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The Seaside: England's Love Affair
A vivid journey around England's great seaside resorts, exploring their history and current struggle, and what they reveal about England, from the award-winning author of Love of Country, England's seaside is made up of a striking variety of coastlines including cliffs, coves, pebbled shore, wide sandy beaches, salt marshes, and estuaries cutting deep inland.
On these coastal edges England's great holiday resorts grew up, developed in the early eighteenth century originally as spas for medicinal bathing but soon morphing into places of pleasure, entertainment, fantasy and adventure.
Acclaimed writer Madeleine Bunting journeyed clockwise around England from Scarborough to Blackpool to understand the enduring appeal of seaside towns, and what has happened to the golden sands, cold seas and donkey rides of childhood memory. Taking in some forty resorts, staying in hotels, caravans and holiday camps, she swims from their beaches and talks to their residents to delve into their landscapes, histories and contemporary plight.
On these coastal edges England's great holiday resorts grew up, developed in the early eighteenth century originally as spas for medicinal bathing but soon morphing into places of pleasure, entertainment, fantasy and adventure.
Acclaimed writer Madeleine Bunting journeyed clockwise around England from Scarborough to Blackpool to understand the enduring appeal of seaside towns, and what has happened to the golden sands, cold seas and donkey rides of childhood memory. Taking in some forty resorts, staying in hotels, caravans and holiday camps, she swims from their beaches and talks to their residents to delve into their landscapes, histories and contemporary plight.
400 pages, Hardcover
Published May 4, 2023
12 people are currently reading
257 people want to read
About the author
Madeleine Bunting
14 books30 followersMadeleine was born in North Yorkshire, one of five children of artist parents. She studied history at Corpus Christi, Cambridge and Harvard, US. She held a number positions at the Guardian including reporter, leader writer, religious affairs editor, and for twelve years, she was a columnist. She wrote about a wide range of subjects including Islam, faith, global development, politics and social change.
She directed the Guardian’s first ever festival, Open Weekend, in 2012.
From 2012-14, she led a team as Editorial Director of Strategy, working on a project around reimagining the institution of a newspaper and its relationship with readers.
She has a longstanding interest in contemplative practices and in 2013 she co-founded The Mindfulness Initiative to explore the potential of mindfulness in public policy particularly health and education. The Initiative supported the All Party Parliamentary Group in their 10 month inquiry which led to a report Mindful Nation UK, published in October 2015.
She lives in East London with her family.
She has received a number of awards and prizes including an honorary fellowship from Cardiff University in 2013, the Portico Prize for The Plot in 2010, a Lambeth MA degree in 2006, The Race in the Media award in 2005 and the Imam wa Amal Special Award in 2002. She has won several One World Media awards for her journalism on global justice.
She directed the Guardian’s first ever festival, Open Weekend, in 2012.
From 2012-14, she led a team as Editorial Director of Strategy, working on a project around reimagining the institution of a newspaper and its relationship with readers.
She has a longstanding interest in contemplative practices and in 2013 she co-founded The Mindfulness Initiative to explore the potential of mindfulness in public policy particularly health and education. The Initiative supported the All Party Parliamentary Group in their 10 month inquiry which led to a report Mindful Nation UK, published in October 2015.
She lives in East London with her family.
She has received a number of awards and prizes including an honorary fellowship from Cardiff University in 2013, the Portico Prize for The Plot in 2010, a Lambeth MA degree in 2006, The Race in the Media award in 2005 and the Imam wa Amal Special Award in 2002. She has won several One World Media awards for her journalism on global justice.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
October 2, 2023
(3.5) An engaging look at the very English phenomenon of the seaside resort and its history and perhaps inevitable decline - the rise of cheap flights and package holidays in the 1970s led many to replace the traditional two summer weeks at the coast with shorter overseas breaks. Bunting visits a number of down-at-heel places (Scarborough, Skegness, Canvey Island, Margate, Blackpool) where unemployment and life expectancy are significantly worse than in other parts of the country. She aims to give a picture of these towns, past and present, and brings in her own memories where relevant. I particularly liked hearing about her experience of living in Brighton, which isn't as shabby a place as many of the others she writes about.
