Just got back from a nice relaxing holiday in Torquay.
A Morrissey song called Everyday Is Like Sunday has inspired me to make this thread.
I have been to many Seaside towns in the UK in the counties of Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside, East Sussex, Summerset, Devon, Cornwall, Gynned, Anglesey, Conwy and FIlntshire etc.
I am not sure what the worst seaside town I have been been to, as I really do love to be by the sea but the worst ones I have been to are:-
Barry Island - wow it was so grim but nice views over Summerset but the area itself was very very grim.
Rhyl - All the worst features of Blackpool but none of the benefits. They only speak Welsh and Scouse there too.
Morecombe - maybe it was just because it was a wet day, but during my few hours there all I had in my head was the song Everday is Like Sunday, it is the sea side town that forgot to close down.... A very depressing place.
Worthing - I was 25 at the time I visited the place, I think most people there were at least 60 years old than me! There was more mobility vehicles than cars! Maybe I am being unfair on the place!
Finally Blackpool is a funny one, it is everything I hate but I go to a punk festival there every year and for that weekend the place becomes the best place in the world for me. Has a great prom but the beach is pretty average. I prefer Southport but Blackpool does have great transport links. I would never go if it wasn't for the punk weekends though,. Its too much about beer and flighting for my liking. Brighton seems to escape a lot of the tackyness Blackpool has.
What is the worse seaside town you have been to?
|
|
Weston Super Mare... filthiest looking beach I've ever seen. Not that I like beaches at the best of times. But they're even worse when people have been on them.
|
>> Rhyl
>>
>> A Welsh dump.
>>
And another vote for it here. Overrun with benefit scroungers, who like the town itself are dirty, unkempt and decidedly rough.
And what Zero said below about Lincolnshire. If it really is being reclaimed by the sea it can't come soon enough.
Last edited by: Harleyman on Mon 14 May 12 at 18:55
|
>> .......... about Lincolnshire. If it really is being reclaimed by the
>> sea it can't come soon enough.
Thanks a bunch. I hope your county is reclaimed by the sea even sooner.
|
Seaside towns! Its funny how the wonderful and charming seaside town, can have the grotesque and horrid sibling along the same stretch of coast.
In Kent we have Margate, a dreadful shocking place, that became so bad that the people who made it that way stopped going in protest. Its never recovered. Just round the coast we have Broadstairs, a charming delightful little seaside town thats worthy of any afternoon sunny or wet.
In North Wales in close proximity we have Cricieth, quaint, unspoiled, even has its own castle, great fish and chips and ice cream, yet its neighbour a few miles up the coast is Smelli Pwllheli where even the locals have shut up shops and moved out, and then to compound it a few miles North is Abersoch, very trendy, very expensive, fabulous sand.
Suffolk provides us with Southwold (nice very expensive) and Harwich (what a merdehole), Norfolk chips in with Gt Yarmouth (vowing with Margate as the worse place on earth) and yet can provide uniquely wonderful spots like Brancaster.
Lincolnshire takes the prize tho, large coastline providing us with nothing but utter awfulness in respect to seaside towns. It takes the prize from the other desperate seaside desert of Essex, by a nose.
|
"In Kent we have Margate, a dreadful shocking place, that became so bad that the people who made it that way stopped going in protest. Its never recovered. Just round the coast we have Broadstairs, a charming delightful little seaside town thats worthy of any afternoon sunny or wet."
+ 1
Ramsgate which was heading the same way as Margate has had some money thrown at it & does now seems to be on the way up. Folkestone is awful !
Last edited by: Skip on Mon 14 May 12 at 09:08
|
St Leonards On Sea in East Sussex is a tad down-in-the-mouth, like so many seaside towns that have 'had their day'.
Even Hastings next door can be a bit of a Shi'ite hole as I learnt when we lived there from 87-92.
But hey! - they are all quite jolly enough really, when the currant bun is out.
|
...Skegness...
Excellent crazy golf in Skeggy.
|
|
Withernsea East Yorkshire, or With as its known locally. Dump.
|
|
Great Yarmouth is the worst. It also has some of the worst people, to many of whom I am related. In NHS folklore, the records of patients a bit below par mentally were labelled "NFN", Normal For Norfolk, and only in Great Yarmouth would they erect a statue to Admiral Nelson and mount it facing inland. I must however admit that Skegness is a close contender for the title.
|
|
Should have said Cleethorpes, never been to Skeggie.
|
|
was that a NFN moment? ;)
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 14 May 12 at 09:39
|
>> patients a bit below par mentally were labelled "NFN", Normal For Norfolk<<
Hehe! - we call em NFC down ere, normal for Cornwall.
:o)
|
It seems to be rife. Around here it's the Biggleswade syndrome.
I was always taken to Margate as a kid. Went back in the '70s and that was enough to stop me ever going there again. Isn't it full of children's homes?
Similarly, looked at Rhyll once when in N Wales - never again.
Aberporth - horrendously expensive with that large, chavvy caravan site (with all their motor boats) next door.
