It has been named because the worst seaside city in Yorkshire however Alex Evans was amazed at what he discovered.
Bridlington has been rated the worst seaside city in Yorkshire (Picture: Alex Evans)
It has been named because the worst seaside city in Yorkshire. So once I took my household as much as Bridlington on the East Yorkshire coast on a gray weekend in February, it’s secure to say that my expectations have been low.
The little seaside city has for the second 12 months in a row ranked backside of Which?’s greatest seaside cities survey out of all the numerous Yorkshire coastal resorts in its examine, clearly crushed by Filey, Scarborough and Whitby in addition to Robin Hood’s Bay.
In truth, there weren’t that many English seaside cities rated decrease than Bridlington, with the likes of Skegness, Blackpool, Weston-super-Mare and Nigel Farage’s Clacton among the unfortunate seasides faring worse within the rankings. Even Barry Island, house of Gavin & Stacey, is rated larger than Brid.
However I used to be shocked at what I discovered in Bridlington. We arrived and have been met with the selection of ‘South Seaside’ or ‘North Seaside’, although sadly that is the place parallels with Miami finish. However, no less than for a two-year-old to have a bit of day trip, what we discovered was a superbly serviceable strip of seaside with a helpful city connected.
Alex and his son gathering stones on Bridlington seashore (Picture: Alex Evans)
With a toddler in tow, gone are the times once we used to go to Florida and the Caribbean, no less than for now. As an alternative we have to discover one thing to fill each weekend, ideally fairly simple and fairly low-cost, to maintain the little man entertained. For this objective, Bridlington is completely good – and even higher than close by Filey in North Yorkshire, which we additionally visited the following day for comparability.
Parking was simple and free. We parked on the seafront street with no parking restrictions and didn’t must pay. The sand was excellent for sandcastles, the seashore is large, is straightforward to entry and near the seafront roads with out having to hobble down a whole bunch of steps, and is lengthy sufficient to have the ability to keep nicely away from the ocean, even because the tide is available in. There are some rocks, pebbles and bricks blended into the sand, but it surely wasn’t soiled and there was no litter.
What’s extra, the services have been free and plentiful. Free public loos are spaced each few hundred yards down the seafront, with extra on the town. For those who’ve ever potty educated a toddler, you’ll know the way a lot of a sport changer that is.
The seafront retailers additionally provided ‘child cone’ whippy ice cream for £1.80. No £5 99 Flakes right here.
The city centre is hardly Vegas, and is crushed by virtually any UK metropolis centre for outlets and points of interest. Nevertheless it did have a bit of farmers’ market on Saturday morning, at which I picked up some native Yorkshire honey, some home-made marmalade and some cheese truckles from impartial merchants for a number of kilos every. They usually even took card.
The most important shock was Pier 6. This can be a fish and chip restaurant (a necessary of any seaside journey), which provided gluten-free fish and chips in a devoted separate fryer. For me, as a Coeliac, this gave Bridlington the sting over many different seaside cities I’ve visited, like Barry and Filey, which had no gluten free chippies that I may discover.
Filey’s seashore may look nicer but it surely was much less clear and fewer handy (Picture: Alex Evans)
In any other case the city centre had the same old array of charity retailers, a CEX and a few low-cost retailers like Savers, but it surely was in strolling distance of the seashore (one other plus for toddler days out) and had free bathrooms all through as nicely.
Filey, against this, was a bit disappointing. Crossing the border into North Yorkshire the following day, we anticipated Yorkshire’s ‘posher’ county to be a step up. It wasn’t.
The drained seafront is far tougher to entry with a toddler, with solely a ramp at one far finish, and the seashore was dirtier and rockier whereas the general public loos all price 40p to make use of, each on the seashore and within the city. The ice cream tasted worse and there have been fewer locations to eat. On the entire, I used to be surprised to be taught that Bridlington, not Filey, is my decide of low-cost toddler seashores, regardless of what the seaside city tables say.
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