SCARBOROUGH - anyone familiar with the area??

[WhoWhoWhoWho]

Anyone familiar with Scarborough? I could do with some advice.

We are off to Scarborough tomorrow hopefully, to visit the Sea Life Centre and wondered where else is handy for lunch or a visit? I know the Sea Life centre has a restaurant but no clue what it's like in terms of quality or cost. Also no idea how long the SL centre will take - will we have time to do something else too and if so what would you recommend?

We are getting the train to Scarborough station and then a bus to the SL centre (a 3A I think it is). Is it far from train station to SL centre?

We went there at Easter. The sea life centre is in North Bay and it is probably 10 to 15 minutes on a bus, maybe a little longer. There is a fairly modern development with coffee and ice cream shops - not sure if a cafe there. We went to the Peasholm Park which is walking distance from the sea life centre - this is lovely to walk round and has a decent cafe and a steam train - link here. Link to train is here

The main centre of Scarborough is ok - many arcades and seaside shops and the main shopping area with high street stores is not too far from the station.

I think North Bay is a lot smarter and nicer - but depends upon the weather. Hope you have a good day.

The little parade of shops round the corner has an amazing restaurant called the blue wave or something like that, it does the most amazing fish and chips and nice kids menu. A few ice cream shops and a crazy golf course opposite and of course the beach

Thanks for these replies, DS hijacked the computer from me last night after I'd posted!

The park with the train sounds nice, as does the fish and chips!

Can I jump on this and ask if anyone has any tips on where to live in Scarborough. We are looking to move - have baby and two kids at uni so needs to be fairly accesible to everything. Also anyone living there what's it like?
All advice mostly appreciated!

I rarely post now but do live in Scarborough so had to answer you feelslike. I've lived her on and off my whole life so can probably answer any specific questions you might have. To me the main advantages are probably the beach :), good access to lovely countryside, not much crime, friendly people and a reasonable amount going on for a small-ish town. The main cons are terrible road links which make it a long journey to get anywhere and probably 1-2 hours to get to a major city (Leeds, Newcastle, Hull and Sheffield are all 90mins+ away) for shopping, gigs etc. Also a seaside touristy town in winter is an acquired taste - some people love the quietness but some people find it a bit bleak and depressing. Personally I love to walk along an empty beach in a storm and then huddle up with a hot chocolate.

In terms of area's to live - what's your budget and what sort of house are you looking for? There's a few big-ish estates which can be a bit rough Barrowcliffe on the North side and Eastfield on the south although like everywhere there is a mix of people there and lots of people working to improve those estates. The area around Seamer Road is also probably what you'd want to avoid. If you want to be near the University that is South Cliff area - mainly big old Vistorian mansions converted into flats. There are some houses left but they'd be pricey.

Let me know if you've got specific questions and I'll try to answer them.