SWMBO wanted to go back to Skegness. I've never seen so many fat people on mobility scooters and as for Mablethorpe just up the road. Why anybody would want to holiday in a place described as having the greatest density of caravans in Northern Europe?
|
|
Helensburgh. Only way to tell if it's a nice day is when the rain moves from horizontal to vertical.
|
|
Ah, but Helensburgh has large sinister submarines gliding by on the way to Faslane. And a Mackintosh designed house to visit. You don't get that in Blackpool:)
Last edited by: NIL on Mon 14 May 12 at 11:57
|
>> Ah, but Helensburgh has large sinister submarines gliding by............
Its the ones you can't see that you should worry about. :-)
|
It's not really a town - but dare I mention Jaywick? (Near Clacton-on-sea, Essex.)
To quote from Wikipedia: "In March 2011 East Jaywick was named as the most deprived area in England according to the Indices of deprivation 2010, based on multiple factors including poverty, crime, education and skill levels, unemployment and housing..."
"Many residents choose to avoid referring to the area as Jaywick due to the town's reputation, opting instead to refer to the town as 'West Clacton'."
"Parts of the... area face demolition, particularly the dilapidated properties... No new properties are allowed to be built, even on sites where buildings have been demolished, or through the extension or alteration of existing properties..."
When I first strayed into this area some years ago while exploring the coast thereabouts I couldn't believe the sheer awfulness of it.
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Mon 14 May 12 at 12:13
|
>>Parts of the... area face demolition, particularly the dilapidated properties<<
Never say die ~ g.co/maps/a959b
:o)
|
|
Blackpool, Weston Super Mud and Cleethorpes
|
Indices of Multiple Deprivation.
Sounds horrible doesn't it? Link to Grauniad:-
tinyurl.com/cz3akpu
Last edited by: Duncan on Mon 14 May 12 at 12:36
|
Blackpool but with an honourable mention for Morecambe too!!
Have a soft spot for Scarborough but probably rooted in nostalgia for childhood holidays with extended family rather than any real virtue. Suspect if I came to it cold I'd feel as I do about Blackpool.
|
|
Blackpool is very good for what it does though. It has excellent transport links, a long beach which allows for an easy stroll and it has some of the cheapest hotels in the country. However it is also a hell hole but I think for certain type of people Blackpool does have a lot to offer. Personally I have always preferred Southport as it has a more upmarket feel and is less tacky. However as one scouse lecturer told me, Mancs are not allowed into Southport.
|
>>Personally I have always preferred Southport as it has a more upmarket feel and is less tacky. However as one scouse lecturer told me, Mancs are not allowed into Southport.>>
I live in Southport. That's a load of baloney. It's the Kirkbyites and similar we don't want...:-))
|
|
Jaywick - look at in on Google Earth, street view and you will shudder!
|
|
Morecambe is quite nice now! compared to how it was 20yrs ago. They`ve spent Hundreds filling the beaches with rocks to trap sand! they`ve added features to the "Prom", like seats, flowers and a Seagull-perch in the shape of Eric Bartholomew!
|
Galveston, Texas, USA
Close enough to a major city (Houston) that you think it would be all sorted out for tourists and people wanting lunch/dinner next to the sea...and someone wrote a song about it.
Apart from apartments overlooking the sea and a beach..that's virtually it at the sea front. Bit further in and it's normal streets. Only half decent place to eat overlooked a load of industrial stuff on the river.
Complete waste of time.
|
When I was working near Middlesbrough someone suggested a hotel in Seaton Carew, which I imagine was once a once place... :-)
Actually it's only small, but the centre is rather tacky and run down, as are so many...
|
|
Milford Haven - the town itself, not the surroundings.
|
|
Rhyl is a dump. The West End is the poorest ward in Wales - full of run down bed sits - more Liverpool by the sea than Wales. There has been some incredibly unimaginative spending on the now ruined prom - run down concrete emplacements. Wall to wall caravan sites until you get to Colwyn Bay, Colwyn Bay is also run down dump but not as bad as Rhyl, bisected now as it is by the A55....really squalid town and unimaginative town planning on a criminal scale. It improves dramatically west of Colwyn Bay with some quite stunning natural sea and mountain scapes all the way up the coast to Aberdaron on Llyn......as good as it gets. Pwllheli has become spoilt really, a town that has sadly become down at heel, things pick up to the East again and some of the best Mountain/Sea scenery in the World down towards Harlech and south.....
|
Did you ever hear about the young man from Rhyl, who ate an atomic pill?
There's a family from Barry Island who live a couple of ks along the road from me - lovely people.
I'm amazed that no-one so far (AFAICS) has mentioned the nightmare that is Newhaven.
|
There are grimmer places than Weston, which I seem to remember offers passable crazy golf. Not too much else, though; we went there years ago on a cricket tour, the sun shone and the cricket was good. That suckered us into going back the following year, when it rained all week, we got no cricket at all and were reduced to scouring the town for fun and coming up empty handed.
Most depressing I've seen recently is Tywyn. I'd last been there when I was nine, so my memory may not be accurate, but I'd enjoyed it then. Not now - desolate place, abandoned first by the quarrying industry, then by the tourist trade. If it weren't one end of the Talyllyn Railway I doubt anyone would go there at all.
|
>> There are grimmer places than Weston,
Isn't Lord Archole, liar, perjurer and plagiarist known as 'Lord Archole of Weston-super-mare'?
Reason enough not to visit.
Anyways, I can't comment on beaches, having very few decent ones near me. And the decent ones seem to have large boats stuck on them!
