Do you live in a tourist hot spot?
Discussion
Johnnytheboy said:
Grew up in a village by Chesil Beach in Dorset and still visit at weekends.
It's got busier since ~2000 but the tourists have changed from bucket-and-spade families from up country to weekenders/second-homers from London. Known locally as the "Fearnley Whittingstall effect".
Usually, around March I'll be out in the front garden doing something and I'll hear the raised voices before I see them, then they come in to view: the first Townies of the season!
Signs include:
- shiny wellies in stupid colours, and a labrador that doesn't seem to recognise them as owners
- weird clothes that look like what someone in a colour supplement fashion shoot shot on a hillside would wear.
- All talking at once at approx 50% higher volume than everyone else
- walking in line abreast, only grudgingly moving out of the middle of the road for traffic.
- Making no attempt to speak to people they pass by. This last one cracks me up as they will sometimes talk about my family home in front of me without speaking to me: "Oh look at that lovely house Giles, I wonder how old it is?"
Finally, rather than simply gentrifying the area they are Townifying it. One or two nice, albeit traditional, restaurants have been replaced by places specialising in fancy burgers in brioche buns, and 'relaxed brunches'; that apparently being what people down for the weekend want.
I assume a "relaxed brunch" means "sit round eating some godawful avocado concoction washed down with flat whites, while your seemingly inumerable kids run round between tables screaming in a sort of falsetto Joyce Grenfell, in the faint hope they'll sleep in the back of the Discovery at least as far as Basingstoke."
It's got busier since ~2000 but the tourists have changed from bucket-and-spade families from up country to weekenders/second-homers from London. Known locally as the "Fearnley Whittingstall effect".
Usually, around March I'll be out in the front garden doing something and I'll hear the raised voices before I see them, then they come in to view: the first Townies of the season!
Signs include:
- shiny wellies in stupid colours, and a labrador that doesn't seem to recognise them as owners
- weird clothes that look like what someone in a colour supplement fashion shoot shot on a hillside would wear.
- All talking at once at approx 50% higher volume than everyone else
- walking in line abreast, only grudgingly moving out of the middle of the road for traffic.
- Making no attempt to speak to people they pass by. This last one cracks me up as they will sometimes talk about my family home in front of me without speaking to me: "Oh look at that lovely house Giles, I wonder how old it is?"
Finally, rather than simply gentrifying the area they are Townifying it. One or two nice, albeit traditional, restaurants have been replaced by places specialising in fancy burgers in brioche buns, and 'relaxed brunches'; that apparently being what people down for the weekend want.
I assume a "relaxed brunch" means "sit round eating some godawful avocado concoction washed down with flat whites, while your seemingly inumerable kids run round between tables screaming in a sort of falsetto Joyce Grenfell, in the faint hope they'll sleep in the back of the Discovery at least as far as Basingstoke."
I live near the centre of Bath which is quite a tourist town and don’t mind it at all - seeing the diversity and different people through the year is always fun - Bath also seems to be a hen party capital so from this time of year onwards provides an interesting weekend spectacle 
. Yesterday it was pouring down and I still couldn’t believe the queues to get into the Roman Baths.
For me I’m lucky to have a few provisos - I rarely take my car out so don’t need to worry about parking/traffic, I don’t work in an industry that has to engage with the tourists and most importantly my group of friends here has a selection of non-touristy local pubs we can go to.
. Yesterday it was pouring down and I still couldn’t believe the queues to get into the Roman Baths. For me I’m lucky to have a few provisos - I rarely take my car out so don’t need to worry about parking/traffic, I don’t work in an industry that has to engage with the tourists and most importantly my group of friends here has a selection of non-touristy local pubs we can go to.
Grew up in Whitby and Scarboroughl; lived on the Isle of Wight for a while and am now in York.
All four places suffer from the Tourist invasion, and all four rely on them. The two worst though are the IOW in summer when you want to have a last minute trip to the mainland, only to be told the ferry is fully booked; and the second is when York Christmas market is on. Town is a no-go area for me when thats on, it can take an hour and a half to cross the city centre due to the crowds.
The A64 is the road to hell during summer also. Blocked up with babybombers in identikit caravans.
