I stumbled upon this news article in the Skegness Standard during August where the local Skegness newspaper had written a report about the Nottingham Riviera Life is a beach.
The Skegness Standard covered the report over a complaint supposedly by someone who went to the Nottingham Riviera and was disappointed by the urban beach and complained that a pint at the Nottingham Riviera cost £3.50 and the beach didn’t have the same atmosphere as Skegness.
I’m originally from the Nottingham area and when I was a child I never got to go on holiday or see the sea, so for kids who were like me living in Nottingham, who never gets to go on holiday I think the Nottingham Riviera is a fantastic idea and I wish someone would have thought of it when I was a child.
The comments made by a local Councillor George Saxon were very naive and insensitive to those families who live 80 or so miles away from the sea and might feel the sand between their toes a couple of times in their life if they are lucky.
Councillor George Saxon thinks the Nottingham Riviera event will only encourage more people to come to experience a genuine seaside resort?
He said: “It’s man made builders sand and it’s only a small area so I think it might make them want to come and see the real thing in Skegness.
You might get the real thing in terms of miles of sand, but you won’t get a council in Skegness that will give you free entertainment every day in the six weeks holiday, so people living in Nottingham might be better off staying in Nottingham for their holidays since you’ll be guaranteed fun along with the sand on the urban beach.
I remember visiting Skegness once for a day trip when I was small, we traveled on a bus for what seemed like hours and all I can remember of the experience was sitting on the beach digging up rubbish in the sand and my mom complaining how expensive every thing was.
Skegness is much better now, the beach that is not the prices.
After reading the Standards dissing and bias article about the Nottingham Riviera I decided to check it out for myself and do some research online and I was surprised to find an ambitious and impressive event organised by Nottingham County Council.
The Nottingham Riviera is a urban beach that has been set up in Market square and has an impressive free events scheme every day for the full six weeks holidays.
The events are new and modern and start from 1pm until 11.30pm every day!
I looked up on Google images at peoples photos to see a giant punch and Judy, paddling pool, rowboats, water canons, helter skelter, fun fair and you could even have a paddle in there fountains. The Nottingham Riviera might not be like the real seaside experience, but I applaud Nottingham for bringing an urban beach to the city kids during the holidays, if only Skegness had the same approach for the kids that live here, but alas they do not, Skegness’s diary of fun things for the kids to do during the school holidays on a day to day basis is nothing :(
One of the things that has disappointed us about Skegness is it’s lack of vision, it’s getting better with the SO Festival, which this year 2010 was really good, but the SO Festival is only on for 4 days and the rest of the summer nothing is going on, it’s boring! I would agree that the Nottingham Riviera probably doesn’t have the same atmosphere of a real seaside resort like Skegness, but I have to say Nottingham on their urban beach have created something fun and will keep residence and holiday makers happy for the full 6 weeks holidays and is something Skegness should have been doing for years.
Skegness should have events and festivals popping out of there ears, instead they sit and criticized because they got out done by another council and feel threatened that they will lose one of there main revenue stream of tourists (Nottingham)
Skegness Town Council, East Lindsey District Council and Lincolnshire County Council should be watching the Nottingham Riviera closely and learning from Nottingham County Council, evaluating if it would be something Skegness should be working towards, not criticizing with snorting ignorance.
East Lindsey should be sending people up to the Nottingham Riviera: Life is a Beach to participate in the event with open minds, so they can report back to the council what their experience of the Nottingham Riviera was.
I hope the man whom contacted the Standard realises that the extra money he spent on his beverage was probably to help pay for the hours of free entertainment being provided by Nottingham County council and to help bring it to the city again in the future, helping to make it a bigger and better event for kids like myself whom never got to see a beach living in a town.
Skegness also has it’s critics on prices on attractions, they are not cheap and the businesses take advantage of the tourist that visit Skegness, many times I have passed Visitors in Skegness to hear that they think attractions and food cost to much, so Skegness isn’t much better at price than any where else.
Your pint might cost the same as where you live, but attractions are very often over priced for what you get, many of the premises in Skegness are not looked after or improved upon and are way out of step with a modern society that likes new innovative and up to date activities to keep us happy while on holiday.
I like living in Skegness, but I do say they need to pick it up a little and think out of the box on a regular basis and not use the usual drivel that Skegness is a traditional holiday town as an excuse not to move forward, brass bands are OK for the old folks, but what about the rest of us.
While watching some ones Video of Nottingham Riviera I noticed that it had a continental feel that Skegness Could learn from, Lots of seating with parasols to keep the sun off and plenty of deck chairs on the urban beach, there was open bars and barbecues for the visitors to enjoy The whole scene felt modern, relaxed and continental.
Nottingham has done something right and we should be applauding them for their ambitious goal, Skegness council, East Lindsey District Council and Lincolnshire County Council should be using their close ties with Nottingham and consulting with them to see how they managed to bring such a big project into effect and ask Nottingham County Council how successful it was for Nottingham and seriously consider whether a 6 week long event could be financially beneficial for Skegness for the future success of Skegness.
Skegness Councillors have had their noses bent out of shape by the Nottingham Riviera, don’t be childish and react on the defensive, learn what works for others and improve on it for Skegness. I’m sure we can out do any Event or Festival in the whole UK if we put our minds to it.
Come on Skeg ! :) Take the challenge.