(No kidding - look up Seli-1/Tableview and Eihatsu Maru/Clifton!)
|
|
You're not a fan of Sandy Bay then Ian? :-0
|
>> You're not a fan of Sandy Bay then Ian? :-0
>>
Have you ever had sunburn on the tadger?
And the only thing worse than that is getting caught applying the factor 36 sunblock.
Nobody ever listens to the explanation...
|
Weston super mud is much improved over the last couple of years - they have spent a few quid of the promenade, and the rebuilt pier, but as soon as you venture back a bit from the sea front the cracks start to show. Big drug issues in Weston (as with many seaside resorts) - it has been used as a bit of a dumping ground by the local authority
Not traveled far North of here for seaside pleasure as Devon / Dorset / Cornwall are so close, so my exposure of poor seaside towns is limited!
|
|
I was going to say Clacton but I see Roger beat me with Jaywick. A convincing winner. Morecambe's in my top 3 along with Harwich. These places have absolutely no redeeming features. I think it's why we put them on the coast. Along with many of the fat people.
|
|
I love the seaside, but I'm never sure about seaside towns. Some of the relatively empty stretches of duned coastline of East Lothian were my playground as a child. We used to run or even cycle for miles on the wet sand with our dogs without hardly ever seeing another soul. More so in the winter of course. There's something magical about an empty isolated beach on a freezing but sunny winter's day. Especially if the wind is onshore, the smell of the salt water and the foaming breakers to run away from are my favourite memories.
|
Humph that reminds me a lot of Formby, a place I thought would be a craphole but actually turned out to be a rather nice place.
Another crap seaside town I forgot to mention was Minehead. Now there is some quite pretty buildings in Minehead but it had the general feelings of a failing seaside town. Only Butlins keeps it going.
|
>> Humph that reminds me a lot of Formby, a place I thought would be a craphole but actually turned out to be a rather nice place.>>
Formby is one of the best places on the NW coast to live...:-)) Good enough for a large possee of Premiership footballers for a start...:-)))
|
"... I see Roger beat me with Jaywick."
Oi! ROGER? Hang on a minute!
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Mon 14 May 12 at 22:43
|
>> "... I see Roger beat me with Jaywick."
>>
>> Oi! ROGER? Hang on a minute!
Quite right - not me first, but it did remind me of looking at Jaywick on Google Earth, when we were in Spain and scanning Rightmove daily, for cheap properties in England!
One look at the street-view was enough!
|
|
Jaywick is the nearest thing you will get to a township, or shanty town anywhere in the northern hemisphere.
|
I'd actually never heard of Jaywick. I've been to just about all parts of the UK mainland but never to Southend or Clacton.
Morecambe was a nice enough place when I was a child. We had summer holidays there for a few years in the late 50s or early 60s before Dad switched to Scarborough. Both were deemed more sophisticated than Blackpool. People seemed to have their favourites. I really liked Scarborough, we'd go to the naval battles on the lake in Peasholme Park.
I haven't been to Morecambe for 20 years at least. It was awful by then, a DHSS wasteland.
|
>>Weston super mud is much improved over the last couple of years - they have spent a few quid of the promenade, and the rebuilt pier, but....
wait for the boom times £30bn of private money to get rid of the mud.
Yes a Severn barrage and who will get a few bob from it?
www.peterhain.org/default.asp?pageid=309&mpageid=188&groupid=2
|
|
There was an interview with him on Wales Today tonight. It was a brilliantly engineered interview and Hain was well and truly ambushed by the normal mild mannered presenter over this barrage business. It was a live link to him and his normally stony faced image dropped at the end....cracking. Never liked him.
|
Wasn't Hain a South African and wasn't he involved in some form of protest which involved ruining a carefully prepared test--match cricket pitch?
Slimy so and so who uses too much spray-on tan!
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 15 May 12 at 01:01
|
Silloth. I spend a week there or thereabouts EVERY summer for 15 years due to grandparents in Wigton. About as far North as its possible to go in England, always cold, always wet. One decent chip shop, otherwise 'The Golf' hotel for a 'nice' cup of tea.
Allonby, just along the coast, on the other hand was much nicer, though sharing the same dodgy weather.
|
>>Big drug issues in Weston (as with many seaside resorts) - it has been used as a bit of a dumping ground by the local authority<<
And that is precisely the problem with so many once grand Victorian seaside towns.
Too many bedsits / welfare pigs / schizo's / druggies / alcoholics etc. spoiling the town for decent folk.
|
In contrast, please may I ask, what are the best seaside towns?
I ask because SWMBO, Number_Nipper and I are beginning to plan our Summer sojourn.
For SWMBO, we need good teashops, with good quality baked goods and confectionery - her holiday treat.
For Number_Nipper, (4 1/2) we need clean sandy beaches, and a nearby (transport) attraction - a preserved railway would be particularly suitable.
For me, I just need a peaceful, quiet chav free environment - even better if there's a good second hand bookshop to enjoy.
|
|
And there's me trying to get 'er to 'oliday 'ere instead of on a poxy cruise ship and you lot have blown it outa tha water. Mates........what ruddy mates...
|
The best seaside towns I have been to are:-
Newquay - simply stunning, some of my favourite photographs out of the 10,000 or so I have taken were taken in the Newquay area. Sadly its just too far from Manchester it is almost as far as Paris, so Devon is a good second choice which is much quicker to get to.
