What's a really great UK seaside city or large town to live in?

[LAHallucinations]

As the title says really. I've lived in a small town in the Home Counties all my life and I'd like to move to the coast within the next year. The trouble is I have very few restrictions/criteria for where I could move, so I'm struggling with very bad choice paralysis. Whenever I do find somewhere I think would suit me, I search for threads about the place on here, and inevitably they'll be a handful of comments saying what a shithole that place is, which just sends me back to square one (even if most other comments are very positive).

So no negativity please, just places that you think are really good to live in.

The only essentials are:

• Must be by the coast (doesn't need to have a sandy beach, just some good coastal walks)


• Must be a big town or a city (I don't drive so I want everything nearby and plenty of things to do/opportunities to meet new people)


• Mustn't be somewhere really 'rough' or rundown

I work from home, I don't have children, and I have a large budget, so none of those things are an issue.

Where would you recommend?

Of course it’s a coastal city it’s got a beach!

Well as someone from Edinburgh, I disagree!

It’s literally on the coast- it has beaches and everything!

Weymouth. Beautiful area. All of Dorset on your doorstep. Good train links. Pretty much everything you need in the town including M&S.

Old Town Hastings, all day long. Or Seaview on the Isle of Wight.

I’ve lived in various parts of the Wirral all my life. Merseyrail is super efficient and it’s very very easy to get a straight route to Liverpool or Chester within 15 minutes, as a teenager I spent every weekend doing just that. It’s literally one train. The Wirral is also littered with decent sized towns for shopping. Like all areas it has its rougher places but it has an awful lot going on for a small peninsula. Country, beach, urban areas, great transport links.

Formby is also much further out from Liverpool city centre than Wirral is and accessing these towns through Liverpool are a nightmare traffic wise

You can get a train to N Wales but overall motorway links are excellent for Liverpool, Manchester, Chester and NWales all in an hour or less

Weston Super Mare

twenty minutes on the train to bristol

I agree - it is Portobello or Leith.

Exeter isn't on the coast.

Formby/Crosby/Ainsdale. None of them are a city but all nice villages and on the doorstep of Liverpool, on a train line.

Aberdeen is probably the coldest beach in the UK 😂

errmmm i'm not sure what that wet blue thing a mile from my house is then......

I'd also vote Newcastle, I live in South Tyneside! Our beach has just been voted the best in the UK 2022! But even Cullercoats, Whitley bay, Whitburn and South shields would be ideal for you, metro ride into Newcastle 30 minutes top from any of those ! Happy house hunting !

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a06f86aa-f891-11ec-b060-3c9acf7f2ee6?shareToken=c906c47e2fbfce7fb3ed3c9225dc5534

It might be blue in summer but for most of the year it's the Old Grey Widow-maker.

Swansea or Cardiff

I used to love Brighton but last time I went there were a lot of aggressive beggars there, one in particular followed and tried to intimidate me.
Also very grubby there in general

Saltburn in NE is beautiful and has a thriving little creative scene.

You will get an incredible house for your large budget there.

Swansea! Ticks all your boxes, there are some grotty areas but with a good budget you can pick a nice spot

Broadstairs?
Ramsgate?
Margate?

Me too!!! It's great x

🤫

don’t spread the word!

I'm sorry but @stayingpositiveifpossible is probably either from the Midlands or Weston-super-Mare or Weston-super-mud as it is more accurately known! There are no redeeming features to Weston, except the trains leaving it. But it seems to be the main holiday destination for people from the Midlands. Why it is not just a wee stop on the way to North Devon or Cornwall I have no idea. Bristol is an OK City, but it is relatively small and not particularly exciting.

I know @LAHallucinations that you only wanted positive responses about places, but I just could not - in all consciousness - let you think that WsM had any redeeming features. Also, someone else suggested Portishead which is just a little bit further up the coast. Both Portishead and Clevedon are pleasant enough beside the sea - well the worst bits of the Bristol Channel - towns (not seaside towns imo), but without travelling by car onto the Mendips or the Quantocks, or to visit the Cathedral at Wells, or the caves at Cheddar and Wookey Hole, or Glastonbury Town - not the festival site which is actually a few miles down the road - Glastonbury is great in itself if you like New Age shops and a woo woo atmosphere ... which to be fair I do!

...where was I? Oh yes Portishead and Clevedon, they have hardly any exciting or interesting shops, no nightlife except for a few pubs and restaurants, and some of the pubs have things like a jazz night, or a folk club, that can be nice, but you get those in most areas, and apart from the Pier at Clevedon, and the Marina at Portishead (which if you wanted to buy a flat with a nice view, that would probably be your best bet), I am struggling to think of anywhere nice to walk from either town.

Re my first post: I still strongly advise Poole, I cannot think of any negative features, although I guess it must have some!

@Libre2 and @pastypirate , there are lots of lovely little villages and you get better weather than Cornwall. Been there a few times. Cracking place.

I love how variable people's ideas are of what we could call a big town or city, what constitutes being by the sea and being a good coastal walk.

I hope the OP will share their top 5 contenders at the end!@LAHallucinations

Take a look at Mumbles: shops, bars, M&S food hall, restaurants, easy access to the promenade and miles of sandy beach. Remains busy all year. Langland and Caswell are more exclusive and really nice, but unless you're prepared to use buses or taxis, too far out. Why not use some of your considerable budget to learn to drive so that the Gower peninsula is at your disposal? Swansea's not a good-looking city but has hospitals, universities, lovely parks, a theatre and quite a buzz going all year round. An hour on the train to central Cardiff, 3-4 hours to London. You might like the marina area, with sea views, or Mayals.