From a bag of chips to cod confit: a tour of twenty English seaside resorts

What is it about the English seaside that drives us in our millions to stroll the promenades of the plethora of resorts we have in this country? How can we understand the allure of the gaudy and raucous funfair, sand in our toes and fish and chips in our hands. Or is it, in the words of Charles Dickens, the ocean that draws us in ‘winking in the sunlight like a drowsy lion’.

When the author discovered that his home town had come bottom in a ‘Which?’ review of the best to worst seaside resorts in the UK, not once, or twice, but for three years on the trot, it spurred him on to go on his own tour of these resorts.

He finds a wealth of fascinating histories, eccentricities and English quirkiness, mixed up with deep-seated problems of poverty, poor health and uncertain futures. But he also discovers that our resorts are diverse places, reinvigorated by creative thinking, new entrepreneurship and fresh investment.

Our English seaside resorts are alive and well, carefully curating their brands and images, seeking out new ideas and funding and using the skills and abilities of their residents to drive changes with local impact.

This book will encourage you to make your own visits and learn a little about the seaside resort, a curiously English creation that we all inspired, abandoned and then re-discovered.