Llandudno - I have so many happy memories of that town from a child, but went last year and the place seemed tiny. Still lots of well kept Victorian buildings and stunning views of the Great Ornme. There is also a railway and cable car which takes you up it too. It is a little bit tacky, but I have family which run a couple of businesses is in both Llandudno and Conwy and they see a lot of celebs going into their shops. Some high quality hotels but its mostly full of B&Bs. Very popular with Mancuanians as it is a 90 minute drive away yet offers some stunning views.
Bencllech (East coast of Anglesey) - My favourite seaside town, simply because it costs £8 a night to camp, there is no need to book the camp site (it has room for 100's of tents) so it can be a very cheap break and the views are as good as any of you can get in the UK. Sadly the closure of the railway station meant the town declined a bit but it remains free from all the usual tat because of its small size. It does have three supermarkets and five pubs though! Not many B&Bs either so it really is a place to buy a static caravan, take a tourer or go camping. It can be a little rowdy at weekends though, despite being much smaller than most English seaside towns for a Welsh settlement it is fairly large and has become a bit of a nightlife destination for young people who live on the Island. At weekends you can also get unpleasant rowdy Liverpudlians who camp in their transit vans playing house music into the night :(.
Conwy - Another great place full of interesting history, the beach is a bit of a trek from the town centre though!
All four places offer stunning views.
|
|
Quite right Rats - some absolutely stunning views around Conwy despite the built up areas on the Morfa and Deganwy Harbour.....a madly bloody history since Roman times.....
Last edited by: R.P. on Mon 14 May 12 at 22:45
|
|
Southwold! Great beach, quaint town, great teashops, not a hoodie to be seen, and the Mid Suffolk Light railway a few miles away, and a good bookshop or two.
|
>> In contrast, please may I ask, what are the best seaside towns?
>>
I reckon Swanage scores well against your requirements; tea shops, decent kid friendly beach, chuffer puffers. There used to be a pretty good s/h bookshop in the high street as well, think it's still there.
|
|
Yes can't argue with that. Don't suppose the captive breeding of spamcans down there has coloured your view tho?
|
>> Yes can't argue with that. Don't suppose the captive breeding of spamcans down there has
>> coloured your view tho?
>>
Well, yes they do often have one running :-). Southwold would've been my #2 choice, although I'm much less familiar with it than Swanage. Sheringham would be another candidate.
|
>I reckon Swanage scores well against your requirements; tea shops, decent kid friendly beach, chuffer puffers.
Agreed.
And if it rains you've always got the following within a one hour drive:
New Forest
Beaulieu National Motor Museum
Watercress Line
Museum of Army Flying
Bovington Tank Museum
HMS Victory and Portsmouth Dockyards
|
>> >I reckon Swanage scores well against your requirements; tea shops, decent kid friendly beach, chuffer
>> puffers.
>>
>> Agreed.
>>
>> And if it rains you've always got the following within a one hour drive:
>>
>> New Forest
>> Beaulieu National Motor Museum
>> Watercress Line
>> Museum of Army Flying
>> Bovington Tank Museum
>> HMS Victory and Portsmouth Dockyards
>>
+ Southampton Hall of Aviation & Seacity.
Ikea if you're desperate.
Paulton's Park or Adventure Wonderland for the ankle biter.
|
|
you'll need a racing car to make the Watercress Line in an hour tho!!!
|
>you'll need a racing car to make the Watercress Line in an hour tho!!!
OK - an hour and 10 minutes in one of mine. A bit longer in a Lancer ;-)
|
I wouldn't recommend the Canaries at the moment its 40c and we're only in May!
www.bbc.co.uk/weather/6297190
|
>> Canaries at the moment its 40c
When's the next flight? :)
|
>>When's the next flight? :)<<
That's 32 degrees more than it is down ere at the moment ... THIRTY TWO DEGREES!
www.islandconnections.eu/1000003/1000043/0/36470/daily-news-article.html
|
>> For Number_Nipper, (4 1/2) we need clean sandy beaches, .........
Lincolnshire beaches. tinyurl.com/dxbe673
>> ........ and a nearby (transport) attraction -
>> a preserved railway would be particularly suitable.
Lincolnshire Wolds Railway. tinyurl.com/czd5dn2
|
You need need Robin Hoods Bay, N_C. North Yorks coast, just south of Whitby/ Sandsend for the beach. North Yorks Railway at Goathland in easy reach - we even managed a day out in York for the NRM when we were up there.
The village itself is car free, but parking is plentiful, if a bit pricey.
|
>> About as far North as its possible to go in England, always
>> cold, always wet.
Not surprising as Cumbria is one of the wettest parts of the UK. If it wasn't for all the tourists the lake district would be pleasant in good weather.
Almost as pleasant as the west coast of Scotland.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Mon 14 May 12 at 19:56
|
Eastbourne.
The only seaside town we had trouble finding a cafe, it is like a cemetry. And if you can call Canvey Island a seaside town that too.
|
|
Yeah Eastbourne was very depressing. Not many cafes but lots of wheel chair retailers :). [probably]. Seem to remember it was fairly well kept but just had nothing there.
|
Cumbria is one of those lovely places to admire the views, providing you either own a £500 coat to keep you dry or you can admire the views as a car passenger!.
