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The UK’s best seaside towns for food and drink
The food available at the British seaside has improved hugely.
There's now somewhere special to eat in every part of the coastline - from St Andrews in Scotland to Fowey in Cornwall. A total of 21 seaside towns got impressive, four star ratings for food and drink in our latest survey.
Almost 5,000 Which? members gave us their views on the best and worst seaside towns. They rated everything from the beaches to the tourist attractions, but in some places the biggest attraction is still the perfect fish and chips or, increasingly, something more sophisticated.
South East and Southern England have five of the highest-rated seaside towns for food, South West England four, Wales three, Scotland, East England, and North East England two each, and Yorkshire, North West England, and Northern Ireland one each.
See below to find out more about the best seaside town for food near you.
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The 21 seaside towns that get four stars for food and drink
The best seaside towns for food in South East England
Rye in Sussex is the best coastal town for food in South East England.
It’s also the only ‘seaside' town in our survey that doesn’t actually have a seafront. Although the sea once reached Rye, this medieval town is now two miles inland.
This doesn’t stop it from being a great place for seafood, with Rye Bay Scallop Week a big attraction from 22 February next year. Charming tea shops and the excellent George Hotel on the High Street serve local dishes such as line-caught seabass and its rich, creamy fish stew.
Elsewhere on the South coast Deal and Whitstable in Kent; Lymington, Hampshire; and Brighton in East Sussex also rated highly.
The best seaside towns for food in South West England
Dartmouth in South Devon is the best place to go for a meal in South West England.
This isn’t just because of its high-end restaurants, such as The Angel on the waterfront with its acclaimed £95 tasting menu or Italian-influenced fish restaurant Seahorse, but also because of the setting.
Many of its best places to eat or drink look out over the estuary or across the beautiful Devon countryside. Dartmouth gets a destination score of 79% and five stars for scenery and seafront.
Lyme Regis in Dorset is also excellent, as is Fowey in Cornwall and, unsurprisingly, Padstow, which chef Rick Stein helped popularise with his four restaurants.
The best seaside towns for food in Wales
St David’s has an impressive reputation for food - considering it’s one of the UK’s smallest cities, with a population of just 1,751.
A small part of that is probably due to the popular Welshcakes (traditional, sweet bread) on sale at MamGu - which is based in the ruins of St Mary’s Chapel - part of the cathedral.
The terrace of The Bishops pub is one of the best places to admire the cathedral. It serves local beers and has a menu that includes Moules Mariniere, fish pie, and pub classics.
One of the great, traditional seaside towns, Llandudno, also gets four stars for food and drink, as does Aberaeron on the Ceredigion coast.
See the Aberaeron hotel that’s one of the best seaside hotels in the UK.
The best seaside towns for food in Scotland
St Andrews is one of the UK’s best seaside towns, with five stars for beaches, seafront and tourist attractions and four stars for food.
Local favourites include The Grange Inn, a 17th-century farmhouse with superb views, and The Seafood Ristorante – where you can feast on hand-dived scallops while seated in a glass box that juts out over the shorefront.
North Berwick in East Lothian is also highly rated.
The best seaside towns for food in the North East
Tynemouth is another town where food is just one of its attractions - the beach, the seafront and the scenery all get five stars.
Riley’s Fish Shack on the beach has long lured some of London’s big-name food critics to the North East to be wowed by the fish caught fresh this morning. It’s since opened an equally popular fish shop and restaurant in town.
Amble, a little further south, is another place that’s on the up and is highly rated for food and drink.
The best seaside towns for food in East England
With a brewery at its heart and a reputation for great fish it’s no surprise that Southwold in Suffolk scored four stars for food and drink. Adnams Brewery has been here since 1876, and its presence is felt everywhere: from the hoppy smell on the sea breeze to its historic hotels (The Crown and The Swan).
You can buy the catch of the day from the Sole Bay Fish Company shack overlooking the harbour. For picnics on the Blue Flag beach, stock up on sourdough, pies and sweet treats at Two Magpies Bakery and Black Olive Delicatessen.
A short drive down the coast, Aldeburgh also scored highly for food and drink.
The best seaside town for food in Yorkshire
Yorkshire has long claimed the country’s best fish and chips and Whitby is one of the best places to go to test that claim. The Magpie Café, right on the waterfront, has been serving up its chips fried in dripping for more than 80 years.
Another local delicacy is smoked kippers from the Fortune’s smokehouse in the centre of town.
The best seaside town for food in North West England
The North West isn’t well represented in our list of the best seaside towns, but Lytham St Annes, just a few miles down the coast from Blackpool, gets plaudits for its food and drink.
Zen Restaurant - which specialises in Chinese and Thai food - was named the country’s best East Asian restaurant in the Food Awards last year.
Unlike Blackpool, Lytham also gets four stars for peace and quiet.
The best seaside town for food in Northern Ireland
The biggest attraction in Northern Ireland’s best seaside town, Portstewart, is its sweeping, two-mile stretch of sand, backing on to ancient dunes — but the food has an increasingly impressive reputation, too. The dunes are also home to Harry’s Shack, which serves celebrated seafood.
Head towards the Victorian pier, and you can stop off at Morelli’s café for award-winning ice cream or waffles.
The UK’s best and worst seaside towns
Three towns in our survey received just one star for food and drink and did poorly on most other measures.
Discover which towns these were - and find the best places for beaches, seafronts, scenery and more in our guide to the UK’s best and worst seaside towns.
How to book your seaside town hotel
Booking.com is the best site to use for finding a hotel, according to our survey of the best hotel booking sites. It also has an excellent four-star score for price transparency.
However, it's not necessarily the cheapest way to book. We've found that it's usually cheaper to look on a range of booking sites, as well as the hotel's own website, then phone up the hotel to see if it can match the cheapest deal you've found.
If you do book with a booking site, beware of unexpected emails asking for more money or for you to confirm your details. We've seen numerous complaints of attempted fraud against users of Booking.com and other sites.
