Weston-super-Mare is rightly a much-loved seaside destination that tourists return to year after year - but if you're after a turquoise ocean and icing sugar-like sands, you'd be better off heading elsewhere this summer.
Not everyone does their research before their first visit and many people are surprised to find an expanse of mudflats beyond the stretch of golden sand, when the tide goes out. Locals often affectionately refer to their hometown as 'Weston-super-Mud', but people unfamiliar with the beach have been known to get caught out in the sticky sand.
This week has brought the hottest days of the year so far, and with it an influx of visitors looking to soak up some sunshine. However, not all visitors at the beach over the years have been impressed with all it has to offer - with one visitor taking to TripAdvisor to vent about their experience.
Read more: West Country beach 'turned into a warzone' with tourists too afraid to visit
A profile named 'RITCHER', whose location was listed as Bristol, wrote on Thursday (June 16): "Well where to start! We travelled here on what was billed as the hottest 2 days of the year so far, 16/6 and 17/6, billed as sunny blue skies and 29C.
"The sea is at best resembles a sepsis, dark brown slurry of mud - hardly what we were expecting as The English Riviera. Hotels, old, long past their days charging extortionate prices, kiss me quick hats and overpriced fish and chips.
"By 17.50 on our first day the kids were cold as the sky had clouded over, the wind biting if not in a sheltered area. Filth everywhere, unemptied bins and so we left never to return - Crete here we come for half the price!"
Another visitor this month, Renee P, wrote: "First and last visit. We will not come back again. Mudy [sic] place, little bugs everywhere..."
It's not the first time the North Somerset seaside resort has been criticised by out-of-towners. This time last year, a video from an American Tiktok influencer went viral after he Weston-super-Mare beach and asked 'what the hell is this?'
In March last year, a Which? poll named Weston as the second-worst seaside town in the UK. However, despite the negativity, the Somerset destination has a lot to offer.
As for the TripAdvisor criticism, dedicated members of the community regularly come together to help minimise litter problems and clean the coast of Weston. And last summer a Somerset Live reporter tried the best-rated fish and chips in town, admitting it was "not necessarily the cheapest" but that he couldn't recall a time they'd tasted better fish and chips.
'My little paradise'
The brown sea in Weston-super-Mare and the wider Bristol Channel coastline is also a good thing, at least for the environment - it supports a wealth of wildlife so rich it is considered to be of international importance and is protected by international law. It might not be conventionally pretty, but there is a reason to be proud of North Somerset’s muddy coastal waters.
Other beach visitors have been much more positive on the review site. 'Kathrin' described it as "my little paradise", while 'D0risim0' wrote: "Thought we'd take a visit here whilst staying in Bristol as it's not too far.
"The beach is really beautiful, so much sand and so clean. There are lots of places to eat and drink and lots of parking too, definitely worth a visit."
'This is an updated version of an article first published in June, 2022
UP NEXT:
