I went to Southend and I was shocked! 🇬🇧
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.พ. 2025
- Southend-on-sea City! A place named as the chav capital of the UK? Is this true? I decided to investigate for myself!
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#british #uk #travel #documentary #poverty
Timestamps
0:59 Hadleigh castle
3:06 Southend-on-sea council estates
5:22 The city centre/shopping areas
7:28 Beachfront and UK's longest pier
12:44 The "nice" part of Southend
Hadleigh Castle is in a field away from the urban areas & main roads. It's also not in Southend. That's why groups of youths aren't hanging round there.
Hadleigh Castle is in, wait for it, Hadleigh! Nothing to do with Southend. One for the best things to do there is walk along the path from the park you were in; across Two Tree Island follow the River to Old Leigh, stop for Cockles and a Pint tat the Crooked Billet hen carry on past the boatyards to Chalkwell, head up the top to Cliffs Pavilion and carry on to Southend along the top of the Cliff Gardens. You wouldn't want to do that in January with the flu though.
Haha true although I wanted to add it into the video to give Southend more balance before going to the estate
I live local to Southend and spent most of my young life there. The Southend shopping centre we knew in the 1970s was filled with lots of lovely clothes shops and the pubs all had a lovely atmosphere about them. We had some fantastic discos there too. I go there sometimes with a mate of mine but it is depressing for me. The shopping centre has nothing but mobile phone shops and used video and take-away burger houses and as you said Ed shops which are some sort of ethnic jewellery /ornaments outlet. There is obviously little employment in the area , and the appearance of the town has been spoilt by Hostile Architecture designed to deter rough/homeless sleepers . Very sad for those who remember a more vibrant Southend.
Jamie Oliver had his Restaurant at the end of the Pier.
Braintree and Colchester are the worst paces in Essex!
The place you went to after the pier was Westcliff-on-Sea not Leigh-on-Sea (pronounced Lee not Lay) Leigh is a bit further along the coast and definitely worth a visit. Like all local councils Southend is skint. That said, out of the centre, in Shoeburyness, Westcliff, Chalkwell and Leigh it improves greatly. We have restaurants of every variety, quirky cafes, independent shops including antique and vintage shops, nice pubs and everywhere lovely Victorian houses. I enjoyed the vlog and thank you for being kind x
@@linpollitt8950 thank you I appreciate your comment:) have a good one
In the 1930's and 1950's Londoners would take the train out to Southend to gather shellfish at low tide: cockles, mussels and whelks.
@@1258-Eckhart that's pretty cool! 😎
@@EdBrinton That's what me and my mum and friends did in the 1950s. It was a day out for us, a little relief from the East End where we lived. We'd have fish and chips by the sea. The adults would then take us kids to a pub called The Hole in the Wall which had a yard for us to be in. Wonderful memories.
@RootlessNZ I'm glad you had good memories of the place! I can imagine it's a great place in the summer
My friend you really need to fact check places before doing these videos first you went to hadleigh castle in the town of hadleigh in the borough of castle point nothing to do with southend later when you did get to southend you didn't know southend had a pier 🤯 which is the longest pleasure pier in the world surrounding the pier is the pleasure park called adventure island which is not abandoned but shut for the winter and finally you said you was going to leigh ( pronounced Lee not ley) to see more pubs and restaurants but in fact you went half a mile up the road to westcliff roughly 2 miles away from leigh which has its own high street called the broadway and has lots of restaurants wine bars pubs and it's own small beach surrounded by more restaurants and pubs ok I think that covers it apart from that it was an interesting video 🤣😵💫
@@jongregory1396 thanks mate I'm just a guy exploring random towns on my day off nothing too serious my friend:)
@EdBrinton my pleasure my friend always here to help 😅 I still enjoyed the video and if you are ever down this way again let me know and I'll buy you a pint all the best for you and your channel 👍🙏
@jongregory1396 I'll buy you a pint too brother! I'm gunna do some more Essex videos so if you don't mind showing me around Southend or somewhere else I'd be happy:)
Every town has crime problems in there low income housing areas. Even in the reasonably rich part of London I live in, has a near by low income area which has crime.
@@yussafmalik7712 absolutely brother it's crazy
Well done Ed. I went to the end of the (railway) line there last July, to Shoeburyness, then back via Southend, Leigh-on-Sea, Rayleigh and Billericay. All Wetherspoons, and not bad at all, especially the first three mentioned.
I think Southend is only suffering in the same way as other underfunded towns and cities.
And it was my first visit there since around 1970, when I was five, so it's probably changed quite a bit!
Saying that, @ 3:57 who would possibly want to live in that block near all that filth? It really does look third world sometimes, these places you find.
And I doubt you'll feel homesick when you get back to Asia lol? 😂
Good luck.
✔🇬🇧💯👍😎
Thanks as always brother and yeah plenty of Wetherspoons which means it's a great place!
Wow, was in southend for a good 3 or 4 years for south essex college. Haven't visited since but have some decent memories here. Was told it was run down but doesn't look as bad as ive been told.
If you ever revisit have a walk to Leigh on sea. Completely different vibe to the main town, nice pubs and shops round there.
He went there at the end of the video 😊
@@mandymclan That was Westcliff on Sea. Further along is Chalkwell, and Leigh on Sea is after that.
It is not £300,000 to live in a one bed apartment in those flats around 4mins in. Don't be ridiculous.
The sewage from london tends to suface at Southend before entering the channel.
the southend stare....theres something in the water
The bridge you wanted to use outside the flats is blocked off due to excessive suicide unfortunately.
@@VIOLENTVR really? That's awful
The pier was used on the tv show minder were they was walking and George Cole forgot something
He's lighter
Minder!
The cafe on the Pier was home to Jamie Oliver's thing he did a few years back too...
Those tower blocks in Southend look depressing but we see these types of brutalist architecture, in places in London. But like a lot of places in the U.K., Southend has good parts and bad parts to it, but mostly a lot of the bad parts that are rundown just need investment in the area to make those parts look more welcoming.
@@lg_believe333 it's a shame Essex is often forgotten about by the government
Great informative video thanks for posting. I went to Southend for a day for my work about 30 years ago. Nothing wrong with the place, just never fancied going on holiday there
@@ianwhitehouse2487 thanks mate!
Used to go to Southend for the airshow every year and they canned it so there was no point going, one of my last trips was on the PS Waverly years ago that went down there from Tower Bridge and docked at the end of the pier, charging to walk on the pier now is a piss take. Council have no idea what they are doing no matter who is running it!
@@DavidRobinson1978 they never do mate what a shame
Why did they cancel it??
@@mandymclanNo money I would think. Southend only fills up, to a point, in high summer.
The Airshow was the biggest event, which we could see while in Kent anyway.
Nearby Tilbury is bankrupt and had a say in pulling the plug on the Gravesend-Tilbury ferry. KCC and Gravesham were up for it, but ECC and Tilbury said no. 👍🇬🇧
We where meant to go on P.S waverley last year from southend pier but got cancelled
They cancelled the Airshow due to the council saying it cost too much for policing and when local business said they would foot the bill they still said no.
Never been to Southend. I often wonder though how ordinary people afford the house prices in the south east. Paying to walk on the pier though is ridiculous.
@@garethpayne6907 it's crazy mate everything is so expensive. As a result I'll be back in Asia next week
@@EdBrinton I don't blame you. I mean, what is on the pier? Eastbourne and Hastings are free I believe, and they have pop-up shops, take aways and facilities too.
Get yourself to Goa òne day. It's still very affordable and good value. A couple I know are there now for 35 days. °32c+ every day now. 👉💡😎
Maintaing the longest pleasure pier in the world is not free, they also have the upkeep of the trains too.
If you do go on the pier, take a drink with you, cos the prices at the end of it are ridiculous.
@@bazz30001 exactly they missed out on me buying something there because of entry fee
Not that bad, but still looks run down and not cared for. Another great video👏👏👏👏
@@Firode9856 thanks bro as always
We visited Southend on 30th December whilst staying in London for Xmas & New Year (from Scottish Borders), and were quite impressed with the place. We missed the "Brutalist" buildings as we just headed towards the front and pier after leaving the station, but felt the Wetherspoons customers friendly and there was a good atmosphere. We were blessed with the first blue skies for a while and took the train to the end of the pier just for the sake of it but, as a tourist, it's what you do. I'm pleased you concluded it was OK, as we certainly did, but I have no idea what a "Chav" is though, from what you were saying, that is maybe just as well !!! Thanks for the video, it revived pleasant memories.
