Southend On Sea

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What the FUCK?!?!? This is the most truly terrifying place I have ever been to.

If Essex is the New Jersey of England, this is truly its Atlantic City. The most frighteningly neon lit casinos I've ever seen. Seaside seediness around a bloody tidal estuary.

And filled with Essex Girls! I've never seen them properly in their native habitat, and they're SCARY, peroxide hair cascading over giant tits falling out of spandex dresses.

And there's ELECTRIC LIGHTS everywhere! In the shapes of bloody BEARS! Doing bizarre things like lifting weights and riding rockets and grinning in a way so manic that they would shame Radiohead bears.

There's a scene in Hitchikers' Guide that describes Southend as the water staying still and the buildings washing up and down to sea. This makes sense to me now. Morrissey wanted to bomb it, apparently.

Have you been there? Why is it so frightening?

kate, Thursday, 19 September 2002 11:11 (twenty-one years ago) link

DG to thread. but surely, Sheppey is more weird? Southend is like Wakefield with a pier

gareth (gareth), Thursday, 19 September 2002 11:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

The pier was closed, as was the Cliff Lift, so we had to content ourselves with walking out into the tidal mudflats (I saw no river, but I sure smelled it) on the Danger Deep Drop.

In a row was Electric Avenue, New York New York and Las Vegas. That makes no geographical sense! Is Southend supposed to make sense?

Now I understand why all the indiegirls I know from Essex dye their hair BLACK.

kate, Thursday, 19 September 2002 11:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

I love it, but it is a bit scarily other. Just like Wakefield. I have some friends who live in Southend: they claim the place has *no* decent pubs but I can't believe it's true.

Leigh's nice.

Tim (Tim), Thursday, 19 September 2002 11:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

Morrissey wanted to bomb it beecause the proles there aren't/weren't romantic enough for him, probably

Southend makes sense to me and I WUV it

DG (D_To_The_G), Thursday, 19 September 2002 11:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

The best thing round there is the Viking '-ing' and - '-ness' place names.

So you can get to stand on some bleak forgotten bit of marsh surrounded by rusty metal and smelly mud, and find it's called 'Snoring' or 'Foulness'.

At least Essex place names are honest.

It's in the South. It's the utter End.

jon (jon), Thursday, 19 September 2002 11:47 (twenty-one years ago) link

blimey someone's never been to Margate quite clearly

DG (D_To_The_G), Thursday, 19 September 2002 11:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

Jon: if Essex place names were honest, wouldn't it be Southend on Estuary?

Tim (Tim), Thursday, 19 September 2002 11:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

N. to thread! Surely we've done Southend before? I recall droning on about my Mum's family coming from there, & arguing with DG(?) as to whether Leigh or Prittlewell was the posher.

You can get great fish & chips in Tomassi's still.

Mooro (Mooro), Thursday, 19 September 2002 11:52 (twenty-one years ago) link

there were a couple seaside thread, but not a southend specific one i don't think. surprised tim h hasn't mentioned angell or collymore

gareth (gareth), Thursday, 19 September 2002 11:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

Thorpe Bay 0wnZ both Leigh and Prittlewell at poshness, IIRC Prittlewell's a bit mock tudor

DG (D_To_The_G), Thursday, 19 September 2002 11:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

southend on sea is mental and tacky and it smells and the beach is horrible. that fact that i nearly got STRANDED there for a night when i was 16 and it was all ever so traumatic has probably intensified this impression.

katie (katie), Thursday, 19 September 2002 12:02 (twenty-one years ago) link

We would have been stranded there, too, if Sarah and Emma had not dragged me away to run to the last train with terrifying stories of what happens if you are stranded in Essex.

Essex has to be scary if it can scare me away from chatting up the incredibly cute guitarist for the support band. Sigh.

We still want to go to Shoeburyness, just for the name. It's called SHOEBURYNESS! Honestly! I think Walton on the Naze and Foulness were also on the list of places we HAVE to go for the names.

kate, Thursday, 19 September 2002 12:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

The only place in the UK to go because of its name = Beer. Visit Peco while you're there.

DMCUK is right, this thread is deja vu.

Tim (Tim), Thursday, 19 September 2002 12:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

Shoeburyness has a station, some shingle, some beach huts and erm, that's it.

MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 19 September 2002 12:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

heh what happens if you are stranded in Essex then?

(hooray for Tim, Beer r00lZ)

DG (D_To_The_G), Thursday, 19 September 2002 12:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

awwwww but walton is lovely. and frinton and st. osyth. all along the coast there is brill and i still WUV clacton and anyone who disagrees can bite my shiny metal ass. i want to go to the seaside now :(

ooh other new answers! i've always fancied going to Matching TYe meself!

katie (katie), Thursday, 19 September 2002 12:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

We could do a ILE tour. Hire a coach. Either themed by placenames, or by musical associations. The best, of course, combine the two.

all together now : 'the something something Klaus Barbie! The master butcher of Leigh on Sea!'

