Bridlington is a seaside town and a busy fishing port in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Lawrence was born here, before moving down to London as a baby, so he spent many holidays here as a child. Bridlington has a long and rich history but here I want to focus on its beaches and the harbour. There are two beaches on either side of the harbour, each with a distinct personality.
The North Beach is where you find the amusements; essential seaside elements for when the tide is in and/or when the weather turns bad.
My favourite pastime in the amusement arcades is this simple coin game. You roll a coin onto a moving platform which hopefully pushes more coins and a gift into your collection tray. Lawrence and I allocate the princely sum of £1 to use in the arcade and try to make it last as long as possible. I won a key ring with a plastic slice of bacon attached which I gave to Lawrence!
The northern end of the beach is flanked by the cliffs of Flamborough Head, and you can take trips here from the harbour on the Yorkshire Bell or the faster speed boats. Most of my visits to Bridlington have been during the Christmas holidays, but even on the coldest greyest days the view here is mesmerising.
The South Beach is the really sandy bit, extending for miles along the coast. It is ideal for swimming, as it is shallow here, and great for walking.
The weather had turned cold, wet, and very windy on the day we visited the South Beach. You can tell this is a windy region by the wind farm on the horizon. So, after a bracing walk on the sands (that’s Lawrence’s sister Elaine in blue), we decamped to the cafe in the Bridlington Spa which is the white building in the photo below.
The Bridlington Spa houses a dance hall, theatre, and conference facilities and has a lovely cafe with a sea view. Bridlington was famous for its afternoon tea dances which my in-laws used to attend quite regularly (some years ago). It’s also a good place to come to at Christmas for a traditional English pantomine show.
The Harbour is the heart of Bridlington, always busy with fishing boats, pleasure boats, and many many seagulls (which you must not feed!). Lawrence’s father was Harbour Master here for a while.
People use the harbour pier as a platform to jump into the sea (not encouraged!)…..
…. as somewhere to fish from…..
…. and as somewhere to eat their fish and chips and watch the birds.
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