I skimmed as much of this as I read because it went deeper into sociopolitical matters than I expected plus I found that I had less interest in the sites I wasn't personally familiar with. But Bunting always writes wonderfully, and I appreciated her literary references and the fact that she treats the seaside as metaphor as seriously as its reality.
Some favourite lines:
And an amazing statistic:
I skimmed as much of this as I read because it went deeper into sociopolitical matters than I expected plus I found that I had less interest in the sites I wasn't personally familiar with. But Bunting always writes wonderfully, and I appreciated her literary references and the fact that she treats the seaside as metaphor as seriously as its reality.
Some favourite lines:
"how do these resorts live with their noisy, vibrant pasts and their powerful, capacious stock of memory, nostalgia, decline and identity?"
"The sense of an ending always hovers in the background at the seaside: the end of lives, the end of eras."
And an amazing statistic:
"Today, 36 per cent of the UK's population live within five kilometres of the sea, and 63 per cent within fifteen kilometres"
May 22, 2023
A very interesting account of how many of Britain's seaside resorts originally became fashionable; some because of the supposed health advantages of 'bracing sea air', particularly for older citizens, and others because when many factories in northern England closed for a fortnight each summer ('the wakes'), many of their workers would depart for two weeks in Blackpool, Bridlington or Skegness. For many working-class Londoners, Clacton or Southend were their nearest holiday resort.
However, with the advent of cheap package holidays to Spain from the 1970s, many of the former regular visitors to these coastal resorts now took their annual summer holiday in Benidorm or Majorca, and the relentless decline of English seaside towns - my former home-town of Brighton excepted - began.
Since then, most of England's former seaside resorts have become characterised by dilapidated or closed-down hotels, an ageing population as retirees move in and young people move away due to lack of jobs and poverty wages, only seasonal low-paid employment, and social problems such as drug addiction fuelled by boredom and a sense of hopelessness about the future.
This is a fascinating, informative and well-written book, partly social and cultural history, partly geographic, partly sociological, and partly about the politics of decline and despair in seaside towns - many of which voted overwhelmingly for Brexit in 2016, doubtless yearning to turn-back-the-clock and revive their 1950s' heyday and Golden Age.
However, with the advent of cheap package holidays to Spain from the 1970s, many of the former regular visitors to these coastal resorts now took their annual summer holiday in Benidorm or Majorca, and the relentless decline of English seaside towns - my former home-town of Brighton excepted - began.
Since then, most of England's former seaside resorts have become characterised by dilapidated or closed-down hotels, an ageing population as retirees move in and young people move away due to lack of jobs and poverty wages, only seasonal low-paid employment, and social problems such as drug addiction fuelled by boredom and a sense of hopelessness about the future.
This is a fascinating, informative and well-written book, partly social and cultural history, partly geographic, partly sociological, and partly about the politics of decline and despair in seaside towns - many of which voted overwhelmingly for Brexit in 2016, doubtless yearning to turn-back-the-clock and revive their 1950s' heyday and Golden Age.
June 27, 2023
I was looking forward to this book but actually found it quite dull. The issues impacting seaside communities are already very well known and I didn't think this book added anything to my understanding.
A missed opportunity.
A missed opportunity.
October 16, 2023
(3.5) This book offers a varied account of some of England’s seaside towns, from Scarborough and Blackpool in the North, to Canvey Island and Padstow in the South. Bunting visited some forty seaside towns, where she stayed in hotels, caravans and campsites and interviewed local residents.
I found this a difficult book to rate, hence my 3.5 star rating. It was a little hard going in places, especially when Bunting introduced politics and the current immigration problems. The other issue that nagged me somewhat was how rude and dismissive Bunting was about certain areas of the country. Since the rise in cheap flights and package holidays during the 1970’s, we are all aware of the struggles that many British seaside towns face, without the constant need to remind the reader.
Overall, there were more negatives than positives in this book for me. I would like to have read more of the history of each (or some) of the towns and less of their current political climate.
I found this a difficult book to rate, hence my 3.5 star rating. It was a little hard going in places, especially when Bunting introduced politics and the current immigration problems. The other issue that nagged me somewhat was how rude and dismissive Bunting was about certain areas of the country. Since the rise in cheap flights and package holidays during the 1970’s, we are all aware of the struggles that many British seaside towns face, without the constant need to remind the reader.
