What it’s experiencing now is the logical end to gentrification
What’s going for it? If civil war ever breaks out between baby boomers and millennials, there’s a fair chance it’ll begin on Southwold Pier. The pier has already witnessed “Sandwichgate”, when a family munching homemade sarnies and an elderly couple nibbling cake out of a Tupperware were reprimanded by staff who insisted they eat at the pier’s (somewhat pricey) cafes. The latest skirmish is about property. Prices and the proportion of second or holiday homes have risen so much that some think it’s reached a tipping point, with distant property speculators buying up the town and long-time locals priced out permanently. Southwold, along with Whitstable in Kent, was one of the first seaside towns to gentrify, in the 1990s. No wonder. It’s an utterly beautiful spot, long lauded by artists and writers from Turner to WG Sebald. Idyllic pubs. Dreamy streets. Astonishing history. And don’t get me going on the angels in St Edmund’s church. But what it’s experiencing now is the logical end to gentrification. So if you do move there, at least try living there, too.
The case against Chronically unaffordable. The delicate balance between protectionism and nimbyism often wobbles. A little vain. One can have enough of the 50s theme-park feel...
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