Sadly most my Cumrbian family died at young ages so I have too many sad memories of that county. Whitehaven is a place I go for funerals.
|
|
Northumberland has more than its fair share of magnificent coastline and great beaches. And Castles. Its really quite civilised now that have levelled the pits and shot Raul Moat.
|
|
Number cruncher - Carbis bay. Beautiful beach and a short walk into St.Ives. Various points of interest around.
|
A bit of a weather risk but if lucky on that front you'd be pushed to beat North Berwick. Myreton motor museum down the road. Best chip shop...(Cue Clarkson voice...In The World...).
Nice little stone harbour, sea bird centre. Bass rock bird sanctuary. Berwick Law to climb for the views. Miles of empty clean beaches. Even a fresh sea water tidal swimming pool. The walk up the beach at low tide to Fidra lighthouse is stunning. If you're feeling fit carry on up the coast to the dunes at Gullane and get the bus back.
Loads of golf courses / putting greens etc if you're into that and they'll all let you play. Edinburgh only a 30 minute drive away if Mrs NC is needing retail therapy or NC jnr wants to see a "real" castle.
Oh, and Belhaven beer is worth a pint.
|
>> A bit of a weather risk but if lucky on that front you'd be pushed
>> to beat North Berwick. Myreton motor museum down the road. Best chip shop...(Cue Clarkson voice...In
>> The World...).
>>
>> Nice little stone harbour, sea bird centre. Bass rock bird sanctuary. Berwick Law to climb
>> for the views. Miles of empty clean beaches. Even a fresh sea water tidal swimming
>> pool. The walk up the beach at low tide to Fidra lighthouse is stunning. If
>> you're feeling fit carry on up the coast to the dunes at Gullane and get
>> the bus back.
>>
>> Loads of golf courses / putting greens etc if you're into that and they'll all
>> let you play. Edinburgh only a 30 minute drive away if Mrs NC is needing
>> retail therapy or NC jnr wants to see a "real" castle.
>>
>>
>> Oh, and Belhaven beer is worth a pint.
>>
And don't forget the aircraft museum at East Fortune, complete with the Concord.
|
|
Pfttt I got three Concordes within a hundred miles of me, one is just round the corner. Common as dirt down here.
|
>> Common as dirt down here.
>>
Don't dispute that. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Mon 14 May 12 at 22:37
|
>> Pfttt I got three Concordes within a hundred miles of me, one is just round
>> the corner. Common as dirt down here.
>>
Park my car next to one each morning
|
>> Park my car next to one each morning
>>
Have to work do you? :-)
tinyurl.com/d5z5dam (Concord)
|
>> >> Park my car next to one each morning
>> >>
>>
>> Have to work do you? :-)
>>
>> tinyurl.com/d5z5dam (Concord)
>>
This ones mine :-)
www.concordeatfilton.org.uk
Also saw it land there on its last flight - the last of any Concorde
Last edited by: mikeyb on Tue 15 May 12 at 20:59
|
|
My favourite coastal spots are in Cornwall, we always try and have 1 week there a year. out of high season though so its quieter. The only place there we avoid like the plague is Newquay.
|
|
Its not so bad, but probably wise to avoid it weekends! I guess I am still (just about) in my 20's myself so Newquay will have a sort of youth appeal to me.
|
|
Nothing like the picturesque site of the young urinating and puking in the gutter :-)
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 14 May 12 at 21:08
|
>> The only place there we
>> avoid like the plague is Newquay.
>>
Like Blackpool with better weather.
|
That is why I would avoid it at weekends :). Mind you Torquay was a bit lively at night but I found a club which played some quite obscure Joy Division so I didn't mind!
Chav places are easy to avoid any where, I go to Manchester city centre most weekends and never witness any trouble but then I know where to avoid!.
Blackpool is another league to Newquay. Its one reason I love the punk festival so much, the look on all the chavs faces wondering why they have been over run with punks!.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Mon 14 May 12 at 21:05
|
southend
locals thugs kept mugging me for my camera
sadly for them they didnt realise i was brought up in a tougher neighbourhood than they were and they went away rather badly hurt, self defence your honour, local police a total waste of oygen wish i hadnt wasted my time telling them
|
I believe the last bookshop in Southwold has now closed. The last one in Salisbury has either just gone or is about to I discovered a couple of weeks ago, and the same is true up and down the country.
Secondhand bookshops are going fast - catch them while you can as there will be very few left in the next couple of years.
Two major reasons are the rise of internet shopping and the Oxfam business model towards books. Many booksellers are unhappy with it, unsurprisingly, as they can't compete.
|
re "Oxfam business model" you cannot compete with a business getting charged no rates like the charity shops
|
|
Exactly so. With donated stock. And volunteer staff.
|
|
One of the nicest Sea-side places I have ever been to, (if it comes under the banner of Sea-side) is a little place on the Yealm, called Nos-Mayo, near Plymouth. Lovely little "Yachties" anchorage, with a nice village square.(once the tide goes out!)
|
>> is a little place on the Yealm, called Nos-Mayo, near Plymouth.
>> Lovely little "Yachties" anchorage, with a nice village square.(once the tide goes out!)
>>
That's where I come from.
Newton Ferrers one side, Noss Mayo the other.
