Discover Southend-on-Sea, Essex

Southend Pier, Southend-on-Sea: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Southend_Pier_Autumn_2007.jpg
Author: Damian Dukarski


Southend-on-Sea is a town and seaside resort in Essex, England. It covers 41.76 sq km (16.1 sq mi) and has a population of 165,000 people (2012 estimate). The town is on the north side of the Thames estuary, about 64 km (40 miles) to the east of London.

Southend-on-Sea derived its name from being on the "south end" of the village of Prittlewell. It developed as a seaside resort during the Georgian era, attracting visitors from London to its beaches.

As with many of the seaside resorts in Britain, Southend-on-Sea suffered a decline since the 1960s, as interest in local beaches ebbed in favor of more exotic destinations abroad. Nonetheless it continued to receive some 6.4 million visitors per year, generating an annual revenue of some £220 million.

On 18 October 2021, Southend-on-Sea was given city status, in advance of the closing date of the 2021 submissions for city status to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2022, in memory of Sir David Amess, the MP of the town who was murdered three days earlier. Sir David had long pressed for the status for his town. The city status was granted by letters patent dated 26 January 2022, and presented by Prince Charles on 1 March 2022.

Beach huts, Southend-on-Sea: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beachhuts.jpg
Author: Brian Snelson

Visiting Southend-on-Sea

To reach Southend-on-Sea by road, take the A12 road out of London. At Gallows Corner, continue on the A127 to reach the town.

Places of Interest in Southend-on-Sea

Southend-on-Sea is on the Map of cities in England

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About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.