Southend-on-Sea facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Southend-on-Sea City of Southend-on-Sea
City, unitary authority area and borough
Southend-on-Sea City Council (Civic arms of Southend-on-Sea)
Motto(s):  Per Mare Per Ecclesiam (By Sea, By Church)
Shown within Essex
Country	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	East of England
Ceremonial county	Essex
Admin HQ	Southend-on-Sea
Government
• Type	Unitary authority
Area
• Total	16.12 sq mi (41.76 km2)
Population
• Total	Ranked 103rd 183,125
• Ethnicity	93.6% White 2.5% S.Asian 1.5% Black 1.4% Mixed Race
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (British Summer Time)
Postcode	SS1-SS3
Post town	southend-on-sea
Dialling code	01702
Grid reference	TQ883856
ONS code	00KF (ONS) E06000033 (GSS)
Website	www.southend.gov.uk

Southend-on-Sea, commonly referred to as Southend, is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, 40 miles (64 km) east of central London. It is bordered to the north by Rochford and to the west by Castle Point. It is home to the longest pleasure pier in the world, Southend Pier. London Southend Airport is located north of the city centre.

Southend-on-Sea originally consisted of a few poor fishermen's huts and farms at the southern end of the village of Prittlewell. In the 1790s, the first buildings around what was to become the High Street of Southend were completed. In the 19th century, Southend's status of a seaside resort grew after a visit from Princess Caroline of Brunswick, and Southend Pier was constructed. From the 1960s onwards, the city declined as a holiday destination. Southend redeveloped itself as the home of the Access credit card, due to its having one of the UK's first electronic telephone exchanges. After the 1960s, much of the city centre was developed for commerce and retail, and many original structures were lost to redevelopment. An annual seafront airshow, which started in 1986 and featured a flypast by Concorde, used to take place each May until 2012.

On 18 October 2021, it was announced that Southend would be granted city status, as a memorial to the Member of Parliament for Southend West, Sir David Amess, a long-time supporter of city status for the borough, who was killed on 15 October 2021. Southend was granted city status by letters patent dated 26 January 2022. On 1 March 2022, the letters patent were presented to Southend Borough Council by Charles, Prince of Wales.

History

Originally the "south end" of the village of Prittlewell, Southend was home to a few poor fisherman huts and farms that lay at the southern extremity of Prittlewell Priory land. In the 1790s landowner Daniel Scratton sold off land either side of what was to become the High Street, and the Grand Hotel (now Royal Hotel) and Grove Terrace (now Royal Terrace) were completed by 1794, and stagecoaches from London made it accessible. Due to the bad transportation links between Southend and London, there was not rapid development during the Georgian Era like Brighton. It was the coming of the railways in the 19th Century and the visit of Princess Caroline that Southend's status of a seaside resort grew. During the 19th century Southend's pier was first constructed and the Clifftown development built, attracting many tourists in the summer months to its seven miles of beaches and bathing in the sea. Good rail connections and proximity to London mean that much of the economy has been based on tourism, and that Southend has been a dormitory town for city workers ever since. Southend Pier is the world's longest pleasure pier at 1.34 mi (2.16 km). It has suffered fires and ship collisions, most recently in October 2005, but the basic pier structure has been repaired each time.

As a holiday destination, Southend declined from the 1960s onwards, as holidaying abroad became more affordable. Southend reinvented itself as the Home of the Access (credit card) due to it having one of the UK's first electronic telephone exchanges (it is still home to RBS Card Services – one of the former members of Access), with offices based in the former EKCO factory, Maitland House (Keddies), Victoria Circus and Southchurch Road. Since then, much of the town centre has been developed for commerce and retail, and during the 1960s many original structures were lost to redevelopment – such as the Talza Arcade & Victoria Market (replaced by what is now known as The Victoria Shopping Centre) and Southend Technical College (now a campus of South Essex College, on the site of the ODEON Cinema). However, about 6.4 million tourists still visit Southend per year, generating estimated revenues of £200 million a year. H.M. Revenue & Customs (HMRC), (formerly H.M. Customs and Excise), are major employers in the town, and the central offices for the collection of VAT are located at Alexander House on Victoria Avenue.