Overall, there were more negatives than positives in this book for me. I would like to have read more of the history of each (or some) of the towns and less of their current political climate.
February 22, 2025
I find it continually surprising with many clever writers, commentators and politicians of a liberal leaning that a simple fact and truth doesn't appear to be obvious to them.
Over and over again in this depressing book, the author criticises those who oppose illegal small boat crossings. She implies those who oppose it as being unfriendly, inhumane and essentially anti Christian, being the exact opposite of loving thy neighbour.
Alongside this, comes chapter after chapter, including most of a miserable epilogue, of the massive problems facing many of England's coastal towns she encountered travelling around and selecting mainly once thriving resorts which she argues, have become ghettoes of drug users, with generations of jobless benefit claimants, homeless, failed and ailing businesses, boarded up cafes, hotels and b and b's, dumping grounds for councils to send the people they can't or won't house inland.
Yet, the simple fact and truth that allowing more people, many illegally, to settle here, doesn't appear to register in her brain as adding to the problem. It's a shame as it detracts from an otherwise excellent synopsis of the scandalous mismanagement governments, councils and us the people have allowed to happen to our once coastal gems.
Hardly a day goes by without me, a coastal resident, witnessing on Facebook, Nextdoor or one of the other social media platforms that have given voice to the once silent majority, people complaining about not being able to get GP appointments or unable to get on a waiting list to be seen by an NHS dentist. They're followed by another bunch of comments from people who say it's because of the influx of new people either moving in to the many new housing developments or poor, homeless families being moved to unsuitable houses of multiple occupation, which the author observes, often used to be classy Victorian hotels.
Then, the comfortable classes and liberal commentators are aghast at people who question why we're allowing so many more people to come to our shores, aghast at the rise of a politician and party that has the temerity to try to tackle it. It's not rocket science - if you've massive social problems already, surely you need to sort them out before you make it worse by adding to it and making it bigger? Isn't that the simple truth and fact?
Such a simple thought is beyond this author who revels in her well researched facts to show that the millions of factory workers who used to have their week or fortnight in Blackpool, Morecambe or Skegness have long gone and left those resorts as ghost towns, reliant on day trippers who don't spend a fraction of the money the resorts once received. She paints an interesting picture of the surviving and successful Butlin's holiday camps at Minehead and elsewhere which are providing much needed valuable employment to local people but, critically, are fenced off pleasure domes within those towns with the good timers rarely venturing out from their holiday camps even to the seafront, let alone the high street.
It's interesting that the author doesn't visit many seaside towns which are still doing well from the tourist industry such as in Cornwall where just a few summers ago, Britons were told please don't visit, Cornwall's full. It's a conundrum the author doesn't tackle - with a burgeoning UK population with their sat navs sending them down single file west country lanes leading to road rage and sweaty traffic hell to airbnbs built for local people to live in, a surge in tourism actually creates problems rather than eases them.
Where the author does visit coastal towns doing better than others - Padstow and Southwold for example - she hones in, quite rightly, on the problem of most of the traditional old properties like fishermen's cottages having been pimped up and sold as buy for rents or second homes, turning once poor, struggling workers into sudden millionaires but depriving their fellow villagers and townspeople of being able to rent or buy such a property and casting them onto the rising tide of homeless coastal folk forced into temporary accommodation.
When she visits Southend, the author falls into the trap of continuing to portray the resort as a kiss me quick cheap skate throwaway by describing "a bikini clad young woman lying on top of her boyfriend....close to orgasm" rather than on its culture like the Kursaal or the millions of pounds that have been spent to improve its profile.
There's a sad but ultimately partly successful account of a west country woman who was in that predicament, refused to accept it and began a campaign to try to stop coastal properties ending up on Airbnb or out of the rent or purchase range of average and less than average earners. Her trouble is few councils and no government will enter the market and stop it.
That, and other valuable observations in Madeleine Bunting's book have strengthened my own belief that the answers to some of the problems of our coastal towns can be solved by us. Governments and councils have over decades, failed to address the demise by ignoring in depth parliamentary studies, watching as things worsen and then, sometimes, adding to the problems by relaxing policies or introducing new ones.
