‘In the morning they are comatose on the sand’: the Cornish village fighting back against private-school parties

Polzeath at sunset: the beach has become a magnet for privileged young people to party into the night. Photograph: ANL/Shutterstock

For many locals and visitors alike the little seaside village of Polzeath is the Cornish dream. By day holiday-makers eating ice-creams and pasties wander barefoot down its one main street. On the large sandy beach, the distant sea is the canvas to a mass of black dots, as children in wetsuits ride the waves with bodyboards and surfboards.

Yet this weekend, as hordes of wealthy teenagers from independent schools across the country descend for their annual two weeks of partying before state schools break up, locals are braced for the darker side of tourism.