All Along The Injured Coast

There's something about British seaside towns. I don't mean the successful ones that have made it into the 21st Century with their pride and dignity intact (Brighton being the most prosperous example), but the ones that fickle fashion and modern culture forgot around 1970. The ones that found themselves losing out to Mediterranean resorts as soon as package holidays became the norm. The ones that limped on through decades of neglect and economic collapse, trying desperately to cling on to the memories of their halcyon days, like ageing beauty queens. The ones like Morecambe.

It's fair to say that Morecambe has, over the years, taken a fair old kicking off whatever deity watches over seaside towns. After losing most of the attractions of its heyday, and suffering from the rising popularity of Blackpool as a coastal destination, one frantic plan after another was put into place to boost the dwindling tourist crowds. One by one, these plans failed. Given that the best of them was a theme park based on Noel Edmonds' profoundly irritating House Party TV show, it's perhaps unsurprising that this attempted renaissance was a bit of a non-starter. But the effects were nonetheless devastating. When I first visited the town as a kid in the early Nineties, the spiral of decline had reached arguably its lowest ebb; between drugs on the street, sewage in the sea, and the endless rows of boarded up buildings, it couldn't have been further from paradise.

Thankfully, things have been slowly improving since my first trip those many years ago. Today, I observed Morecambe's rejuvenation first-hand as I headed out there eager for a bit of sea air. I received that air in abundance, stepping off the bus to discover a gale force wind blowing in off the Irish Sea. Between having my eyeballs scoured with sand and saltwater, I ambled along the refurbished promenade replete with its classic ice-cream parlours and fish-and-chip stands. The prom also boasts many of Morecambe's more modern landmarks, including the Eric Morecambe statue unveiled in 1999, the newly-renovated Midland Hotel - a leading example of art deco architecture - and the bird statues on the stone jetty, like the one above. It was all capped off with a visit to the wonderfully bizarre Old Pier Bookshop, which is a must for any avid reader, and possibly the closest you'll ever get to being in the sitcom Black Books.

All in all I had a cracking day out, and it gave me plenty to ponder on regarding the ultimate fate of our seaside towns. I like to think that's what this magnificent bird is also considering. Are its eyes filled with former glory, or future glory?

You tell me.