To be pedantic though the River Yealm comes in from the sea and then goes up to Yealmpton. Noss Creek spurs off from the Yealm and the bit where the pretty villages are isn't actually on the Yealm, although most people think it is.
Great fun was had as a kid, watching the tourists park their cars outside The Ship Inn at Noss, on the car park looking area....then watching the tide come in and completely covering that area. Seen some right shenanigans there.
Both villages are hideously expensive to live in now, they've become like Salcombe and Dartmouth.
|
|
You may remember the "Odd Cup" cafe then! - thats where we stayed, the Owner Charlie (cant remember his last name) ran a charter fishing boat out of Nos, and his wife Annie ran the Cafe!
|
|
And only 2% to charity I believe. I renovated an Oxfam shop 20 years ago and then they spent 5K on colour coded racking. Ruddy big con the lot of them and I don't give. It seems most of them have so much £ behind them that is impossible for them to spend their interest. Guide dogs much the same I am told.
|
>>southend<<
Southend reminds me of a happy childhood up until my Father died when I was 9 years young,
My mum & dad often took me on the train from London Br. station to Southend on Sea and I used to spend the time on the return journey up in the luggage rack playing about.
I'm going back in time a bit though - late 1950's to be exact :)
|
I'm probably a bit younger than you Dog (not much though) and my childhood holidays were in Southend and Rhyl as I had a set of grandparents in each. Both towns appear in this thread! I used to love Rhyl, and remember well the running battles in the streets betweens the mods and rockers, and the mods getting off the train for the bank holiday punch up and having the DMs removed at the station. I spent many hours in the slot machine arcades, and still play "a mean pinball" as a result. Haven't been to Rhyl since burying gran maybe 30 years ago, it struck me that it had gone downhill then, and I'm not really surprised at the comments above.
Southend was also renowned for the bank holiday fighting and TOTS (Talk Of The South) IIRC. Another golden mile of amusement arcades, but the Kursaal was always good when I was young, so was the pier (with trains) and the Chalkwell side of the pier was not too unpleasant, with the cliffs which had a small lift thing to go up and down in, and Never Never land. Both places had good Christmas lights too. Again, not been to Southend for a few years but it had also gone downhill a bit - although there was a reasonable shopping centre been built over Southend High St last time I was there.
|
<>
You got me there, I am a closet Bloater. In fact, I was born not far from Nelson's Monument.
|
I have very fond memories of the Southend area. Me ole mam's sister lived in Chalkwell and we went for our seaside holiday from the late forties up to the mid sixties. Magical place for an under 10 with the pier, prom and beach. Auntie May always gave us a good time but even she couldn't keep the wasps at bay when we were leaning on the wall of Chalkwell station, enjoying a beach picnic. We also had some good Christmases there as well.
Set free from me ole mam's apron strings as a teenager, I took my bike down on the train and spent a couple of weeks exploring Essex...it always seemed sunny and hot then.
Auntie outlived her hubby by 30 yrs and died in '96.....not far off the ton. She was my favourite and I was sad to miss her funeral as I was in Austria at the time.
Happy days.
Ted
|
>>it always seemed sunny and hot then<<
Indeed it was, I don't recall all this 'rain it raineth every day' business in sowf lunden as a child!
|
Southend was the only seaside town I knew until aged 11 a friend and I cycled to Brighton and back (phew!)
I haven't been to Southend for nigh-on 40 years now, so I supposed its changed a bit :)
Funny thing though this ere memory marlarky we have, I can still recall in 'my minds eye' alighting form the train in Southend, walking to the seafront, and buying a candyfloss from a certain kiss-me-quick hat type shoppe on the LH side not far from the Esplanade.
|
>>Southwold!
Adnams brewery.
I remember spending a very pleasant, wet weekend there at SWMBOS's suggestion. IIRC we visited every pub and even managed it across to the pub in Walberswick during a brief respite.
Hic!
|
A second vote for Carbis bay.
Apart from the historical connection to the battleship, it's a very short and pleasant train ride into St Ives.
|
|
Meant to add in my last post - my kids favourite holiday spot (and one I enjoyed too) was Looe in Cornwall. Fishing boats, bit of beach, commercalised but only to a pleasant degree. As it's only just in Cornwall, you aren't stuck in traffic for hours for the "last few miles". We used to caravan down there, on the west side, and there was a nice coastal walk to Polperro which is very quaint. My lot used to lvoe going out mackerel fishing in the bay, and catching crabs (no, not THOSE crabs) in the harbour. Just a pleasant place, even on a busy summer's day.
|
There's also an excellent secondhand bookshop hidden up a very steep side street.
Once you get in there, it's always time to eat by the time you come out laden with little treasures;)
Pat
|
Dogsly, I couldn't believe the change. I last went in early '96 and didn't recognise it at all.
I had a nostalgic trip on the pier train, now red instead of the old green/cream ones. The guy on the pier let me see the old ones preserved there although most of the place was shut.
I walked along the sea front from Chalkwell to Southend, I'd gone on the train from home to see auntie as she hadn't been well. When I got back to her place in Leighcliffe Ave there was a note on the door to call at a neighbours. My lovely aunt had collapsed in the road and been taken to hospital by ambulance. I didn't have a key to get in and I didn't know which bus to get and where from but I got there in the end.
