How bad is Western-Super-Mare?

[ohdaisydaisy]

I used to go when I was very little but that was over 50 years ago now!

We are looking at holiday cottages and have seen a lovely one but the nearest seaside is Western. We will do other things in Somerset but the kids (teens) will want at least one day at the seaside. One loves the sand and the other loves arcades.

However I've been told Western is (now?) a complete dump, stinks of cannabis and is rife with crime.

I think the kids will like it and it would be nostalgic for me (although I do have an irrational fear of sinking sand and I've heard this is a thing there!)

Anyone have any recent experience of W-S-M?

Dismaland was in 2015!! So you haven’t been for over ten years?

I don’t agree with people on here, I really like it and my DC love it too. It can be busy on hot days, but it’s quieter than a lot of the main seaside towns. The pier is a bit of a rip off because you have to pay £1 each and the sand is mainly wet. The last time we went in the summer it was great. It has less to do than standard seaside towns though and the seagulls do steal your chips if you buy them near the seafront! But overall, it’s good.

Do some people not realise how tides work? When the tide is out, there are mud flats in Weston between the sand and the water but surely you'd sit or walk on the sand rather than walk out through the mud? Timing of a visit is very important, hence why lack of understanding of nature means people complain that they can't see the sea during a short visit to the coast. When the tide comes in, roughly 12 hours later, depending on gravitational forces and the moon phase, the water meets the sand.

At certain times of the year, especially spring tide, the promenade has to be closed as waves often breach the walls.

Yeah lol I didn’t feel inclined to go again. Judging by the comments here it hasn’t improved any! I live in Scotland so it’s not down the road. I had fond memories of going as a girl when I used to travel to stay with my gran who lived not far away.

It's not proper sea , it's the Severn estuary and can be dangerous .

This is absolutely not relevant to your post whatsoever, but it just reminded me of my Dad booking the family holiday one year (he insisted, Mum usually booked a nice holiday abroad somewhere) and he chose Weston-Super-Mare. We stayed in the worst hotel ever. One small room for 5 of us, the shower cubicle was in the bedroom, glass screens. My mattress had a hole in it, not a dip but a big hole so I was in a sort of seated position when I tried it (fortunately they reluctantly changed it). Mum and Dad got a tiny cooked breakfast on a saucer-sized plate and breakfast for the children was cornflakes OR orange juice. Not both 🙃.
Dad wasn't allowed to book the family holiday again 😂

The Severn Estuary becomes the Bristol Channel just north of Weston so it is a sea, like the English Channel is classed as a sea.

Not a lovely blue ocean type of sea that people want to swim in - not many UK coastal areas are classed as safe to swim in these days. Sadly.

Yes, large bodies of water can be very dangerous.

My DD loved the donkey ride

It's an old school seaside resort, but there's been some decent restaurants and bar's opened. Beach is a bit dirty near the pier, and very tidal so not really suitable for water sports (there is a marine lake though). Upsides are it's cheap, especially fish and chips etc. good ice cream options also reasonable and it has arcades etc. Bit lively on Saturdays but not in a really bad Blackpool way.

We sometimes go on Thursdays as it bike night, if you like motorbikes and roaring engines you will be in heaven.

@ThatsNotMyTeen

There's been a lot of development in the past 10 years and people are flooding in from Bristol, lots of new restaurants etc. it's ok I would say. As I only live 30 minutes up the coast of course i haven't stayed there but for a few hours fir the arcades its ok

@Goatblu

The mud in that particular estuary is lethal with quicksand . Every year people have to be rescued off the mud flats . Because of the tide it is treacherous to swim in . My understanding was that it became sea around Lavernock Point , until then it was still technically a river.

Lavernock is further up than Weston (on the opposite coast) so the channel begins just north of Weston in Kewstoke. It's still not a luscious Mediterranean like sea though!

Fortunately there's no actual quicksand, it's mud softened by the high tidal range. There don't seem to have been as many hovercraft callouts this summer for people stuck in the mud whilst trying to get to the sea at low tide.

People do try and walk to the sea, and end up sinking and needing rescuing. Every year there's at least one car that gets stuck on the beach and sinks in the mud.

With not much additional travel time, you can go to places with much smaller tidal ranges, where the sea is safe to access and swim in regardless of whether the tide is in or out. Much cleaner water and safer currents too.

Jurassic coast will always get my vote.

Thanks to those who replied to me positively, DD will love it regardless 😊 and I’m back to looking forward to it!

You will have a lovely time for a weekend @Hardknocks . Donkey ride, pier, wet sand and a promenade for scooting - what more could a two year old need?!

Reporting from WSM! The town is a bit dire to be fair, and I definitely don’t think we could’ve done a week here but she’s going to LOVE it for a couple of days. She’s already ran the full length of the beach, had fish and chips and scooted down the prom. Tomorrow is the pier and sandcastles 😊 just avoiding the centre really, but no regrets!

WSM is ok for small children for say a weekend or a day trip. It's not really the sea in my opinion but it's what you make it .