QC

I like old-fashioned working class seaside towns. No, really.

I'm thinking about a trip to the UK next summer and I'm curious what people think are the best, most colorful seaside resorts.

Also, do these towns typically have hotels that are suitable for several days visit or are they mostly daytrip destinations? Does anyone do that anymore?

I've been to Scheveningen in Holland, so I am familiar with the freezing cold North Sea experience. I don't expect to swim, but I want candy floss, carnival rides, etc.

Forgive my ignorance, but guidebooks somehow miss the glories of Blackpool and Brighton as destinations rather than daytrips.

flanneruk

You need to prioritise here.

Brighton and Bournemouth have a number of hotels where it's quite possible to stay for several days. In fact they're really fine. Bournemouth cannot count as a working class seaside town: it's just a middle-class southern town that hapens to have a beach and a few candy floss stalls. Brighton is unique, and is working class as well as gay, Islington New Labour, actor chic and about fifty other contemporary demographics. It also has among the highest rates of vagrancy in Britain. Not only is it a spectacular town: it has wonderful cliffs nearby and some outstanding Saxon, Norman and painted churches in the immediate vicinity. It's a better cross-section of modern Britain than of the allegedly traditional working class stuff. In fact, Brighton never was that plebeian: Southend was where the London horny-handers did their knees up.

Mrs F, who spent a slug of the early autumn trying to find somewhere in Blackpool a normal human being would willingly stay for even a night, swears there simply isn't anywhere tolerable. As always, she's talking nonsense: I've spent a few consecutive days at the Imperial and I'm still alive, though she was going through an all too rare attempt to save money. But there's no questioning that Blackpool has everything you're looking for. There are even still Glaswegians who go there for the whole of Fairs Week, the traditional Mancunian customers having long deserted the place for the Costas.

And it's perfectly possible to swim at Blackpool. Builds character. Wouldn't be half the man I am if I hadn't learnt to swim there. Probably be a better swimmer though.

Pumbavu

How about a three centre stay? Filey, Whitby and Scarborough. South Bay Scarborough is a bit more brash than the other two. I've spent many family holiday at Scarborough, eating wonderful fish and chips as the waves lashed the sea front and rain poured down (plenty of sunny days too!!) Scarborough has also got a bit of "culcha" with a wonderful Theatre. And plenty of places for day trips... Robin Hoods Bay, Whitby (the Dracula Town), York and even Hull! Oh yes, Hull is emerging as a tourist desination!!

For the working class experience try Haven Holidays They have three sites in or around Filey. http://www.havenholidays.com

I have to say thet Blackpool, and the Pleasure Beach, would be an experience.

LJ

Great question; spent a week one night in Morecambe by accident (car broke down on way to Glasgow). However as a kid I had a ball with my Dad at a Butlin's Holiday Camp. Do they still exist outside of satire?

GreenDragon

I'll second Whitby, it's a WONDERFUL little place.

Ruth

LJ, oh yes, Butlin's still exists at 3 resorts around Britain (see www.butlinsonline.co.uk). But I think it has changed its style somewhat over the past decades!

MissPrism

For the working class experience, you could try Yarmouth.
It has the advantage of being in a nice part of England.
If you tire of candy floss, you can go somewhere more refined like Southwold.

caroline_edinburgh

I'll third Whitby as a lovely place.

But if you want a genuine working class experience, Blackpool at a weekend (v. popular with hen parties from as far away as Edinburgh at least).

MissPrism

Whitby is lovely, but I think that the OP wants candy floss, dodgems and "Kiss-me-Quick" hats.

sheila

Don't forget Ayr. Another Butlin's resort town.

Nikki

Is there an online resource for translation of the following sentence:
"Southend was where the London horny-handers did their knees up"? Do I have to learn a few polite phrases in this language to travel successfully in England? Are there polite phrases in this language?

doonhamer

Skegness? Mabelthorpe? Great Yarmouth?

Voyager2006

Nikki,

i suspect your request for a translation is EXACTLY why Flanner used the phrase in the first place and perhaps the only reason.

Xenos

Nikki,

"Horny-hander" should be fairly self-explanatory - i.e. someone with rough, hard hands, earned through years of manual labour.

Having a "knees-up" means having a night out, usually accompanied by generous amounts of alcohol and songs such as "My Old Man" and "Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner"

I don't think phrases like these will help you much in the rest of Europe, but a knowledge of them might help your understanding of any "real" people you might meet in the UK (as opposed to just those mainly concerned with the tourist industry). Might I suggest that you get hold of some old episodes of the popular UK soaps "Eastenders" for southern English expressions and "Coronation Street" for northern English. Anything you don't understand, I'm sure will be readily translated on here.

Just don't try using them yourself with a "foreign" accent. Even if you manage to get the context right, at best you'll sound ridiculous and at worst patronising.

PatrickLondon

Translation hints and tips: someone doesn't know their
(a) Jack London (and that is not a double entendre):
http://london.thefreelibrary.com/Bur...5#Horny-handed
(b) party songs:
http://ingeb.org/songs/kneesupm.html

bo_jack

I'm an American who has, at various times, stayed in Blackpool-St.Anne's (once, and never again), Brighton (once, and eager to return), and Bournemouth (twice was nice, but probably enough). My recommendation for what I think you want is Llandudno on the north coast of Wales. My wife and I stayed there for several days a few years ago in mid-September. This was just after schools had started -- so most seasonal attractions were still open, but it was relatively uncrowded. There is a very nice amusement pier (not nearly so big as Brighton), plus a well kept beach-front promonade and plenty of sea-front hotels (across the street from the beach). Most of the hotels and other accommodations appear to be pre-1950's construction, and some are probably much older. They are a little "frayed around the edges," but generally well kept. It strikes me as a place where middle-aged, working class people in the Midlands and North would likely go if they don't want to go as down-scale as Blackpool nor as far away as Brighton or Bournmouth. And, if you happen to be flying into Manchester, it is only a few hours away.

GeoffHamer

If you want an old-fashioned working-class seaside town, I'd suggest going somewhere like Poland. In Britain, working-class people can either afford package holidays somewhere cheap like Turkey, or they stay at home. A seaside town like Kolobrzeg has rows of cafés selling fish and chips, and lots of visitors who are there to enjoy themselves. British resorts have either moved upmarket, like Whitby for example, or have become retirement or commuter towns.

TaniaP

I took my Canadian husband to Scarborough years ago. He didn't quite get it, but enjoyed it all the same.

PalenqueBob

Flanneruk:
<Mrs F, who spent a slug of the early autumn trying to find somewhere in Blackpool a normal human being would willingly stay for even a night, swears there simply isn't anywhere tolerable>

you mean to tell me the Torries chose Blackpool for their yearly convention would chose such a town - now Labour i can understand wouldn't care as much - Torries can't find tolerable places to stay?

Anyway i second Blackpool as the Queen of all such British seaside resorts and about the only one i've been to besides Borunemouth and Torquay that have a breathe of life left to them. Seems most Brits prefer to fly to Spain or other sunny places these days where it's actually possible to swim without having to 'build character'.

sheila

Having attended more party conferences than I care to admit to in Blackpool (and no, not the Tories), I second Mrs Flanner's view. It is a dive of the worst sort. Unfortunately for the political parties there are only about 5 places in the UK that are big enough to take even the little one, and if Brighton and Bournemouth havethe pigeon fanciers in, we're stuffed!