Beautiful UK seaside town 'now a dump that hasn't been updated in 30 years'
A coastal resort once home to bustling streets and buzzing restaurants is a shadow of its former self desperately in need of an upgrade, according to people who live there.
If you are a Channel 4 watcher of a certain age who doesn't spend much time in Somerset, then you'd be forgiven that the one time venue for the channel's music festival T4 on the Beach is a thriving place.
Yet it's been quite a time since Goldie Lookin Chain, Athlete and Daniel Bedingfield stood above a crowd of 40,000 people on the sands of Weston-super-Mare. The town has long been suffering with an ailing reputation and poor reports from holidaymakers who venture there.
During the pandemic the British public voted it the second worst seaside destination in the country, awarding it one-star ratings for scenery and value for money. Beaches, attractions, and peace and quiet were judged to be just two stars out of five.
It is not like there isn't plenty to do at the once bustling resort, which is home to a long, sandy beach, a helicopter museum, Weston-super-Mare Museum, Grand Pier, a now closed SeaQuarium aquarium, and the seasonal Wheel of Weston.
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One visitors described Weston-super-Mare as a "bleak shadow of its former self" (Getty Images)Jan V, from Birmingham, is one visitor who came, saw and quickly condemned the coastal town. She wrote: “Weston Super Mare has often been described as a dump with a sea view, and from my experience yesterday following an absence of 30 years, nothing has changed much, except there is now the burned-out crumbling remains of the abandoned old pier left to photograph."
Another user on TripAdvisor also described the town as "a dump" and said the best part of the visit was the "motorway back home". He added: "Most of the arcade machines are broken or rob your money! Too many empty shops or spaces where things could be built." A third simply described it as a "bleak shadow of its former self".
The seaside resort attracts nearly 750,000 visitors every year, according to Kingdom Services Group, which works with local authorities to improve the seafront attractions and make the area safe. The town has a population of approximately 76,000 and tourism plays a significant role in boosting the local economy.
It was tourism which first saw Weston grow from a small village to the sizeable town it now is. In 1860 there were 100 bathing machines operating on the beach, helping the flocks of Victorian bathers preserve their modesty as they changed into their swimmers.
A sign advertising donkeys now looks a little limp (Getty Images)It was over that century that Weston grew from a tiny village of about 100 or so to a seaside resort of nearly 20,000 people. For much of the Edwardian period it retained this reputation, with a large lido dubbed Tropicana opening by the sea in 1937. It closed in 2000 after cheap package holidays tempting holiday Brits away from the temperamental British coast and to Continental Europe.
A North Somerset Council spokesperson said: "We have a vibrant town centre with a wide range of independent shops and high street names. Our town centre is not just reliant on retail though, and we have a burgeoning arts and culture scene with a year-round programme of events.
The town's reputation as a sandy hotspot seems stuck in the past (Getty Images)"The town has seen multi-million pound investment in recent years and has now been awarded £20m from the government’s Levelling Up Fund which will enable more projects to go ahead. Birnbeck Pier now has a bright future and the Tropicana event venue is about to undergo major investment.
"Like many councils across the country we are replacing parking machines to cashless payment, although cash continues to remain a current option. Cashless parking can be made by a variety of methods and there is no need to have a smart phone. Visitors can also easily extend their stay at a car park without having to return to their vehicle. There’s also free on street parking around the town centre for anyone who’d prefer not to pay to park."
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