Where governments do act with huge injections of our money, does it work? The author writes of hopes that a long awaited and much delayed northern Eden project may revive Morecambe. Will it ? When I visit Cornwall, I go for the natural beauty rather than some man made theme park lamenting our wilful destruction of nature.
I'm thinking that, so let down by government and local authorities, regeneration of coastal town economies needs to come from us and private enterprise. Rather than criticise Rick Stein buying up several properties in Padstow for example, the author should welcome the risks he took with his time and money which has helped bring thousands to this once sleepy fishing village. Ok, most of us will never be able to afford to sample his culinary creations, but surely his enterprise should be congratulated. Jamie Oliver's attempt to help Newquay's economy and give skills and jobs to local people should have been supported and encouraged - instead it's gone. Where was the support and encouragement from the local council or government there? Smaller scale enterprises like The Nose community bookshop, cafe and events venue in Walton on the Naze are to be applauded and supported for the small boost to the local economy and, as importantly, building hope and community among residents.
It's also up to those who live in coastal towns and are doing all right to help those who are struggling - to give our time, talents and generosity to those on hard times living as our neighbours wherever they are from. There begins community and building community brings ideas, opportunities, hope and better times.
There is some hope in The Seaside. The author waxes lyrical in her epilogue about a character who calls on local councils to be brave in wanting to tackle the huge problems in our coastal communities. He goes around England with ideas to revive towns like Lowestoft, Margate and Boscombe. I wonder if Wayne Hemingway's magic would work in Jaywick?
Jaywick does get a good mention from the author, encapsulating the story of how it came about through an entrepreneurial spiv named Frank Stedman. I wonder what he would now make of the place he was responsible for creating. It is a case of private enterprise and a rudimentary wild west style lookalike which has evolved with local authority or government planning and regulation in almost total absence.
This book also has some delightful facts and observations.
I didn't realise that Blackpool was such an entertainment magnet in its heyday that when Sinatra performed in England in 1950, the north western resort was the only place he sang in outside of London.
I thank the author too for introducing me to On Chapel Sands, a book on my list to read telling the tale of a true life disappearance many years ago in coastal Lincolnshire.
There's a wonderful passage about Cyril, a 1960's hotelier in Skegness who broke down the social awkwardness of his guests, echoing something Butlin realised with his ethos to get stiff English holidaymakers to loosen up and have a good time.
I enjoyed her autobiographical memories of living in Brighton. They capture a sense of the place I've experienced, and the author cleverly entwines it with a skilful description of some of the plot of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock.
I was reminded by the author of how cut off the north Devon coastal town of Ilfracombe is from twenty first transport networks, contributing to its sad situation which even Damien Hirst and Verity hasn't been able to rejuvenate.
Such a book isn't new. I've read similar travel critiques of England's once booming coastal resorts. What makes Madeleine Bunting's book so worthwhile is that it brings it up to date with, largely , an account of the scandalous way our coastal towns are being used as human dumping grounds by local politicians overwhelmed by the scale of the problems they face and national politicians more or less burying their heads in our seaside sand.
Over and over again in this depressing book, the author criticises those who oppose illegal small boat crossings. She implies those who oppose it as being unfriendly, inhumane and essentially anti Christian, being the exact opposite of loving thy neighbour.
Alongside this, comes chapter after chapter, including most of a miserable epilogue, of the massive problems facing many of England's coastal towns she encountered travelling around and selecting mainly once thriving resorts which she argues, have become ghettoes of drug users, with generations of jobless benefit claimants, homeless, failed and ailing businesses, boarded up cafes, hotels and b and b's, dumping grounds for councils to send the people they can't or won't house inland.
Yet, the simple fact and truth that allowing more people, many illegally, to settle here, doesn't appear to register in her brain as adding to the problem. It's a shame as it detracts from an otherwise excellent synopsis of the scandalous mismanagement governments, councils and us the people have allowed to happen to our once coastal gems.
