until today. Confirmation...

www.robedwards.com

Your first link says...

The Environment Agency said the spikes, shown in the Food Standard Agency's annual Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE) reports, were "most likely" due to a change in the government agencies that collected and analysed the samples in 2007.

And it said the "trace amounts" found at Kinterbury "are most likely to have originated from spent fuel reprocessing elsewhere" and "not related to activities or discharges" from Devonport, where Britain's nuclear submarine fleet is serviced.

From the second link...

A further four leaks have been previously reported: two at Devonport in 2005 and 2008 and two at sea in 1997 and 2000. Now the MoD has told the Guardian about another two inadvertent releases of radioactivity, both of which were hitherto unknown.

On 25 March this year radioactive water escaped from HMS Turbulent while the reactor's discharge system was being flushed at the Devonport naval dockyard. “A small quantity of water leaked onto the submarine casing,” said an MoD spokeswoman. “The leak was contained to the casing.

Doesn't sound like 'dumping' to me.

 

[Spymaster]

Doesn't sound like 'dumping' to me.

Doesn't sound like sludge either. This looks like a serious case of hyperbollocks, Francis!

 

[Tankus]

ours is real....its already in the Bristol, courtesy of Hinckley point ....the powers that be want to dredge it and dump it on the Welsh side.
Ta, like

 

[CNT36]

A nice drop of radioactive water is discharged just round the corner from the lido. Radioactive water spills at base
A bigger problem is that whenever there is a bit of swell the lido is flooded, trashed and closed. There is another one in Mount Wise up the Tamar that I prefer and Iirc is free.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

ours is real....its already in the Bristol, courtesy of Hinckley point ....the powers that be want to dredge it and dump it on the Welsh side.
Ta, like

Yeah, Hinckley does dump nuclear sludge, but according to the locals it is me that ruined Steart Beach “forever” by holding a couple of raves on it

 

[rubbershoes]

Minehead nicer than expected

Your expectations must have been pretty fucking low.

 

[Tankus]

I can see that from my kitchen window ...(the Butlins big tops)

 

[cupid_stunt]

Minehead nicer than expected

In that case, you'll love Bognor, and probably even Littlehampton.

 

[brogdale]

A nice drop of radioactive water is discharged just round the corner from the lido. Radioactive water spills at base
A bigger problem is that whenever there is a bit of swell the lido is flooded, trashed and closed. There is another one in Mount Wise up the Tamar that I prefer and Iirc is free.

Margate has 2 tidal/seawater pools, one of which (the Cliftonville one) is the largest in the UK.

This one used to have the old Jetty pier next door...until is got destroyed in the January 1978 storm surge

 

[Kaka Tim]

not read the whole thread but my nominations would be

WORST

Clacton - i grew up there. Drugs, unemployment, violent, loads of grim bedsits and flats, full of narrow minded wankers (as borne out by it being pretty much UKIP central) , run down, desperate.

Morecambe - bleak, windswept, empty.

Grange over sands - on the over side of the bay from morcombe - one massive old peoples home overlooking two miles of marsh.

BEST - Bridlington, Whitby