A place where people go to die, apparently... (Scarborough in General)

Member Name: angry chris

Product:	Scarborough in General
Date:	25/11/02 (2987 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wonderful views, Everything you need is here, So quiet and safe as houses

Disadvantages: Not that cheap, overall, Shite to get to by public transport., Some parts have seen better days.

I came across Scarborough about 18 months ago in rather perculiar circumstances. I'd had a bit of a bust up with the missus and decided that I wanted to bugger off for a bit, and seeing an advert in the local rag for bar staff at a holiday park near Scarborough, I decided to apply. As an expert in pubs, I got the job and moved down there in March of last year.

Scarborough is a popular seaside resort on the North East coast of England, 17 imles south of Whitby and about 10 miles north of Filey. It is the 3rd most visited resort in the UK, and is primed solely for the "season", which generally kicks in around May and ends mid-way through October. It is a moderately large town(certainly larger than I expected), with a variety of things around for people who come for a day-trip or for a holiday.

Many of the holiday makers are based in one of the many caravan sites that litter the outskirts of the town. These are bigger than you might expect. Haven holidays did have 4 caravan sites on the fringes of the town: Cayton Bay, Blue Dolphin, Reighton Sands and the largest one, Primrose Valley- a truly huge caravan site with nigh on 3000 caravans on park. For the record, I worked at Blue Dolphin, but within weeks I realised that it was a horrible dump run by morons and staffed by complete sh**s, with a guest list which read like a hilarious action pic. In my time there, we had visits from gypsies armed to the teeth with a variety of thoroughly illegal weapons, locals who fancied robbing the "security" men of the arcade takings, and staff whose primary aim was to sleep with guests, or to steal from the tills. DO NOT go on holiday to Blue Dolphin!!

I then moved to Cayton Bay, about 3 miles from the centre of Scarborough. It is much smaller- about 400 vans on park, and was altogether better. The staff were great, in general, the facilities in a better condition and the armed response unit remained firmly off park. It is

no longer a Haven park, it was purchased by Park Resorts in May 2001. I stayed until October, then went back this summer until I started Uni in September. I am more than happy to recommend it.

As well as these parks, there are several smaller parks owned privately by person or persons in a small business capacity, one of which, "Browns" on Mill lane, Cayton, comes with my heartiest recommendation.

The town centre itself is impressive if shopping is your thing. It certainly makes a mockery of Gateshead High Street, with a wide range of shops to choose from, all situated around the main High Street, including Marks and Sparks, Next, HMV, Woolies and Boots. There is also the Brunswick shopping centre, possibly the smallest shopping mall I have ever seen. As usual, the obligatory McDonalds is there along with Pizza Hut, BK and the other usual suspects.

Transport is decent, with a moderately reliable bus system in and around town, along with a "Park and Ride" scheme to relieve congestion in the town centre. I personally found the buses reliable if a little expensive. The train-station is not mainline, but will get you to York, Leeds, Sheffield and the like, but not Newcastle, can I add. If you want to go from "up-north" by public transport, you will have to get to Middlesborough/smog-land, and then get the very irregular 93/93A. Check in advance with traveline. Anyway, train station. Fairly small, functional with a bar and a small customer service desk, though it tends to be rather quiet. Don't know about the ladies, but the mens toilets are bloody awful: graffitee strewn, urine smelling cess-pits which are definately to be avoided.

Scarborough is famous for it's old buildings, which give it character and additional interest. Worth a look is the historical indoor market and the "Vault", underground corridors filled with small, specialist shops. If you're after a gr
easy
fried breakfast, try the greasy-spoon in the corner of the market (Market Cafe, originally enough). Two quid for a fry-up!!!!
Also worth a look, bizarrely, is the McDonalds in town. It is not the usual plain crap you would associate with this "resteraunt", but a beautiful, stained glass early 20th century building full of character and style. Shite knows how McDonalds got there...

On the subject of food, there are plenty of fast food places here, and as expected, loads of "chippies" full of the freshest fish you can imagine. Fully recommended is "Leeds Fisheries", a small, white chip shop on the corner at the very bottom of the High Street. Massive fish and chips, full of flavour, you can almost taste the freshness, all for about £2-80 last time I looked. The benches outside offer a wonderful view of the cliffs and the sea, perfect for lunch time relaxation.

Sports facilities are, in truth, sparse, but the Scarborough Sports Club on Filey Road, just outside town, offers fine crown green bowls and grass court tennis. Bit pricey though. A bit further afield is Pindar Leisure centre, on the outskirts of Eastfield, near Cayton. Good fascilities for flood-lit football, badminton, swimming: the usual. This too is a bit expensive, plus Eastfield is probably the scummiest part of Scarborough-avoid at night like the bubonic plague.

For groceries and the weekly shop, everything that should be there is. Tesco is open 24 hrs just round the corner from the station, as well as Safeway and Kwic-Save. Near Eastfield, about 4 miles from the town centre, is the huge Morrisons supermarket, along with another McDonalds. Cheap as chips for things like beer and pot-noodles(caravan park staff diet!)