Hardly a day goes by without me, a coastal resident, witnessing on Facebook, Nextdoor or one of the other social media platforms that have given voice to the once silent majority, people complaining about not being able to get GP appointments or unable to get on a waiting list to be seen by an NHS dentist. They're followed by another bunch of comments from people who say it's because of the influx of new people either moving in to the many new housing developments or poor, homeless families being moved to unsuitable houses of multiple occupation, which the author observes, often used to be classy Victorian hotels.
Then, the comfortable classes and liberal commentators are aghast at people who question why we're allowing so many more people to come to our shores, aghast at the rise of a politician and party that has the temerity to try to tackle it. It's not rocket science - if you've massive social problems already, surely you need to sort them out before you make it worse by adding to it and making it bigger? Isn't that the simple truth and fact?
Such a simple thought is beyond this author who revels in her well researched facts to show that the millions of factory workers who used to have their week or fortnight in Blackpool, Morecambe or Skegness have long gone and left those resorts as ghost towns, reliant on day trippers who don't spend a fraction of the money the resorts once received. She paints an interesting picture of the surviving and successful Butlin's holiday camps at Minehead and elsewhere which are providing much needed valuable employment to local people but, critically, are fenced off pleasure domes within those towns with the good timers rarely venturing out from their holiday camps even to the seafront, let alone the high street.
It's interesting that the author doesn't visit many seaside towns which are still doing well from the tourist industry such as in Cornwall where just a few summers ago, Britons were told please don't visit, Cornwall's full. It's a conundrum the author doesn't tackle - with a burgeoning UK population with their sat navs sending them down single file west country lanes leading to road rage and sweaty traffic hell to airbnbs built for local people to live in, a surge in tourism actually creates problems rather than eases them.
Where the author does visit coastal towns doing better than others - Padstow and Southwold for example - she hones in, quite rightly, on the problem of most of the traditional old properties like fishermen's cottages having been pimped up and sold as buy for rents or second homes, turning once poor, struggling workers into sudden millionaires but depriving their fellow villagers and townspeople of being able to rent or buy such a property and casting them onto the rising tide of homeless coastal folk forced into temporary accommodation.
When she visits Southend, the author falls into the trap of continuing to portray the resort as a kiss me quick cheap skate throwaway by describing "a bikini clad young woman lying on top of her boyfriend....close to orgasm" rather than on its culture like the Kursaal or the millions of pounds that have been spent to improve its profile.
There's a sad but ultimately partly successful account of a west country woman who was in that predicament, refused to accept it and began a campaign to try to stop coastal properties ending up on Airbnb or out of the rent or purchase range of average and less than average earners. Her trouble is few councils and no government will enter the market and stop it.
That, and other valuable observations in Madeleine Bunting's book have strengthened my own belief that the answers to some of the problems of our coastal towns can be solved by us. Governments and councils have over decades, failed to address the demise by ignoring in depth parliamentary studies, watching as things worsen and then, sometimes, adding to the problems by relaxing policies or introducing new ones.
Where governments do act with huge injections of our money, does it work? The author writes of hopes that a long awaited and much delayed northern Eden project may revive Morecambe. Will it ? When I visit Cornwall, I go for the natural beauty rather than some man made theme park lamenting our wilful destruction of nature.
I'm thinking that, so let down by government and local authorities, regeneration of coastal town economies needs to come from us and private enterprise. Rather than criticise Rick Stein buying up several properties in Padstow for example, the author should welcome the risks he took with his time and money which has helped bring thousands to this once sleepy fishing village. Ok, most of us will never be able to afford to sample his culinary creations, but surely his enterprise should be congratulated. Jamie Oliver's attempt to help Newquay's economy and give skills and jobs to local people should have been supported and encouraged - instead it's gone. Where was the support and encouragement from the local council or government there? Smaller scale enterprises like The Nose community bookshop, cafe and events venue in Walton on the Naze are to be applauded and supported for the small boost to the local economy and, as importantly, building hope and community among residents.
It's also up to those who live in coastal towns and are doing all right to help those who are struggling - to give our time, talents and generosity to those on hard times living as our neighbours wherever they are from. There begins community and building community brings ideas, opportunities, hope and better times.
There is some hope in The Seaside. The author waxes lyrical in her epilogue about a character who calls on local councils to be brave in wanting to tackle the huge problems in our coastal communities. He goes around England with ideas to revive towns like Lowestoft, Margate and Boscombe. I wonder if Wayne Hemingway's magic would work in Jaywick?
