by Over the summer we’ll be exploring the pulse of our most famous traditional seaside towns, examining the efforts being made to rejuvenate them, and wondering which are still worth visiting. This week, Paul Bloomfield explores Weston-super-Mare.
Maybe it was the neon that triggered the epilepsy. Or ear anarchy of robots squeals fighting with-up-to-11 Noughties “hits”. Or the unicorn-poo-hued candy floss I want wolfed. How else to explain why I was jumping dementedly on a sea of 2p pieces, pumping in shrapnel and praying for an avalanche of copper?
Until I visited Weston-super-Mare, I didn’t realize that money pressing machines still existed. (Full disclosure: I didn’t realize there were still 2p pieces, either.) My inner snob got in the way. My inner nine-year-old merrily surrendered to the sugar rush.
You could say that the Great Pier represents the unbuilt face of this resort that I love in Somerset. Except not – unbuilt, that is. It was opened in 1904, its pavilion burned down in 1930, then again in 2008.
The latest iteration is, in many ways, a metaphor for Weston. Its ghost train, donut factory and more than 500 games contrast with a £500,000 investment in all-electric go-karts, and interpretive programs discussing birdlife, war history and architecture. Likewise, craft breweries and cutting-edge street art in town include chips, crazy golf and cheap boozers. Weston is an arcade game of two halves.
The fascinating museum tells his rags-to-riches-to-charity story in vivid detail. How Brunel’s railway, completed in 1841, brought a boom time to a small fishing town, seeding a honeypot that attracted almost 80,000 on bank holidays before the Second World War. But the tourism bubble burst on budget trips abroad, and the situation declined. Weston went from great to… well, you can connect the dots.
What is it really like?
Nursing your flat white oat milk and looking out over two miles of golden sand from Revo Kitchen’s terrace – once an aquarium, recently given peer status – you could believe the Bristol-on-Sea hype. Weston’s property prices are a third lower than its larger neighbour, and waves of urban exodus are fueling demand for artisan bakeries and alternatives to traditional entertainment. Witness the Front Room fringe theater and hipster-baiting bars of Grove Village.
That image is intertwined with the parade of tattooed bullets, the bars jutting out and the shops wielding garish buckets and spades.
“A few years ago, consultants tried to rebrand the town as ‘More Waitrose and less Aldi’,” said one local. “But the Weston market is not people who go glamping in Cornwall. People from Birmingham and Wales come for donkey rides and ice lollies on the beach – and that’s fine.”
There are mutterings that Weston may emulate Margate, another hard-fallen seaside pariah that comes through in art. Since Banksy’s installation of his Dismaland “turbulence park” in 2015, street artists have assembled buildings across town, which are assembled each year during Upfest. Follow the Weston Wallz trail to see more than a dozen new murals.
Among other regeneration initiatives, cash tranches – the latest of £20m received from the Government’s Level Up funds – have revitalized shop fronts along Walliscote Road, attracting independent retailers including an art gallery of excellent, Thai bistro and dental bakery. Opposite the Plaza cinema – formerly Odeon – a 1935 Art Deco uniform that retains its original Compton pipe organ, is also being restored.
Periods are also emerging. The humble Commodore on Sands has been transformed into the boutique-y South Sands Hotel, overlooking Cornwall, yes.
What’s not to like?
The TelegraphThe gentrification index ranked Weston the third worst seaside town in Britain. Passing the amusement arcades and sports bars along Regent Street, it’s not hard to see why. At 9.30am, I watched a lone punter insert coins into nearby fruit machines amid migraine-inducing beeps. He would not be alone for long.
Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, loved the Art Deco lido – once Europe’s largest outdoor swimming pool – during his exile in the 1930s, but now frequents hosting events frequently. Improvement work should begin this summer to create an 8,000 capacity venue.
Another beneficiary of the Leveling Up investment is Birnbeck Pier, which is the northernmost of three sea spinning landmarks, opened in 1867, this Grade II listed ghost should be restored and opened to the public next year .
You will not want tattoos or take away. The high street is literally and fittingly situated between two Greggs. The large, well-run and, when I visited, bustling, Free Stuff Fridge food bank is a reminder of Weston’s problems. So is the Knife Angel currently passing over the Italian Gardens, created using 100,000 knives seized by the police or donated during amnesties across the country.
In the interest of fairness, very few units are vacant. And the Weston variety keeps things spicy. As Shakespeare wrote, which is mentioned on plaques above the street’s Grade II-listed WHSmith: “Come and choose all my library, and so beguile your sorrow.” Or, as street artists encourage: “Dream Big! Believe! Carry on!”
Do this
Make a splash. Weston was way ahead of the wellness trend: as far back as the 1830s, Dr Edward Long Fox promoted the health benefits of sea bathing here. Today, the enclosed Loch na Mara offers a clean, free place – I can happily testify, even on a cloudy May morning – a warm place to swim well into the sunset.
Then cool off at the craft beer bars in nearby Grove Village. The pick of the bunch is the Fat Head Brewery & Taproom – Lemon Head pale is an affordable, quaffable cask ale – and Black Cat Micropub. End the evening with a table meeting at the Stables Games Room or swinging to a weekend world music performance at the Grove Park band venue.
Eat this…
At first glance, Weston seems like the kind of place to get five a day means ice cream, chips and candy floss, donor and donuts. So you’d imagine a menu featuring gochujang cauliflower and West African vegan peanut stew to raise eyebrows, if not shack. However, Loves Cafe has been delighting locals with delicious meat-free bites for over a decade. Come for global flavors, stay for live tunes.
Too hipster? Grab a regular (although let’s be honest, really big) portion of the proper chips from Winstons Fish Bar on the old-school seafront, and happily deal with the sand between your toes.
But don’t do this…
As more than one local told me, something euphemistically: “Things can be a bit … Walk straight inland from the Great Quay and you’ll reach the zone of cheap kebabs and pints along Alexandra Parade and beyond, where it is, it’s all right on a Saturday night for a fight – you’d better go on a summer evening.
And don’t be tempted to jump over the sand and into the surf when the sea is coming in. Apparently, Weston experiences the second highest tidal range in the world, regularly reaching almost 15m; many overzealous visitors have been caught out by rushing waves or drowned in mud. Note warning signs.
From the locals
“Before I came, my father-in-law said: ‘You’re not going to Weston-Super-Mud? I wouldn’t go there if you paid me rent!” recalls Mag, a resident for 30 years. “But there is a lot of civic pride. They work hard to keep the beaches and gardens clean. Even tidying up the bikes themselves.”
“There is an active community dedicated to improving Weston,” says Kelli Rapson, owner of Nutrition Bakery. “Historically, all the money was just outside the town, but now more is being invested in the centre. it yes Weston – you get people hanging around – but they’re usually harmless. And it has the best sunsets anywhere!”
From tourists
“I like the fresh air – I always sleep better after I’ve been to Weston,” says Veronica Sawyer, enjoying a day trip from Gloucester. “It’s free and cheerful – I don’t want it to be too edgy. I wouldn’t stay here for a week, but it’s great for a day trip, which cost us £20. What else do you get for £20 these days?”
“They spent a fortune on the promenade, and they did a great job,” says Wendy, from Midland who has been visiting for decades. “But they removed the beautiful series of lights that were strung on the platform, which was the epitome of a seaside business. The ones sent in to replace them are rubbish.”
Get there
Weston is half an hour’s drive from Bristol, with wooded hills to the north and south. Direct trains from London Paddington take just over two hours. The seafront is a 10-minute walk west of the station.