An annual seafront airshow, started in 1986 when it featured a flypast by Concorde whilst on a passenger charter flight, used to take place each May and became one of Europe's largest free airshows. The aircraft flew parallel to the seafront, offset over the sea. The RAF Falcons parachute display team and RAF Red Arrows aerobatics team were regular visitors to the show. The show has not been held since 2012 due to a lack of sponsorship. An attempt to revive the show for September 2015, as the Southend Airshow and Military Festival, failed.

Sopot, Poland, has been Southend-on-Sea's twin town since October 1999.

Demography

Map of the Southend Urban Area with subdivisions

Southend is the seventh most densely populated area in the United Kingdom outside of the London Boroughs, with 38.8 people per hectare compared to a national average of 3.77. By 2006, the majority, or 52% of the Southend population were between the ages of 16–54, 18% were below age 15, 18% were above age 65 and the middle age populace between 55 and 64 accounted for the remaining 12%.

Save the Children's research data shows that for 2008–09, Southend had 4,000 children living in poverty, a rate of 12%, the same as Thurrock, but above the 11% child poverty rate of Essex as a whole.

The Department for Communities and Local Government's 2010 Indices of Multiple Deprivation Deprivation Indices data showed that Southend is one of Essex's most deprived areas. Out of 32,482 Lower Super Output Areas in England, area 014D in the Kursaal ward is 99th, area 015B in Milton ward is 108th, area 010A in Victoria ward is 542nd, and area 009D in Southchurch ward is 995th, as well as an additional 5 areas all within the top 10% most deprived areas in England (with the most deprived area having a rank of 1 and the least deprived a rank of 32,482). Victoria and Milton wards have the highest proportion of ethnic minority residents – at the 2011 Census these figures were 24.2% and 26.5% respectively. Southend has the highest percentage of residents receiving housing benefit (19%) and the third highest percentage of residents receiving council tax benefit in Essex.

The urban area of Southend spills outside of the borough boundaries into the neighbouring Castle Point and Rochford districts, including the towns of Hadleigh, Benfleet, Rayleigh and Rochford, as well as the villages of Hockley and Hullbridge. According to the 2011 census, it had a population of 295,310, making it the largest urban area solely within the East of England.

Transport

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  c2c train at Southend Central Station

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  Southend Victoria Station

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  Southend Cliff Railway

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  Arriva Southend Bus

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  Southend Airport prior to the runway extension

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  A127 Kent Elms looking West

Airport

London Southend Airport was developed from the military airfield at Rochford, opened as a civil airport in 1935, and now offers scheduled flights to destinations across Europe, corporate and recreational flights, aircraft maintenance and training for pilots and engineers.

Bus

Local public transport is provided by two main bus companies, Arriva Southend (formerly the council-owned Southend Corporation Transport) and First Essex Buses (formerly NBC/Eastern National/Thamesway). Minor companies include Stephensons of Essex. Southend has a bus station in Chichester Road which was developed from a temporary facility added in the 1970s. Southend Bus station had sat on the London Road and was run by Eastern National, but it was demolished in the 1980s to make way for a Sainsbury's Supermarket. Arriva Southend is the only bus company based in Southend, with their depot being located in Short Street (previously on the corner of London Road and Queensway and also a small facility in Tickfield Road). First Essex buses are based out of the depot in Hadleigh, but prior to the 1980s Eastern National had depots on the London Road (at the Bus Station) and Fairfax Drive.

Rail

Southend is served by two lines on the National Rail network:

• Running from Southend Victoria north out of the city is the Shenfield–Southend line, a branch of the Great Eastern Main Line, operated by Abellio Greater Anglia. The services operate to London Liverpool Street via Shenfield.
• Running from Shoeburyness in the east of the borough is the London, Tilbury and Southend line operated by c2c. It runs west through Thorpe Bay, Southend East, Southend Central to London Fenchurch Street via Benfleet and Basildon or Tilbury Town and Barking. Additionally, one service from Southend Central each weekday evening terminates at Liverpool Street.

