Remote working could breathe new life into neglected seaside towns across the UK

The hope is that, unshackled from city centre offices, workers – especially those with young families – will choose to live in smaller, more scenic towns, writes Colin Drury

The beach at Skegness (PA)

Since as long as I can remember, I’ve loved the British seaside. I was first taken to Clacton when I was just a couple of months old. There’s cine footage somewhere of me in my nana’s arms on the beach, my grandfather in the background wrestling with a windbreak, my nana’s expression identifiably that of someone who has lived to see the advent of the Spanish package holiday and is wondering why she’s not on one.

I have been going to the coast ever since. I love it. Love the faded glory and the salt air and the feeling you get, when you look at the grey-blue sea, that the rest of the world is lying right out there. All that, and crazy golf too.

I am not, it seems, alone: 270 million visits were made to the English seaside last year. We are an island people, drawn to the coast. This became clear to me while visiting Skegness to investigate fears Covid-19 could spell ruin for such towns. There are concerns that, despite our fondness, the long-term economic impact of coronavirus could decimate our resorts – decades in decline anyway.

But competing with these fears, there is also hope. For small towns everywhere, there is a sense a remote working revolution could create opportunity.

The belief is that, unshackled from city centre offices, workers – especially those with young families – will choose to live in smaller, more scenic towns. With geographical location of reduced importance to professional progress, the entire economy could be rebalanced away from the capital and a handful of big cities. This is not purely speculation. It is already happening. Pret may be struggling to sell its £5 sarnies but evidence is emerging that suburban independents are seeing customer numbers rise.

Which is why the government haranguing people to get back to the office (read: get back to central London) is so galling. Here is an opportunity, with some relatively small-scale investments in broadband and transport, to truly begin levelling up the country (to use a phrase). Yet, instead, the government is actively intervening against it. What?

Ministers say they are acting because they fear city centres will become “ghost towns”. But England is already full of ghost towns. They exist everywhere, from Morecambe to Mablethorpe; places hollowed out by de-industrialisation and austerity and, in the case of the coast, cheap flights.

A small window has inadvertently opened to begin to reverse this trend. Our seaside towns – windbreak weather, and all – are too precious not to make the most of it.

Yours,

Colin Drury

North of England correspondent