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guy Jul 22nd, 2008 10:41 AM

posh English seacoast town
 
For a newspaper column I'm writing, I'm wondering what coastal resort is Britain's equivalent to The Hamptons in the US. Any help would be appreciated.

PatrickLondon Jul 22nd, 2008 10:51 AM

Hmm.. I'm not sure there's an exact equivalent. People with more money than sense are pouring money into buying property in Sandbanks, outside Poole. People who think themselves culturally up a notch (and with money) have places around Southwold. But the kind of people I think you're thinking of have places in France, or Tuscany - or maybe even the Hamptons.

guy Jul 22nd, 2008 10:58 AM

Interesting. By a coincidence, I'm comparing the town of Southold, on Long Island, New York, with its namesake, Southwold. From the stories about Gordon Brown's upcoming vacation there, I got the impression that Southwold is kind of old-school and staid. I guess I'm looking for the A-list version, if there is one. Where would the Beckhams go, if they weren't in Bali, for instance?

PalenQ Jul 22nd, 2008 11:05 AM

I've been to many and Bournemouth seems the poshest i've been too - parts of the envrions of Torquay were posh as well to me

but perhaps St Anne's south of Blackpool fits the bill

will be interesting to hear Britons views on this - always looking for interesting seaside towns to visit

J_R_Hartley Jul 22nd, 2008 11:07 AM

Hove Actually. West Sussex (just plane Hove, the Actually bit is a local joke)

Next door to Brighton Innit.

The two in fact form one city: Brighton and Hove.

"Do you live in Brighton?"
"Hove, actually.

Paul McCartney has a place there, as well as most of the staff of the BBC. Lots of bankers etc.

That said, nowhere near as posh as the Hamptons.

flanneruk Jul 22nd, 2008 11:16 AM

"Where would the Beckhams go, if they weren't in Bali, for instance?"

Anywhere but Britain. People like that just don't go to British seaside resorts: for them the equivalent of the Hamptons is somewhere in the Balearics, the Riviera or Sardinia. In fact, apart from the odd Cotswold wedding of some other member of the riff-raff, they don't go anywhere posh in Britain.

I don't buy Southwold as old-school as staid. It and the North Norfolk coast are for Islingtonians - and a rather raffish group of local middle-agers locally known as the Coastettes (think Essex girl tartiness with rather posher accents).

But as Patrick says, the equivalent of the Hamptons for anyonme you might call posh (as opposed to posh)is the Hamptons. Chiantishire's probably a bit declasse these days: like North Norfolk.

flanneruk Jul 22nd, 2008 11:17 AM

"Where would the Beckhams go, if they weren't in Bali, for instance?"

Anywhere but Britain. People like that just don't go to British seaside resorts: for them the equivalent of the Hamptons is somewhere in the Balearics, the Riviera or Sardinia. In fact, apart from the odd Cotswold wedding of some other member of the riff-raff, they don't go anywhere posh in Britain.

I don't buy Southwold as old-school as staid. It and the North Norfolk coast are for Islingtonians - and a rather raffish group of local middle-agers locally known as the Coastettes (think Essex girl tartiness with rather posher accents).

But as Patrick says, the equivalent of the Hamptons for anyonme you might call posh (as opposed to Posh) is the Hamptons. Chiantishire's probably a bit declasse these days: like North Norfolk.

J_R_Hartley Jul 22nd, 2008 11:21 AM

St Barts.

Guy, if you want to do a piece on St Barts email me at james at premiumiv dot com

guy Jul 22nd, 2008 11:30 AM

Hmm. So what about PalenQ's suggestions of Bournemouth, Torquay and St. Anne's? Not in the running?

flanneruk Jul 22nd, 2008 11:36 AM

Bournemouth, Torquay and St. Anne's are not the Hamptons.

Reasonably respectable places to retire to. Bournemouth and to a lesser extent St Anne's are slightly in demand as places to bring a family up in. But not places to summer in for either toffs or chavs.

Part of the problem is that guy's example of the A list isn't posh. Rock in Cornwall's really the closest thing to a posh seacoast place to summer in - though only in conjunction with somewhere in the Med as well. But footballers' families wouldn't dream of going there.

hetismij Jul 22nd, 2008 11:41 AM

I was going to say Rock too. But the likes of (not so) Posh and Becks wouldn't go there.

guy Jul 22nd, 2008 11:42 AM

So I guess I should say:

"Both Southold and Southwold are popular seacoast resorts, but neither is exactly A-list. Here, that feather goes to the Hamptons. Over there, it's, well, St. Barts."

Or something like that?

J_R_Hartley Jul 22nd, 2008 11:45 AM

(Brighton and) Hove is less than an hour from London,

Torquay is a long way away, Bournemouth closer, but a bit more the blue hair set.

St Anne's is in the North. Think Redneck Riviera.

I think Patricks stab at Sandbanks isn't a bad one. Not far from Bournemouth. Reachable from London.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbanks

Britans "palm beach"

There is a swathe of countryside on the Hampshire Sussex border on the Southdowns inhabited by retired Dinosaur Rockers, but not slap on the coast.

The types of Beckham will buy an eff off house in the middle of the sticks somewhere within reasonable distance of London.

PalenQ Jul 22nd, 2008 11:48 AM

Anyone watching the British Open in Soutport - definitely NOT a posh seaside resort - will see why there is nothing approaching the Hamptons in the U.K. (apparently from comments) - 53 degrees and 40 mph winds for the weekend

flanneruk Jul 22nd, 2008 11:49 AM

... and of course, the other confusion here is that "summering" isn't terribly British.

London - unlike New York - is more or less habitable in summer. So the idea of taking somewhere for the summer is pretty odd: the Seven Year Itch is based on a premiss that simply baffled English audiences. You might own a house somewhere with a climate normally seen as "nicer" than London (the base for the Hamptons' success): but that absolutely has to be abroad. The idea that little wifey might sit around Padstow or Burnham Overy Staithe while hubby's earning the money in the Big City would strike most people as weird.

But it isn't (or wasn't before the Credit Crunch) odd for hubbies to Easyjet it out to Nice, Malaga or Pisa airports on Friday nights.

PalenQ Jul 22nd, 2008 12:17 PM

More than a few seaside resorts have been known to boast having 'Britain's best weather or sunniest weather' - formerly to draw the beach crowd i guess

hnberlin Jul 22nd, 2008 01:11 PM

Liverpool

PalenQ Jul 22nd, 2008 01:19 PM

Well on Coronation Street at the Salford Quays in Manchester - a Liverpiddle alike place i would think - there are some really posh flats overlooking the Salford Quays

rogeruktm Jul 22nd, 2008 01:38 PM

What about Cleethorpes..Seems to have what British resorts towns have.

annhig Jul 22nd, 2008 02:37 PM

I was going to say Rock too. But the likes of (not so) Posh and Becks wouldn't go there>>

exactly.

at the first sight of a footballer or his WAG, the house prices in Rock would plummet.

Salcombe is popular with the yaghty sort.

the idea is to spend August [the "long vacation" for judges and barristers and hols most MPs] in England, as Tuscany can be a bit hot that time of year.

I've lived in Cornwall for 11 years now, and I haven't made it to Rock yet. I'm too busy picking mussels off the rocks!

regards, ann




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