Southend
What to see
You’ll find accounts of Southend’s tourist attractions in Towns of Two Halves (and of 91 other places: order the book now for £8 from info@townsof2halves.co.uk). For additional information plus shopping, eating out etc there’s Visit Southend or Visit Essex.
Links to Southend attractions include:
● Adventure Island
● Sea Life Adventure
● Southend Museums & Galleries
● Southend Pier
● Southend-on-Sea Pier Museum
Towns of Two Halves extracts
● “Can there be a more appealing address among the English leagues’ 92 clubs? Roots Hall sounds like the home of one of Mr Toad’s dissolute cousins. Australians might speculate on the nature of the dissolution, but in simple, innocent English it has an earthy charm.”
● “Busy arts organisations have revitalised the cultural life of Southend. In my day, a walk along the sea-front was enough. I’d be willing to bet that for most visitors it still will be: it’s a fine promenade, smooth and level, good for small kids on unsteady legs or for bigger ones on scooters. There are flat and undemanding cycle paths and ramps. On one side, at all times, is a fine sweep of beach.”
● “The Southend Pier Railway runs for a mile and a quarter out towards Kent on the largely featureless structure that is Southend Pier. Here too there were forerunners: a horse-drawn tram from the mid-19th century, followed in 1890 by an electric railway that ran all the way through to 1978. The current diesel trains date from 1986 [and] are named after Sir William Heygate, instrumental in the construction of the pier, and Sir John Betjeman, who had obliging things to say about it.”
● “If you go as a tourist, the weather is probably crucial. If you’re there as a football fan the result might be more important. Best, then, to go as both.”
These are taken from the Southend chapter of Towns of Two Halves, published in 2018. To order a copy, email info@townsof2halves.co.uk.