...

oh golly oh gosh come and lie on the couch/with a nice bit of posh from Burnham on Crouch.


(I did that once. Posh Essex horrid too.)

I think Mr Drury did Shoeburyness in that song, too.

...


...

jon (jon), Thursday, 19 September 2002 12:11 (twenty-one years ago) link

haha, that was suggested in one of the 2 british seaside threads that are giving people deja vu (all the answers here were on that too)

gareth (gareth), Thursday, 19 September 2002 12:12 (twenty-one years ago) link

and hey, guess where i live? well, leigh on sea, but it's part of southend. oooo, it's lovely. and i've been to shoeburyness.

g-kit (g-kit), Thursday, 19 September 2002 12:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

Southend has the highest concentration of pinball tables in the UK, therefore it is ace. Wakefield, on the other hand, really does suck - I lived there until I was 20 then got the hell outta dodge!

Simeon (Simeon), Thursday, 19 September 2002 12:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

BUT WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU GET STRANDED IN ESSEX? I-MUST-KNOW

DG (D_To_The_G), Thursday, 19 September 2002 12:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

in my case it would have involved sitting on the beachfront all night dodging stupid racing boys and pissed-up wideboys after closing time. and my mum would have been worried.

katie (katie), Thursday, 19 September 2002 12:23 (twenty-one years ago) link

if any of you get stuck in southend, i can put you up. as long as you're not psychos, etc.

g-kit (g-kit), Thursday, 19 September 2002 12:31 (twenty-one years ago) link

oh, and prittlewell is posher than leigh. deffo.

g-kit (g-kit), Thursday, 19 September 2002 12:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

Damn, I wish we'd known last night! We thought that if we got stranded in Essex, we'd have been beaten up - Sarah for talking posh, Emma for having weird hair and me for sounding American. So we got the hell out of Dodge, as you put it.

I would have liked to have stayed. We wanted to ask the 80s Matchbox if we could ride in their van, and they probably would have let us, but they weren't going to London, they were going back to Brighton. Hrrrmmmm, all the seaside we could take in 24 hours? I don't think so!

kate, Thursday, 19 September 2002 12:45 (twenty-one years ago) link

heh this should be on that music KOMBAT thread from the other day

DG (D_To_The_G), Thursday, 19 September 2002 13:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

Inglesfield to thread, if only because SOMEONE has to stand up for Essex, at least in its more rural parts.

I quite liked Southend when I was there in 1993. Also it has THREE railway stations, which I like, but which must be very very unusual in such a relatively small town, post-Beeching.

Very posh Essex: Trevor Bailey (former England cricketer of the "gentlemen amateur" school and later TMS commentator) is from Westcliff-on-Sea.

robin carmody (robin carmody), Thursday, 19 September 2002 19:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

As Robin says, I love rural Essex. My favourite walk: from Burnham-on-Crouch to Bradwell-on-Sea (approx. 18 miles along the sea wall, in the course of which you might see half a dozen people). I really want to go to Foulness but have never got round to it (you're not really allowed on there as it's M.O.D. but apparently if you pre-arrange a visit to the pub in Churchend, then the guards will let you through). I want to go to West Mersea and Osea Islands as well. Canewdon and its witches are also fascinating. And Hatfield Forest is nice, although I fear for that area with talk of development of the Stansted 'corridor'. I've been to Matching Tye (and Ugley and Bacon End).

David (David), Thursday, 19 September 2002 21:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

someone who has posted to this forum LIVES in matching tye!! (i'm not going to who so as to deter stalkers) (it's not ally)

mark s (mark s), Thursday, 19 September 2002 21:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

is it David (Daf) Moore?

robin carmody (robin carmody), Friday, 20 September 2002 03:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yes! Matching Tye! And Ugley!

There's Nasty, too - I once accepted an invitation to a barbecue there, I hate barbecues and I hated the people but had to go for the name.

That coast walk you mention is one I've always wanted to do. Bradwell Juxta Mare is one of England's Great And Powerful Places.

jon (jon), Friday, 20 September 2002 07:11 (twenty-one years ago) link

isn't Nasty in Hertfordshire? i have been there

gareth (gareth), Friday, 20 September 2002 07:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

it must be said that the end of southend pier is the second most depressing place on earth after 'PoundWorld' in Romford

DG (D_To_The_G), Friday, 20 September 2002 09:55 (twenty-one years ago) link

That coast walk you mention is one I've always wanted to do. Bradwell Juxta Mare is one of England's Great And Powerful Places.

