A once-booming UK seaside town has been savaged by Brits in a recent poll, urging tourists to 'run away'. The previously loved coastal resort attracted tens of thousands of visitors each year.
Yet a recent Which? survey has found that the town of Skegness in Lincolnshire is the 'worst' in the entire country. The town has been blasted as 'horribly smelly' with 'dirty beaches' and managed just one star out of five on the rating scale, reports the Mirror.
The town has often been viewed as an affordable beach destination in the UK, with popularity booming after Butlin's opened its first holiday resort in Skegness. However, Brits have since turned sour on the area and are urging visitors to avoid it for their next getaway.
The survey, of over 3000 Brits, gave the town a score of just 48% in a new poll. It's a far cry from the hustle and bustle of the town from its emergence in 1973 when a railway line offered a quick jaunt to the coast, especially popular with those from the East Midlands.
Fairground amusements, classic fish and chips and fun for the whole family was the lure of Skegness, but Brits have categorically turned their back, with cheap and cheerful holidays to the warmer climates of Spain, Greece and Portugal much preferred.
Previous visitors went on to slam the state of the town, with one writing: "The beach was horrible and we had to go 20 miles up the road to Mablethorpe to enjoy a decent beach. Overall terrible place with terrible people. I will never go there ever again."
Another commented: "Horribly smelly. The sea has a brown froth on the top. The streets are dirty. The roads are potholed." One reviewer urged anyone weighing up a visit to 'run away'.
However it was all bad news for Skegness as Which? Travel Editor Rory Boland jumped to the defence of Britain's remaining seaside resorts and claims more must be done to raise their profile again: "Where was my last UK seaside break? Southend on Sea.
"This small city on the Essex coast finished an unhappy fourth from bottom in our survey. Now I’m not going to try and convince you it deserves to be up the other end of the table.
"Is it as nice as Bamburgh, or Dartmouth? No. But for that holiday where you want to have some fun and not spend a lot of money, it’s fantastic.
"In Southend me and my kids won (and lost) a fortune on the penny slot machines, took a spin on the carousel aboard a pair of pink elephants and ate £9 fish and chips with our toes in the miles of sandy beach.
"It was not a warts free holiday. Rubbish blew around our feet while we walked along the promenade and many buildings looked run down, a reflection of the struggles Southend and many other traditional seaside resorts have in raising enough revenue to regenerate their town centres.
"Not for the first time we also had to cross the road away from boozed up and shouty day drinkers. This is a perpetual problem in some seaside resort towns.
"Clacton, Skegness and Southend all received one star from visitors for the lack of peace and quiet, and some visitors complain that the boisterous atmosphere can tip into feeling unsafe.
"That’s a shame, because what Clacton, Skegness and Southend offer is exactly the sort of seaside break many of us want.
"Big beaches, big entertainment and small prices. More should be done to help them level up and become first class holiday resorts."
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