Fri. Oct 11th, 2024

Las Vegas, or Vegas for short, is famous for its luxury, its mega casinos and hotels.

The bright lights and big names who frequent the strip are unlike anything found elsewhere, yet one little English town has tried to model itself on the city — to little effect.

Skegness is a traditional seaside resort, once famous across the country for its sandy beaches and amusement arcades.

In recent decades, the town has fallen off the holiday-goers radar, though it has made efforts to rebrand itself and catch the public’s eye.

This included the erecting of a sign styled on the famous ‘Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas’ sign, with the ‘Las’ was replaced by ‘Skeg’.

Has it worked? A survey carried out by Which? suggests not, given that people gave the town a destination score of just 48 percent, making it one of the worst seaside destinations in the UK, joint with Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, and just one percentage point behind Burnham-on-Seai in Somerset.

Resorts across the nation were ranked on their beach, seafront, scenery, accommodation, and value for money, as well as peace and quiet.

Visitors to Skegness said they were less than impressed with its rundown seafront, giving it just one star.

Last year, the town installed a neon sign reading ‘Welcome to fabulous Skeg Vegas, not in Nevada’ to attract more visitors.

People who travelled to the town, however, seem less than impressed with its attempted rebrand.

“Unless you like arcades and fish and chips for every meal I suggest you don’t visit Skegness,” wrote Debbie, from Coventry, on TripAdvisor.

“It has no redeeming features whatsoever. Want healthy food? No chance. Want a nice bistro? You must be joking. Want a nice wine bar? Try another town.

“However, if you would like to clog up your arteries and increase your body weight this is the place for you. Luckily we only spent a weekend there, any longer and we would have still only spent a weekend there and left early. On our leaving day, we didn’t linger… we couldn’t get out of town fast enough.”

Given that people gave the town a destination score of just 48 percent, it makes Skengess one of the worst seaside destinations in the UK.

Resorts across the nation were ranked on their beach, seafront, scenery, accommodation, and value for money, as well as peace and quiet.

Visitors to Skegness said they were less than impressed with its rundown seafront, giving it just one star.

Last year, the town installed a neon sign reading ‘Welcoe to fabulous Skeg Vegas, not in Nevada’ in a bid to attract more visitors.

People who travelled to the town, however, seem less than impressed with the town’s attempted rebrand.

“Unless you like arcades and fish and chips for every meal I suggest you don’t visit Skegness,” wrote Debbie, from Coventry, on TripAdvisor.

“It has no redeeming features what so ever. Want health food, no chance, want a nice bistro… you must be joking. want a nice wine bar… try another town.

“However, if you would like to clog up your arteries and increase your body weight this is the place for you. Luckily we only spent a weekend there, any longer and we would have still only spent a weekend there and left early.

“On on our leaving day we didn’t linger… we couldn’t get out of town fast enough.”

Skegness’s contemporary woes couldn’t be further from its former glory days. In the 1800s, many people believed the town’s salty air had miraculous health benefits, making it incredibly popular.

The rich and famous flocked to its resort to suck up the air and soak in the sun, and the masses soon followed.

With the advent of cheaper packaged airline holidays in the 1970s, Skegness fell out of favour, though slightly picked up a decade later and throughout the 1990s as a place to visit alongside a trip abroad.

It enjoyed a resurgence after the financial crash of 2008, when more than one million people headed there during the summer months between 2010 and 2012, though now, sadly, Skegness appears to be on a downward spiral.

This hasn’t stopped holiday parks in the town from planning luxury extensions to their existing static caravans and bungalows, however, attempting to snatch up some sought-after business from the staycation boom experienced after the COVID lockdowns.

This summer, East Lindsey District Council submitted plans to add more than 40 static caravans to extended holiday parks in Chapel St Leonards which could help trigger an influx of visitors and encourage new funding for the town itself.

Blue Anchor Leisure Ltd is also planning to introduce 43 additional static caravans and five lodges to its Golden Anchor Holiday Site, a site already home to 755 units.

And while those surveyed by Which? weren’t all too pleased with Skegness, others elsewhere have expressed their delight with the town.

Simon K, from Alvaston, wrote on TripAdvisor of how he was “pleasantly surprised to find the beach to be clean and not overly crowded,” while Dale B, from Nottinghamshire, wrote: “It doesn’t deserve a bad reputation, it’s well worth a visit. Good value, Plenty of parking and the kids love it.”

He added: “It’s modernised too with some good investment. I’m not sure why it gets such a bad rep from some people, I generally think they listen to what other people have said without going. I think it’s come along way and has something for everyone.”

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