From 1910 to 1939 the London Underground's District line's eastbound service ran as far as Southend and Shoeburyness.

Besides its main line railway connections, Southend is also the home of two smaller railways. The Southend Pier Railway provides transport along the length of Southend Pier, whilst the nearby Southend Cliff Railway provides a connection from the promenade to the cliff top above.

Road

Two A-roads connect Southend with London and the rest of the country, the A127 (The Southend Arterial Road), via Basildon and Romford, and the A13, via Tilbury and London Docklands. Both are major routes, however, within the borough, the A13 is now a single carriageway local route, whereas the A127 is entirely dual carriageway. Both connect to the M25 and eventually London.

Climate

Southend-on-Sea has a typical British marine climate with summer highs of around 22 °C (72 °F) and winters highs being around 7.5 °C (45.5 °F). Summer temperatures are generally slightly cooler than those in London. Frosts are occasional. During the 1981–2010 period there was an average of 31.5 days of air frost. Rainfall was low by British standards and averaged 515 millimetres (20.3 in). Weather station data is available from Shoeburyness, which is adjacent to Southend in the eastern part of the urban area.

Entertainment and culture

Southend Pleasure Pier

Southend on Sea from one mile out along the pier, the world's longest pleasure pier

Southend-on-Sea is home to the world's longest pleasure pier, built in 1830 and stretching some 1.33 miles (2.14 km) from shore.

The Kursaal

The Kursaal was one of the earliest theme parks, built at the start of the 20th century. It closed in the 1970s and much of the land was developed as housing. The entrance hall, a listed building, is a bowling alley arcade operated by Megabowl and casino.

The Kursaal

The Cliff Lift

A short funicular railway, constructed in 1912, links the seafront to the High Street level of the town. The lift re-opened to the public in 2010, following a period of refurbishment.

Other seafront attractions

The sunset in Southend, a view of Adventure Island in 2007

An amusement park Adventure Island, formerly known as Peter Pan's Playground, straddles the pier entrance. The seafront houses the "Sea-Life Adventure" aquarium.

The cliff gardens, which included Never Never Land and a Victorian bandstand were an attraction until slippage in 2003 made parts of the cliffs unstable. The bandstand has been removed and re-erected in Priory Park. Beaches include Three Shells and Jubilee Beach.

A modern vertical lift links the base of the High Street with the seafront and the new pier entrance. The older Southend Cliff Railway, a short funicular, is a few hundred metres away.

The London to Southend Classic Car run takes place each summer. It is run by the South Eastern Vintage and Classic Vehicle Club and features classic cars which line the seafront.

The Southend Shakedown, organised by Ace Cafe, is an annual event featuring motorbikes and scooters. There are other scooter runs throughout the year, including the Great London Rideout, which arrives at Southend seafront each year.

Festival events

The Southend-on-Sea Film Festival is an annual event that began in 2009 and is run by the White Bus film and theatrical company based at The Old Waterworks Arts Center located inside a Victorian era Old Water Works plant. Ray Winstone attended the opening night gala in both 2010 and 2011, and has become the Festival Patron.

Since 2008 Chalkwell Park becomes home to the Village Green Art & Music Festival for a weekend every July.

Shopping

There are regular vintage fairs and markets in Southend, held at a variety of locations including the Leigh Community Centre, the Kursaal and the Railway Hotel. A record fair is frequently held at West Leigh Schools, Ronald Hill Grove, Leigh on Sea.

Southend High Street runs from the top of Pier Hill in the South, to Victoria Circus in the north. It currently has two shopping centres – the Victoria (built during the 1960s and a replacement for the old Talza Arcade, Victoria Arcade and Broadway Market) and The Royals (built late 1980s replacing bottom part of High Street, Grove Road, Ritz Cinema, Grand Pier Hotel). Southend High Street has many chain stores, with Debenhams, Primark and Boots in the Royals, and Next anchoring the Victoria.

