Best seaside towns?

[Shaw Rosso]

My home town of Broadstairs has a fantastic beach, proper fish and chips unlike the gash they serve up in Swindon.

As mentioned before, Bowleaze Cove near Weymouth is great and Lyme Regis is like stepping back in time, truly delightful.

[cheltred69]

On the places I've been I'm in agreement with most of the posts on this thread.

Lyme Regis is a lovely old place - and the coastline along there is good.
Haven't been to Cornwall enough - its a long old trip but one I should do a bit more.
Had a weekend in Salcombe last year which I liked.
Northumberland coast is beautiful if often a bit bracing but not really any seaside towns there as such.
Likewise I love the Gower Peninsula but no towns to speak of.

Morecambe is really a run down sad looking place - not sorry that we don't have a fixture there this season.
Hastings is another town of that ilk.  Really strange place.

Staying over in Bournemouth this Sat and planning to visit Swanage and Purbeck coast on Sunday - never been but it looks quite nice in pictures.

[Bogus Dave]

Dawlish Warren was lush when I was a kid. But then most of it burnt down I think

[Coca Fola]

Margate, Skegness, Morecambe, Grimsby..

[leefer]

My home town of Broadstairs has a fantastic beach, proper fish and chips unlike the gash they serve up in Swindon.

As mentioned before, Bowleaze Cove near Wetmouth is great and Lyme Regis is like stepping back in time, truly delightful.

Broadstairs may have good fish and chips....but it is a dive,lived in Ramsgate Road for years and both Margate and Broadstairs were well in decline even then.
My favourite places are places that tend to have a river as well as a beach like Looe,Teignemouth etc.
The beaches on the Gower are stunning in places as are a couple on the Norfolk Coast.
For me Brighton is the best resort for its hustle and bustle and general atmosphere when taking into account the bigger resorts though as a historian old fishing ports like Shoreham and Gravesend do more for me than a quant little beach with nothing else to look at.
Padstow is stunning and i deliver there a lot which is a bonus....i would love to visit Southwold in Suffolk one day.

Incidently i have been off work with flu and back tommorow delivering .....in Hull

[Coca Fola]

I like Hull too.

[dell returns]

My home town of Broadstairs has a fantastic beach, proper fish and chips unlike the gash they serve up in Swindon.

As mentioned before, Bowleaze Cove near Weymouth is great and Lyme Regis is like stepping back in time, truly delightful.

Hardest place to find a parking space in England when the sun shines.

Studland (not the nudest beach), I have fond memories from my younger days.
Lyme Regis is also a great place to spend a few days.

[Shaw Rosso]

Broadstairs may have good fish and chips....but it is a dive,lived in Ramsgate Road for years and both Margate and Broadstairs were well in decline even then.

Broadstairs must have gone up in the world a bit since then, it seems a fair bit of cash was spent on it in recent years, The Westwood Cross development is better than anything we have in Swindon IMO. The problem with Broadstairs is the riff raff it attracts from dumps like Margate and Ramsgate due to the high number of pubs. Granted, Ramsgate Road (Broadstairs end) is very similar to the bedsit lands of Swindon, more Amphetamines available round those parts than Boots The Chemist, whereas the Ramsgate end is better. On my last parent visit I have to say I was amazed how nice Broadstairs is now, but Margate, what a shithole that is, the locals call it the Thanet Sangatte.

[pumbaa]

Agree Pumbaa, normally drive down through Cheddar and across Bleadon hill? A bag of chips from the Kiosk opposite the pier and a wander around Weston is much better than a boring Sunday. The Brummies are venturing further south and have now reached North Devon and beyond 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Papa's Fish and Chips on the Boulevard are the bomb. Off the sea front, but worth the 150 yard walk.

[Shaw Rosso]

Hardest place to find a parking space in England when the sun shines.

That hasn't changed, although my mum will always let you park at hers Dell  

[dell returns]

That hasn't changed, although my mum will always let you park at hers Dell  

She's very kind.

Tell me have they improved the road structure, it's not just the parking its getting to a parking space.

[Shaw Rosso]

She's very kind.

Tell me have they improved the road structure, it's not just the parking its getting to a parking space.

Broadstairs Town Centre remains the same which is why the new Westwood Cross development get all the shoppers. On the plus side it means less people shopping in Broadstairs, freeing up more spaces for beach lovers. The road structure outside of the town has been improved massively, to allow for the traffic that heads up to the new shopping centre, but the town centre never really has had any room for improvement. The alternative, around a 5 minute drive is Joss Bay, next to the lighthouse, tons of parking, nice little Cafe and beach shop, and The Captain Digby pub a 5 minute walk from the beach 

[red sheldon]

I went to Morecombe on the way back from the lake district earlier this week. 

It was shit.

I think you are being rather generous with that assessment

[TheDukeOfBanbury]

Portsmouth through my roots but love Brixham.

No beaches just "real" places.

[Honkytonk]

Polzeath in Cornwall has always got great surf if you're into that (best time of the year for surfing incidentally is ALWAYS October half term. It's you, the locals, and the few like-minded people brave enough to risk it). Huge great big beach and some cracking rock pools for the little 'uns/non swimmers too, although the tide has to be out for that. I honestly have yet to find a beach that is better, though it can be a little crowded in high summer...

Only downside now is that the Atlantic, the pub that was on the cliff overlooking the beach (right next to the free parking spaces) has turned into flats. What used to be my perfect beach day of getting there by 11, surfing, having a pasty/sandwich, surfing, then toddling off to the pub for a few pints and some cheesy chips and watching the sun set before going home has now disappeared. There are plenty of great pubs in the area (Port William at Trebarwith Strand comes to mind), so it's not a major downer, but it does mean Polzeath isn't perfect anymore...

At the other end of the M4 to Swindon, and more my specialist subject (as I lived there for three years) Swansea is improving a lot (the restaurant at the top of the marina tower has stunning views on a nice day), and the beach is nice if you have dogs, as long as it's not heaving you're allowed on the whole thing. Mumbles is nice for an afternoon, but it's sadly suffered a bit over the past few years, and once you've wandered to the end of the promenade, had an ice cream at the Italian place, and seen the castle, that's pretty much it. The Gower's lovely, but there's no real towns there- definitely one for the hikers/surfers/explorers amongst you.

Slightly off topic, but if you are over that way and the weather's not good enough/you don't feel like walking, driving up through the valleys is its own reward for those of you who love a great drive- look at a road map, pick a wiggly bit, and then go for it. I'd suggest the A4107 from Port Talbot to Treorchy, and then come back to the M4 through the Ogmore Vale. Some of the best driving roads in the country. Don't go to Pendine Sands though, they don't let you on the beach anymore. Wasted trip...