Jaywick does get a good mention from the author, encapsulating the story of how it came about through an entrepreneurial spiv named Frank Stedman. I wonder what he would now make of the place he was responsible for creating. It is a case of private enterprise and a rudimentary wild west style lookalike which has evolved with local authority or government planning and regulation in almost total absence.
This book also has some delightful facts and observations.
I didn't realise that Blackpool was such an entertainment magnet in its heyday that when Sinatra performed in England in 1950, the north western resort was the only place he sang in outside of London.
I thank the author too for introducing me to On Chapel Sands, a book on my list to read telling the tale of a true life disappearance many years ago in coastal Lincolnshire.
There's a wonderful passage about Cyril, a 1960's hotelier in Skegness who broke down the social awkwardness of his guests, echoing something Butlin realised with his ethos to get stiff English holidaymakers to loosen up and have a good time.
I enjoyed her autobiographical memories of living in Brighton. They capture a sense of the place I've experienced, and the author cleverly entwines it with a skilful description of some of the plot of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock.
I was reminded by the author of how cut off the north Devon coastal town of Ilfracombe is from twenty first transport networks, contributing to its sad situation which even Damien Hirst and Verity hasn't been able to rejuvenate.
Such a book isn't new. I've read similar travel critiques of England's once booming coastal resorts. What makes Madeleine Bunting's book so worthwhile is that it brings it up to date with, largely , an account of the scandalous way our coastal towns are being used as human dumping grounds by local politicians overwhelmed by the scale of the problems they face and national politicians more or less burying their heads in our seaside sand.
February 27, 2024
A round England tour of seaside resorts in the last few years including Covid years. Some great stories albeit nothing really surprised me about the current state of our costal resorts
July 7, 2023
This cogently written impassioned book should be required reading for all MPs representing coastal resorts as investment in infrastructure projects is all very well but it has to go hand in hand with improving health and education inequalities as well as alleviating poverty and deprivation.
The author cites places where the arts have been used to stimulate regeneration such as the Turner Contemporary Arts Gallery in Margate. The danger is though that it can lead to the gentrification of certain areas of coastal towns whilst not addressing the deeply entrenched social divisions. Using the arts can be beneficial but it has to have a broad appeal and not just cater to the middle and high brow middle classes.
Skegness has the annual SO Festival which is great but that is only for two days a year. If the levelling up funding is used wisely to redevelop the foreshore then the hope is that it will bring long term benefits to the whole community but there is much work to be done for that to happen.
The author cites places where the arts have been used to stimulate regeneration such as the Turner Contemporary Arts Gallery in Margate. The danger is though that it can lead to the gentrification of certain areas of coastal towns whilst not addressing the deeply entrenched social divisions. Using the arts can be beneficial but it has to have a broad appeal and not just cater to the middle and high brow middle classes.
Skegness has the annual SO Festival which is great but that is only for two days a year. If the levelling up funding is used wisely to redevelop the foreshore then the hope is that it will bring long term benefits to the whole community but there is much work to be done for that to happen.
June 2, 2023
The author takes us on a journey around some of the most and least well known English seaside resorts over a time span encompassing pre, during and post pandemic. Using personal recollections, observations, interviews with residents and facts and figures, we come to understand the history of these resorts and the challenges faced by them today. I particularly enjoyed reading of the changes in attitude of the English from fear of the coast, to embracing it for health reasons before using it as an escape from the harshness of life in factory and industry. So many of the places visited have the same problems; poor accommodation and infrastructure, few job opportunities, health inequalities and often transient populations. Yet there are inspirational projects too, designed to create opportunities. In addition, the author provides plenty of references to both fiction, research, accounts and videos to follow up. An excellent read on a topic with which most of us are familiar; the seaside.
