For a holiday on the English coast, Gordon Brown has made a good choice in
Southwold.
The Suffolk town was last year voted England’s most quintessential holiday
resort – it has seaside charm, but without the tackiness of Brighton’s pier
or the pretentiousness of North Norfolk’s sloaney coastline.
It is no doubt the resort’s pretty shops, cafes, and Blue Flag beaches that
have wooed the Teletext readers who voted it top. Southwold has repelled the
onslaught of chain stores and coffee shops and retains independent shops –
albeit delis and boutiques, rather than its original greengrocer and butcher
(earning the town the nickname Hampstead-on-Sea).
The Southwold pubs serve beer that’s brewed a stone’s throw from the beer taps
at the Adnams brewery, which until recently still used draft horses to
deliver its produce to local pubs.
Southwold hasn’t escaped inflation though – a beach hut that cost less than
£100 to build in the 1960s, now sells for up to £75,000. About a third of
the town’s 1,250 properties are second homes – those with three bedrooms or
more in the North Parade area fetch about £700,000.
It’s also not much of a secret – the winter population of around 1,300 is
swollen by around a million visitors over the summer season, so the beaches
and streets are heaving.
Holidaymakers come here for beach cricket, icy dips in the North Sea, trips to
the lighthouse and pier, and a pint of prawns from the Sole Bay Fish
Company.
Brown follows in the footsteps of King George V, who holidayed here when
Brighton become too much, and more latterly Geri Halliwell and Chris Evans,
who are among the celebrities reportedly spotted in the town’s ice-cream
parlour.
He’d do well to avoid Southwold this weekend though, when 25,000 festival
goers will descend on nearby Henham Park for the Latitude
Festival. It’s one of England’s more highbrow events - comedy,
literature, theatre and film take centre stage alongside the music - but a
sea of tents in a muddy field it will be, nevertheless.
Assuming the Browns won’t be pitching a tent – where to stay? One of the
town’s smartest bolt holes is The
Swan. Writing in The Sunday Times last year, Simon Hacker said of the
hotel: “The 42 rooms are fettled with the kind of crisp style that Hotel du
Vin veterans go wobbly about. Some have plasma screens, many have
four-posters and all have walls dotted with local contemporary art, and
bathrooms that waft organic toiletries.”
He might also do well do book a fireside seat for dinner – if today’s
gloomy summer forecast from the Met Office is right, the Browns will be
drying out by the fire after a rain-lashed trip to the beach.
I hope our nail-biting Prime Minister isn't planning to have a pint at ony of the pubs in Southwold, the home of Adnams Beer!
I understand that Adnams managers are all backing the campaign to exclude the Chancellor of the Exchequor Alistair darling from all its Pubs for hiking the beer duty!
Julian Bray, London, UK,
Glad to see that there are still some who remember Southwold and Walberswick for what they were, not what they have become!
Alice, London,
Is there no limit to Brown's cynical manipulative behaviour? Two aircraft carriers to be built in Glasgow and postponement of fuel duty increase before a bye-election, and now this. God help us at the general election, if the high priest of global warming has not thought of a reason to cancel it.
Tony, Newark,
having had a family holiday home that our parents brought 25 years ago, I have watched Southwold change and the prices rise! Is it a good choice for Gordon for a quiet break when the place is overrun by Daily Telegraph readers. Maybe Walberswick would be a better choice if he really wants a holiday.
Veronica, london, UK
I rember Southwold in the 50's, a family friend's parents lived in the lighthouse which was in the middle of the town, during the summer holidays I used to work for two women who ran a lavender shop next to the brewery and sometimes I was taken out in a row boat to check the lobster pots.
Phillipe lys, portsmouth, uk
wonder why he did not visit that Scottish "jewel in the crown" Glasgow East with the views over the dramatic skyline of HMP Barlinne, walk around the Bar-L, the Bar-G and Easterhouse Garden Estate. Sample the fine vintages of Buckfast and that old favourite Lanliq and columbian marching powder. why?
Ron Oliver, Edinburgh, Scotland
It's easy to see why, one road in one road out!
Set up a road block on Might's Bridge and Bingo!
Fortunately for me I can remember Southwold in the fifties when the Butcher, Greengrocer and Fishmonger were still there, but we didn't have online grocery stores then.
Claire Elizabeth, Houston, USA
One normally associates a holiday with work being completed so why on earth does Brown deserve a holiday? Surely 13 course Gordo has already been on holiday at the G8? What was accomplished there at a cost of $250 million plus?
Will, Lincoln, UK
Gordon Brown might be walking into a fire-storm going to Southwold where recently the environment agency declared that they were not going to defend agaist the sea to the South of the Town at Walberswick. Further South you will find Sizewell where two more nuclear power stations are proposed.
Dominic Holmes, Sudbury, Suffolk
Copied the headline opposite: "It is lack of big ideas that has made many on his own side see the Prime Minister as a dead man walking." Says it all....
Dave, York, England