@@AgedYoungster thanks for your comment! I appreciate you
I worked for the council in 2000, those flats, you never left there immediately - we had lovely tenants that would throw full pots of paint at you, you never left you car near there as we had a several bowling balls throw at the cars from the flats. Place is a shat hole
Seriously??? 😳
@ Yes it was a nightmare, frequency tenants would glue razor blades to the backside of steps on fixed ladders that allowed council staff to enter the roof, it wasnt unusual that these blades had been covered in excrement. One occasion the ladders had been wired up the mains to kill a council employee, which failed thank god. On visits it was always a two man job, phone in before you enter and every 15 minutes until you leave. The homeless flats (now student acc) was where the prison service housed sex offenders from around the country, we were told to never enter with out police protection. The area near Storm night club was a no go area for ambulance crews, Christ I hated the area . This was in 2000 when I worked at the council.
seafront is ok ,the rest of southend is the arsehole end of the World !
For a start, Hadleigh Castle is in Benfleet, which is nice. Canvey is the near distance. Next along is Leigh-on-sea, which is also nice, then its Southend, which is awful...
Please fact check yourself, initial tower blocks are social housing plus the pier is the longest leisure pier in the World!
@@nickknowles1981 I literally said it was the longest pier.....
Omg how could he 😂😂😂😂
Fair comment on most of the video, obviously better and worse places in the town
It's pronounced Lee not Lay, and you were actually in Westcliff at that point followed by Chalkwell before you get to Leigh.
Lived here 40 years and never been to Hadleigh castle, thought the Pier or Adventure Island would be top of the visitor list?
victoria circus where u went used to be outside hasnt been under roof long
Ahem…..the longest pier in the whole world!
@@wingobingo very nice!!
@@EdBrinton not really, it was great once but ships keep bumping into it so they haven’t bothered really
Hadleigh castle has zero to do with Southend... Certainly never been called Southend castle 🥴
@@michaelpugh-q2t thanks for that mate
It's also not the biggest visitor attraction to Southend - the seafront has that title.
Just to update you Southend has the longest pleasure pier in the world that's why they charge you £3 probably
For the upkeep, and for the trains that run the length of it perhaps...
The peir was once longer but a fire destroyed it and was made shorter.
@nuthstarnuth1588 intriguing! I never knew that
@@EdBrintonYes Comrade, it was well known. And from that other hot town, Gravesend, we did have a regular, summer only leisure boat service to Southend Pier. It could allow us 5 hours there, but now reduced to occasional specials. 👍🇬🇧✔
I'm not sure that's true. The pier still extends out as far as it did in the 70's, depsite the various fires, and boats colliding with it over the years.
4:37 that Community Centre has been there decades. I used to do karate in there in 1983 and to be honest the whole area has hardly changed at all. Just perhaps a few more unsavoury characters
@@simonboyes2550 intriguing to see for sure. Shame the government has left these areas to rot :(
Where you walked and called Leigh on sea is actually Westcliff on sea.Also pier is longest pleasure pier in the world. Leigh on sea is further west from Westcliff on sea
This is why I honestly struggle with how cities are decided or thought about because places that offer less are city's and places that offer and do more are not I'm referencing Maidstone and reading. As both offer more within a same ratio of space than a lot of these "cities"
@@danielsmith1323 good point mate
Southend got city status in 2022 in honour of its MP David Amess who was murdered in a terrorist attack. He had lobbied for city status for a number of years. So now we're a city in name only with no extra funding. It's pointless really!
Ed if you comeback ill show you around a bit more and show you a few hidden gems .. you walked past a few little bits that are nice in Southend
Id love that mate! Definitely will have to stay in touch
that was cecil court its a right dive
@@CMSG1979 is it known to be like that?
That was Westcliff at the end not Leigh, Leigh is further down pat Chalkwell, also nicer than Southend Centre. Really enjoyed watching this
@@lewistillett206 thanks mate I appreciate you!
This has to be the worst review of Southend ever! You seek what you find. London is a cess pool by example, we have a few awful council run tower blocks as you enter Southend. Investment into the seafront has been rife for the past 15yrs. Everyone seems to bypass Thorpe Bay, Southchurch but I hope it remains the best kept secret and keeps away the scum of London who ruin our city every year.
Southend offers what you look for. Wetherspoon pubs? Nah. Small bijoux back street pubs, Live bands, the theatres, small mindedness springs to mind. Yes the town has suffered, due to the large shopping chains not entering Southend.
Oh dear 🤣
Southend is literally full of ex Londoners which is why they had to name it Southend-On-Sea so you didn't end up in a similarly named borough of South East London by mistake. Everyone I knew growing up there in the 70's had a family link back to East London. As for Southchurch ;that was where all the roughest gangs came from but I'll give you Thorpe Bay. Don't worry, no one will go there.