June 18, 2023
Most of my meetings start with a call to declare any 'conflicts of interest', so I should declare I grew up in mighty Blackpool which gets its own chapter here. [Possibly because of that bias] I found this a fascinating but thoroughly, thoroughly depressing account of the rise and fall of the UK seaside resort. Some of that decline I witnessed at first hand, but what was particularly jarring was seeing my anecdotal sense of soem of the problems translated into brutal and shocking contemporary statistics of social deprivation (educational achievement, health outcomes, etc. etc.) and economic failure. These pre-existing issues coupled with the grim impact of Brexit (ironically voted for by many of these seaside communities that will suffer most from its fallout) mean the future seems all too bleak.
June 30, 2023
An interesting read but not one that just mentions the ice-cream and sunshine. The seaside is almost a British invention but the industrial revolution and geography led the way. Working in factories all year and escaping on the train to the clean air of the seaside particularly favours Britain. The early resorts had to be a train ride away from the factories and have clean water so no polluted rivers. However things change. As more holidays were taken elsewhere the large number of unwanted large hotels and guest hoses created a suitable place to park modern Britain's surplus population. Hence the modern landscape of a mix of holiday makes, the retired and the unwanted.
Inevitable an interesting combination.
The book was spoiled by some sloppy references. I question some of the 'facts' and the sentence ' fat seagulls and herring gulls' grated upon me.
Inevitable an interesting combination.
The book was spoiled by some sloppy references. I question some of the 'facts' and the sentence ' fat seagulls and herring gulls' grated upon me.
August 4, 2025
I'm not entirely sure what The Seaside is. Part travel writing, part history, part social analysis and part source of cultural references. It is nevertheless a thoroughy engaging book and, perhaps, the overall hodge podge of purpose complements it's recurring theme of liminality?
It is undoubtedly true, however, that The Seaside is a book written with a decidely left wing bent. Brexit is bad, the Tories are bad, demographic challenges can be resolved essentially through more money without ever considering where that money comes from. In and of itself this isn't a bad thing but it is important to understand the perspective that the author is coming from.
It's notable that The Seaside is published by Granta, and I say this as a subscriber, it is the most Grant book imaginable.
It is undoubtedly true, however, that The Seaside is a book written with a decidely left wing bent. Brexit is bad, the Tories are bad, demographic challenges can be resolved essentially through more money without ever considering where that money comes from. In and of itself this isn't a bad thing but it is important to understand the perspective that the author is coming from.
It's notable that The Seaside is published by Granta, and I say this as a subscriber, it is the most Grant book imaginable.
December 18, 2023
A really excellent book on what the coast and coastal towns and cities means to people in England and why we should all care about their current decline. Madeleine Bunting chronicles the heyday of the seaside and also details what has become a sad spectacle of run-down places and people as a result of successive governments’ policies. There are many upsides to the book too, it’s not all bad news, but the idea that something must be done to revive our seaside areas is clearly stated and headlined in this very readable and interesting book.
August 6, 2023
Addressing the complexities of our relationship with the seaside resorts of England this superb book should be mandatory reading for politicians. We may be familiar with many of the issues but this crystalises the crisises they face from housing, health, poverty, employment and how many actions taking at central and local government level only exacerbate these problems. It also highlights the huge issue of class and how this has impacted on our resorts.
July 2, 2023
Really compelling mix of reportage and research; the early chapters don’t quite get the blend exactly right - the fact the book was written during lockdowns maybe? - but it finds its voice and by the time it tackles Blackpool and Morecambe it’s such a powerful combination of techniques that tells a story of decline and courage in the face of that decline.
December 13, 2023
An entertaining and informative journey to take from your armchair, especially if you have a nostalgia for (what are now) often rather scruffy seaside resorts. And a look at the poverty and desperation that lurks in many of our seaside towns, the result of the public abandoning them for jaunts to Costa Brava and the like.
July 30, 2025
Bought this to read during a 4 night stay in Hastings (although took me a couple of weeks longer to finish it). A fascinating and poignant elegy to the history and legacy of the English seaside town.
July 10, 2023
A great idea for a book, written by the right person. A bit of a sad comment about how both we and time have mistreated those towns on the edge.
December 28, 2024
Further expanded my deep love of the British seaside
April 22, 2025
More like a series of magazine articles about different British seaside resorts and their demise. Same theme for each one really… all had their hey day and now have fallen into hard times. Each chapter basically said the same about each place.. just a few variations .. so I found this very boring. Wouldn’t recommend.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews