Sunday, July 27, 2008

[british seaside resorts] one beneficiary of the recession


Rather pleased, actually, that many Brits are turning back to a long neglected part of their country - the seaside resort. Morecambe in particular holds an interest for me.

When it lost out to Blackpool with its greatly overrated illuminations, even the Winter Gardens, Frontierland, the Midland Hotel and the rest of it couldn't save it - that is, until now. Now the British holidaymakers are returning due to soaring costs elsewhere but it's a sorry sight to return to.

It's a bit like neglecting a trusty car which had served you well for some new-fangled piece of machinery, only to have to sell it and return to your old faithful, now half corroded and careworn but with a smile on its grill that you have returned.

Morecambe's tides made the news not so long ago with the deaths of those Chinese fishermen; it has always been a problem, necessitating a Queen's Guide to the Sands and yet ... and yet ... isn't that part of the adventure, like Lindisfarne on the other coast?

It would be lovely to see places like this drag themselves into the 21st century and offer some of the things overseas holiday spots offer, with just that touch of Britishness to them and a rich history to boot. Drop some of the tackiness and it could take off in the new millennium.

UPDATE at No Clue on seaside resorts.

UPDATE UPDATE at Weston-super-Mare

8 comments:

  1. Can we expect to hear from James blogging on the beach in Morecambe in the next few days? At least he will be at home with all the pale skins and the cold weather.

    I always gravitate away from the more commercial beach spots. We are lucky here in Adelaide. There are only a few spots that fit that category. Even in winter, the beaches in Adelaide are lovely.

    The other things that these beaches have other than cold weather is that the carbon footprint will be favourable.

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  2. I don't understand the urge to rush from crowded home streets to crowded holiday beaches, wherever the beach.

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  3. Nor do I, Dragonstar. Better to be crowded in one's own bath.

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  4. Funnily enough there are plans to build a luxury hotel in my tiny seaside town. Massive local opposition due to not having any of the required infrastructure, will lose scant parking places to the construction, and all other hotels in the wider area going bust. Still despite that the plans are being pushed through as they always are-our local authority being interested only in lining their own pockets and those of their developer friends.
    I think there will be rather alot of these expensive mistakes by towns desperate to jump on the british holiday bandwagon.
    BG

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  5. Bendy girl - there do seem some greedy eyes turned that way but they might be on a white elephant. Be interesting to see.

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  6. I never wrote this post, honest, and I've never been to Morecambe!

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  7. Whatever the country, somewhere quiet with lovely scenery is what I like best ;-)

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