Are there any decent, liveable seaside towns in UK which aren’t silly expensive or horribly rundown?

[Moidershewrote]

Basically that - DH and I would really like to relocate with our 2 primary aged kids to live by the sea (near a sandy beach) in either England or Wales - ideally we’d like a half decent primary / secondary schools, friendly community feel with clubs / kids activities etc and not run down/full of pound shops etc and access to train station within approx 5 miles and local buses would be great. We’d love to live somewhere that is walking distance of a beach.

It feels like we’ve looked into so many places and for one reason or another we end up discounting it - usually because either schools seem crap or no train station or no community feel.

Places we’ve immediately rejected are:

• Kent (grammar schools / Kent test)


• Brighton (too expensive / pebble beach)


• Portsmouth/S’ton/Plymouth (too big / towny feel)


• Essex/Somerset coastline (not the right vibe for us)


• E/W Sussex (not sandy😆)

Would love to hear any personal recommendations from people who have moved to another coastal town with kids / or live in one and think it’s brilliant (and why)🙏 We do love Devon, Dorset, Anglia.. Would consider Wales, or NW/NE England.

Weymouth/Lyme Regis

Dismissing the whole of sussex for our pebbles… put beach shoes on don’t get sand in your sandwiches.

still leaves more room on the coast for those of us that like it.

Redcar has a nice sand beach.

i agree having grown up in Stubbington we very much try to stop it becoming touristy

Stokes Bay in particular though that is expensive I would have to upsize from Surrey/London suburbs to afford it!

I've posted upthread about Swansea/Gower but def agree that the pebble beaches in Sussex have a charm of their own (and some have plenty of sand too, you just have to wait for low tide).

@Quartz2208 true! I spent many weekends as a child heading out there and looking for cockle shells with a bucket and spade when the tide was out!

@Chanel05 we may very well have been there at the same time!

Didnt manage this summer - visited on the one day in the summer when it was miserable

I can comment well having lived all over London and Brighton too. Can confirm Worthing is a great place if you want:
-A lovely quiet beach-
Beautiful countryside and walking nearby-
Friendly community, quite diverse and queer friendly
-Very good cafes restaurants pubs and bars (both traditional and also natural wines bars and small plates etc, craft breweries for a bit of pizazz)
-Two great cinemas and theatres
-Good schools
-Leafy parks
-Decent town centre with walkable shops
-Three train stations(!) and an easy enough commute straight to Victoria/East Croydon/Clapham
-Decent parking (especially compared to Brighton)
-And affordable homes! I bought my three bedroom house in a good area for only 30k more than my one bedroom flat in Brighton-For us it's been a no brainer and we love it, we're in our 30s and lots of our friends are following suit.
-Best areas: Check it out in person. Personally we're near the station on a leafy nice street, Tarring (West) is also desirable. But the best way to ascertain is to go and walk around

I like Southport. And it’s an easy train ride to Liverpool.