She was upset, she'd messed herself in the road so I knew it was serious. I contacted her ex- DiL who turned up with a couple of her grown up kids. She had bowel cancer, I knew I wouldn't see her again. I went back to her house, stayed the night and came home. She died a couple of weeks later.
Not a happy last visit to the place but we're still in touch with DiL, who lives in Leigh on Sea.
Ted
|
|
New Brighton used to be awful but it's got a Morrisons now.
|
>> New Brighton used to be awful but it's got a Morrisons now.>>
Still awful. Paid my first visit for about 20 years recently and couldn't get out quick enough..:-((
|
When I was about 7 years old, my mum left my dad and 'ran away' to Southend.
I remember saying to my dad "can we have a mum like this one next time" showing him a picture of some film star!
Come the weekend we all jumped on the train to bring my mum home from the bedsit she had rented for the week.
As I recall, we went into an amusement arcade and my mum tried to get me a toy from one of those claw type machines where you try to pick up the prizes :)
That is the land of lost content, I see it shining plain, the happy highways where I went and cannot come again.
~Housman.
|
|
Thanks all - some cracking ideas!
|
|
Lynmouth/Lynton. Linked by funicular railway, in breathtaking Exmoor coastal scenery. Bit hilly on the way in/out though.
|
New Brighton does at least offer some fantastic views of Liverpool. Other than that it is a dump. It is actually the nearest beach to Manchester as well.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Tue 15 May 12 at 13:01
|
>>It is actually the nearest beach to Manchester as well.>>
No, Crosby beach is the nearest travel wise (Burco Bank Road), where you can walk along the edge of the Mersey and watch the ships come in and out, as well as admire the Ashley Gorman statues..:-)
|
Kirkaldy must be in the running, surely? Godawful hole.
It's further enhanced by the looming presence of "Jonah" Brown, (very) occasional Member of Parliament,
|
|
Whitby is mentioned somewhere. Went there in June 09 on my then VFR800 buoyed by a stimulating ride across the N Yorks Moors, I found a most pleasant little place, basking in a fiendishly sunny day. A very pleasant day. A nicer place you couldn't wish for. Went on a bleak October day a year later. Not pleasant at all, full of saddos dressed in fancy dress.....bad choice.
|
|
I think you mean Burbo Bank Road and Anthony Gormley.
|
>> I think you mean Burbo Bank Road and Anthony Gormley. >>
Actually I meant Antony Gormley and Another Place...!!!!
For those who might vaguely know the area, it's where the Liverpool Coastguard station is based.
|
>> Thamesmead?
>>
My mate was delivering to a local supermarket at Thamesmead beside a block of flats some years ago, we all hated going there.
Stealth approach was a requirement so truck fridge should have been turned off before crossing the border, he failed to do so and local freedom fighters reacted badly, as he backed into the supermarket a kitchen fridge (to prove the point?) falling from the top of the building just missed the cab.
nice.
|
Thamesmead, is a close knit riverside community of bijou properties inhabited by a diverse mix of artisans.
The estate agent said. The rest of us say its a sink estate that unfortunately isn't sinking fast enough.
|
The worst seaside towns IMO are :-
Rhyl
Prestatyn
Blackpool
Skegness
but if I had to pick just one it would be Rhyl !
|
Welcome to the forum PodWoman, good of you to dip a toe into this forum, tho you will be need to be quick on your feet round here....
> Wanders off chuckling smugly to himself, unaware of the comedy crime just perpetrated on the forum members....
|
>> > Wanders off chuckling smugly to himself
Trying to be corny again I see.
|
Mum and one of her friends are going to Torquay for a week's break during July.
Mrs K has decided that we should join them for a couple of days.
Question:
Can anyone recommend a decent route and attractions to take two old biddies in their 80's for a day out in the car?
Not too much walking and a good pub/restaurant for lunch?
|
I assume you mean a day out in the Torquay area?
So much, so many places. But here out of left field.
Take the Steam train from Paignton to Kingswear. The short passenger ferry to Dartmouth.
Plenty of Tea shoppes there to keep the olds happy and sits a nice little town.
Fifi delighted the olds there one day by doing her "eat an entire mr whippy ice cream in one gulp" trick
|
Miles down there are hard miles, so don't be too ambitious.
Dartington - on the Dart near Totnes - is a pleasant place with plenty of stuff to look at.
You could press on to Buckfastleigh on the edge of Dartmoor and swing back through Newton Abbot, but that might be too long a day in the saddle for the oldies.
Did I mention the war?
Take the car ferry at Dartmouth and go along the coast through Slapton and Stokenham - it's where there was a lot of American activity.
Given the age of the old biddies, they may remember something about the Yanks being 'over here', depending on where they were living at the time.
|
>Take the Steam train from Paignton to Kingswear...
>Take the car ferry at Dartmouth...
What spiffing ideas guys.
I especially like the train suggestion. Mum was trustee of a railway company, mum's friend is a bit of an amateur historian and Mrs K's mum operated railway signals during the war.
Plus I won't have to drive and listen to "Are we there yet?"
|
OK,
Full day trip on train and boat etc. booked for Tuesday.
We'll be driving down on the Monday. There's no rush so it'll be A303 and A30.
