Bognor Regis has been voted the worst seaside town in the UK, scoring just 36% in a Which? Travel survey of 117 British resorts, the lowest destination score in the entire ranking.
Which? Connect panel members rated the town one star, out of a possible five, for its seafront, food and drink, tourist attractions, scenery, shopping, parking, peace and quiet, and value for money. That is eight separate one-star ratings for a single town, which even the survey’s most disappointing resorts rarely manage.
The verdict came from 3,872 Which? panellists reporting on 8,952 seaside trips across 11 categories, so it is not one bad holiday skewing the numbers. It is a genuinely broad, consistent thumbs-down.
Why did Bognor Regis come bottom?
The one-star sweep is what makes this result so stark. Most towns near the bottom of the table pick up a couple of weak categories and hold their own elsewhere.
Bognor Regis managed to disappoint across the board, from the state of the seafront to whether a day out there felt like decent value for money.
Respondents were not shy about saying why. One panellist described the town as “dirty”, another called it “run down”, and a third simply said it left them feeling “depressed”.
The line that sums it up best came from a visitor who said Bognor Regis is “a seaside town that’s forgotten it’s next to the sea”.
It is worth saying that the picture was not entirely bleak. Some visitors singled out the pier lights at night as a genuine highlight, and there was a recurring theme in the responses that a bit of investment could turn the town’s fortunes around.
Bognor Regis is not written off, it is a town with obvious potential that simply is not being realised right now.
What did residents actually say?
Bognor Regis has not always had this reputation. King George V famously convalesced there in the 1920s, and the town was even granted the right to add “Regis” to its name in his honour.
A century on, that royal seal of approval feels a very long way from a 36% destination score and a clean sweep of one-star ratings.
Bognor Regis was not alone at the bottom of the table either. Bangor in Wales, Southend and Clacton were also named among the lowest-scoring resorts in the survey, though Which? did not publish individual scores for those three, only for the very bottom spot.
So while Bognor Regis carries the unwanted crown, it has company down there.
For context, this was not a fringe poll. It sits alongside well-known names doing perfectly respectably: Bournemouth picked up four stars for its beach, and Brighton earned a full five stars for food and drink.
The gap between those towns and the bottom of the table is enormous.
So which seaside towns got it right?
The flip side of the table makes Bognor Regis look even worse by comparison. According to Which? Travel, these were the best-scoring seaside towns in the UK.
| Town | Destination score |
|---|---|
| Bamburgh, Northumberland | 84% |
| Beer, Devon | 80% |
| Portmeirion, Wales | 79% |
| St Davids, Wales | 79% |
| Sidmouth, Devon | 79% |
| Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear | 79% |
| Dungeness, Kent | 78% |
Bamburgh has now topped the table for five years running, the only town in the whole survey to pick up five stars for its beach, seafront, scenery and peace and quiet all at once. Tenby also made the top 10, one of only three towns nationally to earn a five-star beach rating.
What does a UK seaside break actually cost you?
Here is the interesting bit for anyone planning a trip: the best town in the country is not the most expensive one to stay in. A hotel room in Bamburgh averages around £130 a night, while Tynemouth, tied for joint fifth place, comes in cheaper still at roughly £113.
Sidmouth, also in the top seven, works out pricier at around £160 a night despite scoring the same 79% as Tynemouth.
That gap matters, because it shows that a good UK seaside break is not just a question of spending more. Value for money was one of the categories Which? panellists scored directly, and it is entirely possible to land a top-rated town without paying top-rated prices.
If you are working out where to put a summer trip in the budget, that £113 to £160 spread is worth remembering before you book the first hotel that comes up.
It is a small but useful reminder that a great holiday and an expensive one are not always the same thing, whether you are choosing a seaside town or working out where the rest of your money should go this summer.
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Disclaimer: Content on this page is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial advice. Always do your own research before making a financially related decision.