Southend has very good and bad bits but Thurrock, Basildon & Harlow are much much worse. I'll never forget me and my dad had 2 death threats in the same day in Thurrock, one in Aveley and another in Belhus😂😂😂
@@will_n775 exactly this mate and Tilbury is on another level! 😭😅
@@EdBrinton Oh of course, absolute dump - North Essex is mostly really nice however and some parts of Chelmsford, Brentwood and Billericay are very nice.
Good video mate
southamton is really nice area
Southend*
@@mandymclanThe thumbnail distracted him! 😅
Its a dump. No offence to anyone who lives there
Very good
To be fair, every town has its crap hole bad estates or streets. Good video though, thank you
Thanks so much 😊
Well this was a frustrating watch, maybe next time give me a shout and I’ll give you a tour, it’s the longest pleasure pier in the world and loads of history in the 2nd world war. You missed Thorpe Bay, Leigh on sea, pretty much everything lol
@@realadamberry I always get comments like this but if I don't know somebody from the place. I can't get a guide before hand. I'll have to come back mate
@ yeah I bet, well I’m being serious dude, let me know if you ever do, I’m happy to give you a tour
@realadamberry thanks mate will do, I do have my TH-cam email in my description so feel free to reach out and we can arrange:) cheers mate
Went last summer, thought it was alright.
@@BillyRockets-dn8ov it's a nice place overall mate
You never went to leigh it's closer to hadleigh. You went to westcliff.
Nah he went to leigh
I live here, work here and been here all my life. Got a bit worse over the years but nothing major.
How has it changed over the years mate?
@EdBrinton truthfully... Lot of London have moved here and unfortunately it's the drunks and the druggies that have been sent here by London councils. Cause a lot of problems. Also a lot of empty shops due to sky high rents. Seafront is in need of a makeover. The list is endless. I'm a dustcart driver for Southend council and they just don't want to improve anything here and are content in letting our home be used as a dumping ground and being run down. Used to be thriving, with minimal trouble and life was good.
Hadleigh castle isn’t really what I’d call Southend, at least not the dangerous area anyway.
The high street/southchurch/westcliff is the shit hole area
Intriguing mate!
@ great video tho!
@Irons12345 thank you :))
Stop it I used to live in the town in the 80s happy days Southend was like any other town you should visit Middlesbrough
they seem to be trying to improve it by have the street art but it does looked run down in some areas now :(
I know right. Still lots more investment than many other areas
Thats all council them blocks bro
Of course
stop slagging off my city saying its bad mate and ur clueless u dont know anything about it ur just judging it u were in hadleigh at the beginning
@@tiseco69 well I was trying to show somewhere nice to start off. And I haven't said anything negative about Southend if you listened you'd find I actually liked it.
There's always a comment like this. I always laugh
Stop hating on small TH-camrs
the area is real bad grrrr come back to maidstone in summer and do more video in other areas of our outer town
@@classics144sportscarschannel Maidstone has a lot of things to do I'll be back in summer mate
@@EdBrinton Maidstone has more can you can imagine
@danielsmith1323 any ideas on which part of Maidstone
@@EdBrinton lock meadow has an 8 screen odeon cinema. Bowling alley trampoline park and bowling alley. As well plenty of unique restaurants. Just across the river still the "town" there's a vast array of basically factory sized shops including tk max. range. Wicks and plenty more. Then the massive town hall which massive then just on the outskirts you also have the biggest library in Kent. I could go on but Maidstone does not get the recognition it deserves.
@@EdBrinton did say a while back of mote park area lesure center and area around there if pos , bst to come back later this year .as our park area is huge and has in summer a small railway
£3 to walk the pier ? who the f+ck do you think should pay for the infrastructure and maintenance ? and do some proper research before you start public school pontificating on a location you haven't got a clue about.
@@peterzear calm down mate 🤣 I don't get paid to make these videos
@@EdBrinton don't get paid ? and you have to pay for your own chips ?? Gorblimey mate ! btw it's pronounced LEE on sea not LAY on sea
@@peterzear you clearly don't have much better to do than hate on small TH-camrs which to be honest is really sad mate 🤣
Always one comment like this
@@EdBrinton no hate on you or any small YT bloggers.I did not seek out your post,the algorhythm did that,picking up on 'Southend'.We already had several bloggers cover the larger population centres of Essex with appropriate and contextual statistics provided.I'm only sad that your chav quest proved fruitless and I do agree about the disgusting architecture
@peterzear hahaha maybe Basildon next time we love Basildon 😍
The pier was used on the tv show minder were they was walking and George Cole forgot something