Bars and Clubs are moderately prominant. Well worth a look is Rockies- the pub owned by local boxing hero Paul Ingle. The walls are lined with memorabelia from his career, his belts etc. Downside is
that it i
s probably the dearest bar in town, and the sandwiches are to be avoided, unless you want a cheese-slice baguette. Also try the usual suspects: Wetherspoons is as cheap and cheerful as ever, and Yates can be found just up the road from Rockies on St Thomas Street. Don't bother with Quids In, it's a sh**hole.
There are handful of clubs, the pick of which is Berlins (spelt wrong cos I can't remember hows it's spelt, so be warned!) on St Thomas Street. 2 floors of music and a couple of bars- downstairs for you Dance fans, and a more nostalgic mix upstairs. Thursday Night is ladies night, free entry for the birds and 2 quid for the lads. Drinks usually start at about £2.50.
A bit cheaper is Planet 2000 and Club 99 on Huntriss Row (next to the McDonalds!), although what you get back in cash you lose somewhat in quality. Planet 2000 is like a smaller version of Newcastle's Ikon, which for those of you who don't know is a horrible, juvenile and drug filled crap-hole. The average age of the people in there is about 15, and there is a fair chance of being involved in a fight at some stage. Club 99 is a bit better, and if you go into the 60's/70's/80's room as oppose to the dance room, you should have a decent night. Saturday night in 99 will set you back just a quid to get in and a quid on most bottles.

It goes without saying surely that a seaside town will have a beach, and Scarborough has two; the North and South piers. They are split in the middle by the towering site of Scarborough Castle on Castle Hill. This beautiful old castle is still very much recognisable, and a trek up to it will be rewarded with a magnificant view of both beaches. A national heritege site, this is well worth a look.

The North Pier is the smaller of the 2 beaches by some way, and is surrounded on the prominade by tea-bars and other such places, including the old bingo hall. It is full of elderly folks: a ni
ce place to rel
ax. The South pier is the main beach, a large expanse of sand streching almost a mile along the sea-front. Here you will find all the usual suspects: small fairground rides for the kids, donkey rides, Ice-cream vendors and the usual plethora of pubs, of which the Newcastle Packett is probably the best. There is also the usual expanse of amusement arcades for those like me who choose to fritter large sums of money away chasing £5 jackpots. Of course, there are the usual number of "Prize bingo" venues for those over 90 who want to spend the entire day sat down, smoking JP Superkings and trying to win the "big" £3 jackpot. When the sun is out, it is undenialibly beautiful sight.(the beach, not the prize bingo!)

An open-top bus will ship you from the north to the south pier for a £2.50 return. Better than walking, it is a good mile and a half, at least.

Scarborough has it's fair share of attraction, all of a different standard. The Stephen Joseph theatre opposite the train station is a large, plesant venue, with a cinema built in. Waiting for a movie in Scarborough is like living in a time-warp:most big films don't get here for about 6 months. I kid you not.
The Futurist on the sea front is similar in purpose, but is actually a relic which should have been knocked down years ago. Decrepit is an understatement.
Well worth seeing, also on the seafront on the South Pier is "Terror Towers", a "ride" of the ghost train variety, but which is actually shit your pants scary! Honest! Costs about £4, but well worth it.
On the North pier, Atlantis is an outdoor waterworld full of flumes, hot-tubs and diving pools. Unfortunately, it has seen better days, and it is starting to show. Still worth a try for now.
Arcadia is another large arcade on the south pier, but this one has pool and snooker table, a licensed bar and a ten-pin bowling alley- a real one, not one of t
hose daft little &qu
ot;bowlingo" things. A bit pricey, but clean, new(ish) and relatively moron free, certainly one to take the kids to.

A monorail will take you back up to the top of the high street from arcadia, which is a releif because the hill is bloody massive! Quite a steep little thing this, but cheap at 40p per body, and worth going on just for the view of the south pier.

On the subject of beaches, go see Cayton Bay itself. It's a bus ride from the town centre and is about 2 miles away. This National Trust site used to be a nudist beach until the mid 90's, but lost it's license after a local outrage. It is now a surf beach of almost unimaginable beauty. The whole beach is hemmed in by a cove of one half cliffs and the other half trees. Looking down on it from the bus on the main road is simply breathtaking. I am not kdding, its that nice. Careful though when it is hot, the cove acts like a huge suntrap and you will burn like a McDonalds burger in no time!

One of the best things about Scarborough is the atmosphere. Reading the local paper is hilarious. Where I come from, deaths and violet crime is everyday stuff. Front page of the papers here(Scarborough Evening news) will normally be about a police raid on a house to find a nasty washing line thief!(this really happened). Scarborough is a very quite, relaxing place. It is not Blackpool or places like that. If you want an all-action holiday, full of beer and cheap slappers than this is the wrong place to be. This means, however, that this is probably the safest place I've ever been to, although I have to admit that like all places, there are some areas best avoided.
Another thing is that the houses in and around town are generally huge, and very expensive. Scarborough oozes money. Most of the people who live there are absolutely loaded. Lucky them, I guess.

Which brings me roundly back to the title. A lass about my age was
cutting my hair in the su
mmer, and she asked if I liked Scarborough. When I answered in the affirmative, she looked at me like I had just asked her to strip off and lap-dance, before saying in no uncertain terms that she would soon be out of the place, she hated it because it was "full of old people who come to live here while they wait to die".

I disagree. I love Scarborough and its old stuff and its timewarp like cinema and its beautiful beaches. I love the fish and chips and the gawdy arcades. I love being able to walk round the town centre at night and not feeling remotely uneasy, even if it does mean that the place is hardly Ayia Napia. I don't care. I will be going back again in the near future, and I recommend that if you haven't, that you bloody well should. Sharpish.

Thank you for reading and commenting on this (rather long) opinion.

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