This was not always the case with many independent stores closing in the 1970s and 1980s – Keddies (department store), J L Dixons (department store), Brightwells (department store), Garons (grocers, caterers and cinema), Owen Wallis (ironmongers and toys), Bermans (sports and toys), J Patience (photographic retailers) & R. A. Jones (jewellers) being the most notable. One of Southend's most notable business, Schofield and Martin, was purchased by Waitrose in 1944 with the name being used until the 1960s. The Alexandra Street branch was the first Waitrose store in 1951 to be made self-service. Southend is home to the largest store in the Waitrose portfolio.

A Southend family business started in 1937 that was still going in 2014 was Dixons Retail. The oldest surviving independent retail business in Southend is Ravens which opened in 1897.

The borough of Southend has shopping in other areas too. Leigh Broadway and Leigh Road in Leigh-on-Sea, Hamlet Court Road in Westcliff-on-Sea, Southchurch Road and London Road are where many of Southend's independent business now reside. Hamlet Court Road is still home to one of Southend's oldest business – Havens opened in 1901.

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  High Street, looking North

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  High Street, looking South

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  By the Royals

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  The Victoria

Parks

Southend is home to many recreation grounds. Its first formal park to open was Prittlewell Square in the 19th century. Since then Priory Park and Victory Sports Grounds were donated by the town benefactor R A Jones, who also has the sports ground Jones Corner Recreation Ground named after his wife. Other formal parks that have opened since are Chalkwell Park and Southchurch Hall along with Southchurch Park, Garon Park and Gunner Park.

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  Southend Cliff Gardens

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  Priory Park

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  Prittlewell Square

Art, galleries, museums and libraries

Focal Point Gallery is South Essex's gallery for contemporary visual art, promoting and commissioning major solo exhibitions, group and thematic shows, a programme of events including performances, film screenings and talks, as well as offsite projects and temporary public artworks. The organisation is funded by Southend-on-Sea Borough Council and Arts Council England.

Southend Museums Service, part of Southend on Sea Borough Council, operates a number of historic attractions, an art gallery and a museum in the town. These include: The Beecroft Art Gallery, Southchurch Hall, Prittlewell Priory, Southend Pier Museum and the Central Museum on Victoria Avenue.

The Old Waterworks Arts Center operates in North Road, Westcliff in the former Victorian water works building. It holds art exhibitions, talks and workshops.

Southend has several small libraries located in Leigh, Westcliff, Kent Elms and Southchurch. The central library has moved from its traditional location on Victoria Avenue to the Forum in Elmer Approach, a new facility paid for by Southend Council, South Essex College and The University of Essex. It replaced the former Farringdon Multi Story Car Park. The old Central Library building has become home to the Beecroft Gallery.

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  Southend Central Museum, Victoria Avenue

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  Former home of Beecroft Art Gallery

Theatres

There are a number of theatres. The Cliffs Pavilion is a large building to host concerts and performances on ice, opening in 1964. The Edwardian Palace Theatre is a grade II building built in 1912. It shows plays by professional troupes and repertory groups, as well as comedy acts. The theatre has two circles and the steepest rake in Britain. Part of the theatre was a smaller venue called The Dixon Studio. They are both owned by Southend Council and run by Southend Theatres Ltd.

The most recent theatre was the New Empire Theatre. It was, unlike the other two, privately owned. It was used more by amateur groups. The theatre was converted from the old ABC Cinema, which had been the Empire Theatre built in 1896. The New Empire theatre closed in 2009 after a dispute between the trust that run the theatre and its owners. The building was badly damaged by fire on Saturday 1 August 2015

The Clifftown Theatre is located in the former Clifftown United Reformed Church and as well as regular performances is part of the East 15 Acting School campus.

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  The Cliffs Pavilion

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  The former New Empire Theatre

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  Clifftown Theatre - part of East 15's Southend campus

Cinema

Southend has one cinema – the Odeon Multiplex at Victoria Circus which has eight screens. The borough of Southend had at one time a total of 18 cinema theatres, with the most famous being the Odeon (formerly the Astoria Theatre), which as well as showing films hosted live entertainers including the Beatles and Laurel and Hardy. This building no longer stands having been replaced by the Southend Campus of the University of Essex. There are plans to build a new 10 screen cinema and entertainment facility on the site of the Seaway Car Park, which was earmarked to start in 2015 and be completed by 2017. However Cineworld pulled out in 2015 and planned to open a new multiscreen site at the planned Fossets Farm development, next to the new Southend United F.C. ground.