All four places suffer from the Tourist invasion, and all four rely on them. The two worst though are the IOW in summer when you want to have a last minute trip to the mainland, only to be told the ferry is fully booked; and the second is when York Christmas market is on. Town is a no-go area for me when thats on, it can take an hour and a half to cross the city centre due to the crowds.
The A64 is the road to hell during summer also. Blocked up with babybombers in identikit caravans.
Lord Marylebone said:
Porcelain Ponderer said:
Lord Marylebone said:
Low Wood Bay
My best friend got married there 5 years ago, is an absolutely beautiful location. Like many of the big hotels here, it has had tens of millions spent on it in the last 3-4 years, turning it into a luxury resort hotel.
The expanding and improving of the hotels and restaurants round here has been staggering at times.
It’s all good though.
I live in the Purbecks, and in the summer traffic might quadruple to 4 cars an hour down our lane. 
Mainly when we travel we're heading the opposite way to the crowds, and know the places and routes to avoid at the busy times. And if it's a wet weekend the pubs will be full of depressed campers nursing a pint as long as they can to put off returning to their tents.
As people have said it's a precarious existence for many here who have 8 weeks to make enough to last the year.
Mainly when we travel we're heading the opposite way to the crowds, and know the places and routes to avoid at the busy times. And if it's a wet weekend the pubs will be full of depressed campers nursing a pint as long as they can to put off returning to their tents.
As people have said it's a precarious existence for many here who have 8 weeks to make enough to last the year.
SouthHamsGaz said:
You can guess where I live from my user name.
Bloody hate the summer.
Our roads are narrow as it is, the minute all the grockles descend in their caravans the place becomes grid locked. Add that in with people who have no concept of how wide their car is and an inability to reverse makes me feel as though my head is going to explode.
Tend to avoid venturing too far from home during the 6 weeks the schools are off if we can help it.
I don't find it too bad to be honest. Caravans can slow down the A38 at times. Beaches like bigbury etc can be a pain with the narrow access but I avoid them during holiday periods.Bloody hate the summer.
Our roads are narrow as it is, the minute all the grockles descend in their caravans the place becomes grid locked. Add that in with people who have no concept of how wide their car is and an inability to reverse makes me feel as though my head is going to explode.
Tend to avoid venturing too far from home during the 6 weeks the schools are off if we can help it.
NDA said:
I grew up in a tourist spot in North Devon. Rammed with caravans in the summer and nothing but candy floss and amusement arcades.... absolutely dead and fully shut down in the winter. Pretty awful to be honest - the tourists were needed, but hated. I left as soon as I was able!
Me too. Grew up in Combe Martin/Ilfracombe. Population of CM went from about 2000 in winter to about 5000 during the school holidays when I was a kid. I like the changes of pace winter to summer. I found living in other places a bit "flat" when there was no change in pace with the seasons. I like the bustle and colour of summer and in the winter i feel like i can reclaim "my" places for myself. Nothing beats running along a deserted beach in the winter sunshine.
Bill said:
Mainly when we travel we're heading the opposite way to the crowds, and know the places and routes to avoid at the busy times.
One of the great joys of living in a tourist area is going away for a bank holiday and swanning up the M5 looking at the 5 mile queues heading into Devon and Cornwall, and then returning down a near-deserted southbound carriageway as the lobster-coloured hordes get backed up at Bristol heading home. Schandenfreud in action
Baked_bean said:
I used to live in a tourist hotspot (Cambridge) and whilst it was occasionally annoying having to navigate a flock of Chinese tourists in matching rain coats and caps I can see the benefits throughout.
All of the people complaining will surely be tourists in others cities/regions or countries? Just seems silly to act as if tourists are the worst like they are a different species...
I'm in Cambridge and it varies between busy and heaving, but that is in the centre, where relatively few people live (other than students). For me, the busy-ness is only an issue if I have to go to the shops in the centre of town. All of the people complaining will surely be tourists in others cities/regions or countries? Just seems silly to act as if tourists are the worst like they are a different species...
There are of course benefits to the city in being so popular.
