The once-beautiful UK seaside town furious locals say is now ‘full of poo’

Locals in a UK seaside town spoke out earlier this year over dog poo and grafitti blighting the area, saying it was becoming a ghost town as a result.

In August, Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset was voted as one of the worst seaside towns in Britain in a survey by Which?, with a poor 49 percent visitor score, as well as the lowest possible score for sea quality.

Residents said at the time that the results weren’t surprising, and offered a pessimistic assessment of the town’s public image.

The amount of dog poo in the town’s public spaces was flagged as a key gripe, even though canines and other pets are banned from the beach during the summer.

One local in his 20s, who worked at a vape shop, told the Sun: “I was waiting for a bus when I saw a little kid trip and face-plant straight onto the dog poo.

“I wasn’t surprised. There’s so much dog muck around the town that it’s hard to avoid. There must be so many kids – and adults – treading in it because they haven’t seen it. It’s so unhygienic.”

Rather than pick up the dog turds, locals claim many owners were choosing to leave it in public places. 

According to the outlet, Somerset Council had a policy at the time of circling the dog poo with bright orange paint, hoping to shame owners into dealing with the mess.

But some locals were left nonplussed with the move, with one telling the outlet: “It must take just as long to spray paint around it as it would to simply pop it in a doggy back and throw in a bin.

“This policy is crazy. If an owner can’t be bothered to clear their own dog’s mess up, why are they going to care that it’s been ringed with orange paint.

“These owners are totally irresponsible and they’ve helped drag the town to the top of the worst seaside town in Britain league table. They should be ashamed of themselves,” they added.

Sarah Butler-Mills, 31, and business leader Jill Harper, 59, visited the town for the day in August, saying while their trip there was “bearable”, a whole day would be “unmanageable”.

They singled out Burnham-on-Sea’s 37-metre pier as needing “some TLC” urgently.

However, others have offered more favourable assessments of their visits, with one TripAdvisor reviewer writing of their experience in July 2024: “Mark from the pier pavilion and amusements went above and beyond with his service and is a credit to his employers.

“Nothing was too much trouble and the way he interacted with our children was great. The whole team were lovely and very helpful. Definitely be back again!”

Another praised the pier’s helpful staff the same month, saying: “Great new additions to the arcade this year! New prizes to win for your tickets. Nice to see it busy most of the time.”

A third who visited the town in September 2023 described it as a “delightful town”, adding: “The beach was beautiful, sand for miles and a great little lighthouse.”

Addressing the complaints about the dog mess issues, a spokesperson for the council said: “Like everywhere nationwide, it is the responsibility of every dog owner to pick up after their dog.

“The dog bins in Burnham on Sea are emptied on a daily basis. Somerset Council’s dog warden regularly patrols in Burnham and we have prosecuted irresponsible dog owners.” The local authority added that the pier is a “privately owned facility”.

The council has been approached for further comment on efforts to improve the state of the town. 

J Holland and Sons, who are said to be the pier’s current owners, could not be immediately reached for comment.