Southend has appeared in films over the years, with the New York New York arcade on Marine Parade being used in the British gangsta flick Essex Boys, and its airport being used for the filming of James Bond's Goldfinger.

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  The former ABC Cinema

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  Former Astoria/Odeon cinema - High Street, Southend

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  The current Odeon

Music

Junk Club, at one time a centre of Southend's music scene, was predominantly held in the basement at the Royal Hotel during the period of 2001–06. Co-run by Oliver "Blitz" Abbott & Rhys Webb, of The Horrors, the underground club night played and eclectic mix from Post Punk to Acid House, 1960s Psychedelia to Electro. It was noted as spearheading what became known as the Southend Scene and was featured in the NME, Dazed & Confused, ID, Rolling Stone, Guardian and Vogue. Bands associated with the scene included; The Horrors, These New Puritans, The Violets, Ipso Facto, Neils Children and The Errorplains.

Southend has three major venues; Chinnerys, the Riga Club (formerly at the Cricketers Pub London Road) at O'Neill's, and the Cliffs Pavilion. The Railway Hotel is a live music pub, which features a variety of acts, and curates the Southend Pier Festival.

Concerts are also shown at the Plaza, a Christian community centre and concert hall based on Southchurch Road, which was formerly a cinema.

There have also been a number of popular music videos filmed in Southend, by such bands as Oasis, Morrissey, George Michael.

Other bands and musicians originating from Southend include; Danielle Dax, The Kursaal Flyers, Scroobius Pip, Procol Harum, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Busted, Nothing But Thieves.

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  Busted in Concert

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  The Plaza Centre

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  The Horrors

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  Procol Harum

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  Danielle Dax

Radio

In 1981, Southend became the home of Essex Radio, which broadcast from studios below Clifftown Road. The station was formed by several local companies including Keddies, Garons & TOTS nightclub with David Keddie, owner of the Keddies department store in Southend becoming its chairman. In 2004, the renamed Essex FM, now Heart Essex moved to studios in Chelmsford.

On 28 March 2008, Southend got its own radio station for the first time which is also shared with Chelmsford Radio formerly known as Dream 107.7 FM and Chelmer FM before that, Southend Radio started broadcasting on 105.1FM from purpose built studios adjacent to the Adventure Island theme park. The station merged with Chelmsford Radio in 2015 and became Radio Essex.

Television

Southend has appeared in several television shows and advertisements. It has been used on numerous occasions by the soap EastEnders with its most recent visit in 2013. Southend Pier was used by ITV show Minder for its end credits in season 8, 9 and 10, and since 2014 has been home to Jamie & Jimmy's Friday Night Feast. Advertisements have included Abbey National, CGU Pensions, National Lottery and most recently the 2015 Vauxhall Corsa adverts featuring Electric Avenue, a seafront arcade and for the promo for David Hasselhoff's new Dave programme Hoff the Record.

In fiction

Southend is the seaside vacation place chosen by the John Knightley family in Emma by Jane Austen, published 1816. The family arrived by stage coach, and strongly preferred it to the choice of the Perry family, Cromer, which was 100 miles from London, compared to the easier distance of 40 miles from the London home of the John and Isabella Knightley, as discussed at length with Mr Woodhouse in the novel in Chapter XII of volume one.

Places of worship

There are churches in the borough catering to different Christian denominations, such as Our Lady Help of Christians and St Helen's Church for the Roman Catholic community. There are two synagogues; one for orthodox Jews, in Westcliff, and a reform synagogue in Chalkwell. Three mosques provide for the Muslim population; one run by the Bangladeshi community, and the others run by the Pakistani community.

York Road Market

Demolition of the historic market began on 23 April 2010. The site became a car park. A temporary market was held there every Friday until 2012 after the closure of the former Southend market at the rear of the Odeon. As of 2013, a market is now held in the High Street every Thursday with over 30 stalls.

Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Southend-on-Sea at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

In 2006, travel insurance company InsureandGo relocated its offices from Braintree to Maitland House in Southend-on-Sea. The company brought 120 existing jobs from Braintree and announced the intention to create more in the future. However the business announced the plan to relocate to Bristol in 2016. The building is now home to Ventrica, a customer service outsourcing company.

Southend has industrial parks located at Progress Road, Comet and Aviation Ways in Eastwood and Stock Road in Sutton. Firms located in Southend include Olympus Keymed, Hi-Tec Sports and MK Electric. Southend has declined as a centre for credit card management with only Royal Bank of Scotland card services (now branded NatWest) still operating in the city.

A fifth of the working population commutes to London daily. Wages for jobs based in Southend were the second lowest among UK cities in 2015. It also has the fourth highest proportion of people aged over 65. This creates considerable pressures on the housing market. It is the 11th most expensive place to live in Britain.

Southend-on-Sea County Borough Corporation had provided the borough with electricity since the early twentieth century from Southend power station. Upon nationalisation of the electricity industry in 1948 ownership passed to the British Electricity Authority and later to the Central Electricity Generating Board. Electricity connections to the national grid rendered the 5.75 megawatt (MW) power station redundant. Electricity was generated by diesel engines and by steam obtained from the exhaust gases. The power station closed in 1966; in its final year of operation it delivered 2,720 MWh of electricity to the borough.

Sport

Southend – Leisure and Tennis Centre

Southend has two football teams, one of professional stature, Southend United. The other, Southend Manor, play in the Essex Senior League. Southend United currently compete in the Vanarama National League.

There are two rugby union clubs Southend RFC which play in London 1 North and Westcliff R.F.C. who play in London & South East Premier. Southend was formerly home to the Essex Eels rugby league team. Southend was home to the Essex Pirates basketball team that played in the British Basketball League between 2009 and 2011.

Essex County Cricket Club play in Southend one week a season. Previously the festival was held at Chalkwell Park and most recently Southchurch Park, but it has now moved to Garons Park next to the Southend Leisure & Tennis Centre. The only other cricket is local.

The Old Southendians Hockey Club is based at Warner's Bridge in Southend.

The eight-lane, floodlit, synthetic athletics track at Southend Leisure and Tennis Centre is home to Southend-on-Sea Athletic Club. The facilities cover all track and field events. The centre has a 25m swimming pool and a world championship level diving pool with 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10m boards, plus springboards with the only 1.3m in the UK.

Education

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  University of Essex accommodation in Southend

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  Cecil Jones Academy

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  Westcliff High School for Boys

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  South Essex College Southend Campus

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  Southend Adult Community College

Secondary schools

All mainstream secondary schools are mixed-sex comprehensives, including Belfairs Academy; Cecil Jones Academy; Chase High School; Southchurch High School; Shoeburyness High School and The Eastwood Academy.

In 2004, Southend retained the grammar school system and has four such schools: Southend High School for Boys; Southend High School for Girls; Westcliff High School for Boys and Westcliff High School for Girls.

Additionally there are two single-sex schools assisted by the Roman Catholic Church: St Bernard's High School (girls) and St Thomas More High School (boys). Both, while not grammar schools, contain a grammar stream; entrance is by the same exam as grammar schools.

Further and higher education

The main higher education provider in Southend is the University of Essex which has a campus in Elmer Approach on the site of the former Odeon cinema.

In addition to a number of secondary schools that offer further education, the largest provider is South Essex College in a purpose-built building in the centre of town. Formerly known as South East Essex College, (and previously Southend Municipal College) the college changed name in January 2010 following a merger with Thurrock and Basildon College.

Additionally there is PROCAT that is based at Progress Road, while learners can travel to USP College (formerly SEEVIC College) in Thundersley. The East 15 Acting School, a drama school has its second campus in Southend, while the Southend Adult Community College is in Ambleside Drive. Southend United Futsal & Football Education Scholarship, located at Southend United's stadium Roots Hall, provides education for sports scholarships.

Notable people

Images for kids

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  Southend Civic Centre, autumn 2007

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  Seals off Southend

See also

In Spanish: Southend-on-Sea para niños