Anyone know a decent place to stop for lunch approx half way between Basingstoke and Torquay?
|
|
Little chef at Popham? tho that might just be not quite half way. (by some margin)
|
>> Anyone know a decent place to stop for lunch approx half way between Basingstoke and
>> Torquay?
>>
Weston-Super-Mare......................
|
How about here? It has a decent cafe, open to non-museum visitors.
www.haynesmotormuseum.com/
|
>>>How about here? It has a decent cafe, open to non-museum visitors.
www.haynesmotormuseum.com/<<<
But dont waste money on visiting the museum!
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=6799&m=151623&v=e#
But perhaps they have spent the £3.5m by now?
Last edited by: pmh on Thu 12 Jul 12 at 06:04
|
>> But dont waste money on visiting the museum!
>>
>> www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=6799&m=151623&v=e#
But the cafe is worth a visit if travelling to/from the West Country!!
tinyurl.com/ckwpm5d
|
I always stop off at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton which has a decent cafe / restaurant , loos etc and contrary to the Haynes post above , the museum is worth a visit. You need at least three hours to do the museum fully.
I love the place, my forum name gives the clue why and have spent many happy days there.
Even if you are only visiting to eat you still have every chance of seeing interesting planes and helicopters as it an operational base.
www.fleetairarm.com/
As I type this I am wearing my sweatshirt with Fleet Air Arm logo....
|
Big choice of pubs serving good food and ales in Sherborne.
As I type this I have my t-shirt on with a 30A stratford shed code plate on it .
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 12 Jul 12 at 09:56
|
has to be hunstanton .. the best bit was travelling in a ford zephyr
|
Morecambe having been mentioned upthread in unflattering terms, not least by me, I was surprised to recognise the deco Midland Hotel a couple of nights ago in a Poirot episode on ITV3. Looking very smart too. Had I assumed anything, it would have been that it had been demolished.
A google revealed it has had a makeover -
www.midlandhotel.org/index.html
Last edited by: Manatee on Thu 12 Jul 12 at 19:03
|
i remember sunny hunny as a child.
nice beach and fairly sheltered due to it facing west.
|
>> i remember sunny hunny as a child.
>> nice beach and fairly sheltered due to it facing west.
Someone must have turned the UK upside down then.
|
Hunstanton is known as the only coastal town in East Anglia to face west:
www.hunstanton-info.com/beach.htm
|
|
Oh yes, so it does, I take it all back.
|
>> Oh yes, so it does, I take it all back.
>>
Zero admits to being wrong??!!
Must be getting cold down in Hell... ;-p
|
|
Wouldn't mind, I go past the place at least once a month, and never realised it was that far down in the Wash. 5 miles round the coast and you are facing north east.
|
I like the bit that reads: Dogs are banned on the main beach, Dog bins are provided on the promenade.
Are you supposed to dispose of pooch before building your sand-castles?
Last edited by: devonite on Thu 12 Jul 12 at 19:54
|
|
People take their dogs to Brancaster. HUUUUUUUUUUUGE beach, no dog rules.
|
|
The West Coast of Norfolk and the East coast of France always confuse people...
|
|
Brewer's Arms, Banwell (Nr Weston-s-m) does it for us on our trips down to redruth. Its probably about 4 miles of the motorway, but the food has been good and the beer looks enticing (but with 150 miles still to go, remains untasted... :-( )
|
I have not been here and this report will tell you why. Jaywick in Essex is rated at the bottom of a list of 32,482 locations assessed for deprivation
tinyurl.com/6j23tej
|
|
That's wot I said. More or less. Higher up.
|
Thanks Zero,
we did the Round Robin Gold trip yesterday.
Open top bus from Torquay to Paignton, steam train to Kingswear, ferry across the Dart, couple of hours and lunch in Dartmouth, riverboat up to Totnes and open top bus back to Torquay.
Weather was good and the old 'uns really enjoyed it.
|
|
Went to Pwllheli to supervise the local CAB today. Went to the sandwich bar over the road - "Fresh Crab" sarnies were on the specials board - I love crab. Was the meat taken out of a plastic tub ? No it was scraped from the unfortunate crustasian's shell - food of kings for a song....tastiest crab I've ever tasted...
|
Nice, Rob. I called in at the fish shop in the village last week and asked the fishmonger if he had crabs.......
The bruise has nearly gone now.
Ted
|
>tastiest crab I've ever tasted...
We took mum and Elsie for dinner last night at a place called No. 7 Fish Bistro in Torquay.
Not cheap, (expect £40/person) but well worth it for the quality, service and atmosphere.
Nothing frozen, straight off the boat that day and cooked perfectly.
|
Excellent. The Paignton to Kingswear line is a good 'un, the arrival onto the river estuary, and running alongside with the views of Dartmouth is one of the best.
Seems to me all that was missing was the trip from Totnes to grab a few bottles of Electric Soup at Buckfast.
|
Best beach I have been to, by far, is Morar Beach in North West of Scotland.
Beautiful.
Still want to visit Barra and the beach that the plane lands on!
|
>Seems to me all that was missing was the trip from Totnes to grab a few bottles of Electric Soup at Buckfast.
Oh no, no,no-no, no!
|
>>Seems to me all that was missing was the trip from Totnes to grab a few bottles of Electric Soup at Buckfast.
I hope it was chilled !!
|
Worst seaside town you have been to? - Armel Coussine
