Southend-on-Sea is situated in Essex and sits at the mouth of the river Thames where it meets the North Sea. It’s the nearest seaside resort to London and therefore a popular day trip location for people from the capital.

Southend has many popular attractions and boast the longest pleasure pier in the world, at about 1.3 miles long. It’s a pleasant walk along the pier in the summer but a bit breezy at other times, so wrap up warm. If you’re not that energetic there’s a train service which operates to the end of the pier. Two brand new trains were up and running along the pier since 2022 although the’ve suffered a few teething problems at different times. Refreshments are available at the pier head where you can also view the lifeboat and visit the souvenir shop.

Back on dry land and stretching along the seafront, each side of the pier is the famous, award winning leasure park, Adventure Island, one of the best theme parks in the country – and it’s free to enter. There’s a wide range of exciting rides, attractions and events which will appeal to everyone of all ages with a good selection of cafés and restaurants. A fun-packed day out for all! The latest addition to the rides is a large Ferris wheel which came into service in time for the Christmas holidays 2022 and is proving very popular..

However, there’s more to Southend City than the central area with its pier and amusements as there are other popular areas along the coast as well. In the east of the borough are Shoeburyness and Thorpe Bay and to the west are Westcliff-on-Sea, Chalkwell and Leigh-on-Sea, including Old Leigh fishing village with its cockle sheds, famous sea food and a wealth of history.

It’s very popular with tourists so it’s sometimes difficult to  park your car close to the centre. A good way to get to Old Leigh is to park up on the sea front at Chalkwell and take a ten-minute walk along the sea front footpath. Ideal for dog walkers.

Southend-on-Sea was awarded ‘City’ status in early 2022. It followed the assasination of Sir David Amess MP in a terrorist attack in October 2021. Sir David had represented Southend West for 24 years and was a long campaigner to make Southend a city. As a result of his death the Tory Government nominated Southend to the Queen to be awarded city status out of respect for him. But was it respect or guilt? After all whenever Sir David stood up in the House of Commons and mentioned the words ‘Southend’ and ‘City’ in the same sentence (which he often did) many of his Tory colleagues would greet his speech with laughter!