That said, the English language students and their, ahem, 'unconventional' cycling habits are a right pain.
boyse7en said:
NDA said:
I grew up in a tourist spot in North Devon. Rammed with caravans in the summer and nothing but candy floss and amusement arcades.... absolutely dead and fully shut down in the winter. Pretty awful to be honest - the tourists were needed, but hated. I left as soon as I was able!
Me too. Grew up in Combe Martin/Ilfracombe. Population of CM went from about 2000 in winter to about 5000 during the school holidays when I was a kid. I like the changes of pace winter to summer. I found living in other places a bit "flat" when there was no change in pace with the seasons. I like the bustle and colour of summer and in the winter i feel like i can reclaim "my" places for myself. Nothing beats running along a deserted beach in the winter sunshine.
NDA said:
I grew up near Westward Ho! and it's dire compared to Combe Martin and Ilfracombe. It's Bingo places and caravan parks in the summer and then dead out of season. If you live somewhere nice, like, for example, Lynmouth, at least you have a pretty town to fall back on.
Ah yes. Westward Ho! has been done up quite a lot in the last few years with lots of posh new apartment buildings but it is still very quiet in the Winter. Nice for the surfing though as the parking's free out of season and you don't have to worry about dodging grockles.boyse7en said:
Ah yes. Westward Ho! has been done up quite a lot in the last few years with lots of posh new apartment buildings but it is still very quiet in the Winter. Nice for the surfing though as the parking's free out of season and you don't have to worry about dodging grockles.
Has it been done up? I haven't been back for many years... I just remember it being grim and boarded up in the winter....I should find an excuse to revisit North Devon, Hockings Ice Creams are fondly remembered.
Another Torbay resident here.
I like it when the tourists turn up tbh. We no longer have a massive snarl up from Newton Abbot due to the South Devon Link Road and I think the 3 towns of the Bay feel much more vibrant when they're full. I'm about a mile outside town and I like walking in and see it busy.
And it's not as if UK coastal towns don't need the money. Watching videos of Torquay from the 60's (loads of Pathé ones on Youtube) and comparing it to now is pretty sobering and sad.
I like it when the tourists turn up tbh. We no longer have a massive snarl up from Newton Abbot due to the South Devon Link Road and I think the 3 towns of the Bay feel much more vibrant when they're full. I'm about a mile outside town and I like walking in and see it busy.
And it's not as if UK coastal towns don't need the money. Watching videos of Torquay from the 60's (loads of Pathé ones on Youtube) and comparing it to now is pretty sobering and sad.
NDA said:
Has it been done up? I haven't been back for many years... I just remember it being grim and boarded up in the winter....
I should find an excuse to revisit North Devon, Hockings Ice Creams are fondly remembered.
Yes it has smartened up quite a bit over the last decade or so. It's still got some unkempt looking bits, but the new apartment blocks are quite smart and it's led to the big old run-down terraces/hotels on the road in to be done up and turned into apartments too. I should find an excuse to revisit North Devon, Hockings Ice Creams are fondly remembered.
Hocking van is still on the green. Might pop down at lunchtime and get one
boyse7en said:
Yes it has smartened up quite a bit over the last decade or so. It's still got some unkempt looking bits, but the new apartment blocks are quite smart and it's led to the big old run-down terraces/hotels on the road in to be done up and turned into apartments too.
Hocking van is still on the green. Might pop down at lunchtime and get one
Wow! That looks completely different.... I wonder if the 'spooky house' is still there - to the very right hand side of your shot. It was always very scary looking when I was a child.Hocking van is still on the green. Might pop down at lunchtime and get one
Damn you on on the ice cream!
NDA said:
Wow! That looks completely different.... I wonder if the 'spooky house' is still there - to the very right hand side of your shot. It was always very scary looking when I was a child.
Damn you on on the ice cream!
Yes it's still there. It was sold a few years ago to Rob Braddick - the guy who owns the big holiday park and the Pier House (which is relatively posh now too, with lots of outdoor eating balconies which are lovely in the summer) - for about £400k and he is trying to get permission to turn it into a boutique hotel. As it stands at the moment it is still a timewarp dilapidated house.Damn you on on the ice cream!
There's a video here - https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/break-ha... - which shows a tour around the inside
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