Very feasible as well. Frequent trains from Liverpool Street to Burnham-on-Crouch. Then when you get to Bradwell village there's a minibus service that will take you to Southminster to catch the train back to London - after a drink at the excellent Station Arms (all this assuming you're in London which you may not be of course...).
One fine summer evening the scene around the chapel at Bradwell was so perfect (walking up the track leading towards the village I kept turning back to look at the chapel and the expanse of sky/sea/marsh, was half-tempted to sleep in a hedge).

David (David), Friday, 20 September 2002 10:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

Prittlewell wasn't 'mock tudor' when I used to go on holidays there with my Grannie & Grandpa. Mind you, that was so long ago as to almost be genuine Tudor ...

No wonder KT had a traumatic time on Sarfend beach. I bet the salty sea air was a completely inappropriate environment for her shiny metal ass.

Sadly I don't live in Matching Tye, although I am very attached to my co-ordinated Thai elephant silk boxers & tie.

Mooro (Mooro), Friday, 20 September 2002 11:34 (twenty-one years ago) link

In February, Lixi and I went to Southend and here are some photos.

I have resisted the temptation to depict Lixi in her exploded hair state.

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Friday, 20 September 2002 12:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

True, Nasty not in Essex, but near. I think Matching Tye is near the border too. The church there has a body buried half in half out of the chucrhc. What's THAT about? Lucxkily he's underground.

...

oooooooooooooooooo Bradwell at sunset with Big Clouds. The chapel door open so the candles at the altar just compete with the dying light.

Too much of that kind of moment and I'll end up directing traffic at street corners, or growing grey dreadlocks and accosting strangers. A bustle in the hedgerow, as you imply.


...

I once had an Open Air Intimate Experience with a female friend by the sea wall at the other end of that walk. But you don't want to know that.

Sadly I live in Wiltshire now so am unlikely to do the walk itself for some time.

jon (jon), Friday, 20 September 2002 15:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

the above statements are a reply to David's post, in case anyone's confused!

jon (jon), Friday, 20 September 2002 15:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

ah SouthEnd my childhood memories - do they still have the Crooked House?

Paul (scifisoul), Friday, 20 September 2002 19:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

wow

gareth (gareth), Saturday, 21 September 2002 10:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

wow

Have you been there yet Gareth?

David (David), Saturday, 21 September 2002 13:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

i went to burnham-on-crouch last year, but i haven't done the walk you have suggested. after 5 nights of going out, i feel like doing something healthy and nice, and may do something along these lines tomorrow

gareth (gareth), Saturday, 21 September 2002 16:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

The weather forecast isn't good - rain in the east, brighter in the west. Still that might make it an interesting experience. I've only been there on fine summer days.

This is a view from the sea wall looking to seaward somewhere pretty near the place you pinpointed on the map:

http://home.clara.net/huntsman/dengieoutfall.jpg

And this is the chapel - St. Peter-on-the-wall, built c. 653 AD:



http://home.clara.net/huntsman/chapel.jpg

David (David), Saturday, 21 September 2002 16:52 (twenty-one years ago) link

dave's pics just about sum it up. the weather's just fine. have a great walk.

jon (jon), Sunday, 22 September 2002 07:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

i'm not going to manage it today, i woke up too late, and i'm still knackered from the weeks exploits (esp friday night). i might have a small walk along the thames, potter around cockfosters, or buy some clothes. burnham is going to have to wait until i get back from america

gareth (gareth), Sunday, 22 September 2002 10:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

Oh, you've answered my question.

David (David), Sunday, 22 September 2002 10:58 (twenty-one years ago) link

fourteen years pass...

I'm on a train on a pier. 2017 RULES

illbient microtonal poetry Surbiton (imago), Sunday, 1 January 2017 14:02 (seven years ago) link

It sounds great. Reminds me of the Seaworld days!

saer, Sunday, 1 January 2017 14:14 (seven years ago) link

two years pass...

Have you been there? Why is it so frightening?

I was there today, I thought it would be a total hellhole but I found it to be pretty cool. The hellhole-ish aspect is that it's just Blackpool on the Thames Estuary - but I like Blackpool so that doesn't bother me - and, anyway, there's some really nice areas even Morrissey might approve of (see above). At one point popped into a pub that had a Hammond organ here, a Fender Rhodes lying over there, a harmonium in the corner and a pulpit. Pub was empty to start with then began filling up with a clientele ranging agewise from 8 to 80 (literally), lots of ageing mods and interestingly dressed OAPs, a band came on playing a kind of Meters meets Brian Auger organ-based funky rock thing. Went for some excellent fish and chips. Etcetera. Would go again!

Do you like 70s hard rock with a guitar hero? (Tom D.), Sunday, 21 April 2019 23:04 (four years ago) link

Yes. Had I elaborated on my post of two years ago, I'd have emphasised how it's a pretty nice place to walk around/hang out in

imago, Monday, 22 April 2019 07:28 (four years ago) link


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