I found golden beaches in UK's worst town - it's like a foreign country

I found golden beaches in UK's worst town - it's like a foreign country Crime rates, long-term unemployment and poor health outcomes have long plagued a town that is now under threat from rising sea levels and has attracted "dark tourists" "On a sunny afternoon, it feels like a ghost town. I feel like I am in a film about a lost time," explains Christopher Moss, having visited what is probably the UK's most maligned seaside town. The travel writer has spent decades exploring the UK in an effort to unearth parts of the country that most either miss or ignore altogether, to then put a spotlight on those places. The results have been turned into a newly published book, Where Tourists Seldom Tread. Among the two dozen towns featured in the book is Jaywick, a seaside spot in Essex that regularly comes in for a real kicking. It has been officially ranked as England's most deprived neighbourhood four times running (2010, 2015, 2019, and again in 2025) by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Crime rates, long-term unemployment and poor health outcomes have long plagued a town that is now under threat from rising sea levels. The town has become something of a punching bag, with YouTube "dark tourists" regularly turning their cameras on Jaywick and even a US Republican congressional candidate using a photo of neglected housing and potholed roads in an election ad warning American voters about economic decline. In his 1983 classic travelogue, The Kingdom by the Sea, Paul Theroux dismissed Jaywick as being like an "Argentinian shanty town". The Channel 5 documentary series Benefits by the Sea was filmed here in 2015. Chris does not sugarcoat what he found on his trip to Jaywick, but instead lifts up the intriguing, unique and beautiful parts of the town that are easy to miss amidst the damning headlines. "I was taken by how beautiful it is to be on the waterside there," Chris told the Mirror. "It has this golden beach and this feeling of being in a foreign country. It was very calm and warm. Sedate even." The feeling of being somewhere other than England is added to by the chalets that make up most of the housing stock in Jaywick. The town was founded about 100 years ago when property developer Frank Stedman bought 24 acres of flood-prone marshland near the popular resort of Clacton, and flogged it in small parcels to Londoners looking to escape the city for the weekend. They were encouraged to build their own homes from kits, with suggested models costing just £52, although these were made of "rough cast asbestos" bricks. The promise of a lake and sports centre never materialised, but what did was a curious housing estate in the shape of a car radiator grille with roads named after old vehicle manufacturers. The destruction of East London during WW2 led many to move into their Jaywick homes full-time, not just for the holidays. "Eighty years later, materials and decor and fixtures have changed, but they are still weekend-sized and vulnerable to floods, time and family budgets," writes Chris. While some of the homes are "stoved in", others are well looked after and kept looking fresh. As well as the strong Essex/London hybrid accent, what remains in Jaywick are the Martello Towers. The squat structures were built in large numbers along the coasts of Britain and other parts of the former British Empire, mostly during the early 19th century, primarily to provide a defensive base should Napoleon launch a land invasion. The design was inspired by a round fortification at Mortella Point in Corsica, which British forces attacked in 1794. A small garrison there put up unexpectedly stiff resistance against Royal Navy ships, inspiring the Brits to steal the idea. Jaywick's tower is still intact and now plays host to an arts, heritage and community centre. It was saved earlier this year when an Essex County Council plan to cut £90,000 of funding prompted a local backlash. Part of it is given over to residents' poems that both sing Jaywick's praises and reckon with its challenges. One from Anna Mae reads: "Sirens blazing, blue lights flashing, drunkards fighting, eau de weed pervading, boom boxes blaring, foxes screaming way into the night. Seagulls screeching their morning calling, school kids running, mums beckoning, voices straining, muted threatening, coaches arriving, mobility scooters racing, cars parking, buckets and spades unloading, excited cries, tired of eye spying, children clamouring eager to see the sea, new land dredged from marshes keep on sinking, sea will continue claiming what is hers." It is this constant and growing risk of inundation that adds to the place's strange atmosphere, as does the feeling of a community bonded by a world that is against them. "Put-downs can spread the shame, but not here; people defend the right to be proud of their homes," Chris concludes. "All I'm saying to readers is it's okay to accept the headlines, but go and see and say hello. Most of these places are not as bad as the press presents." Where Tourists Seldom Tread is available in hardback for £19 and ebook for £12.99 on bookshop.org.