Staring out at the miles of bright sand Karen Wright can’t help but be reminded of the past. Waiting tables and cooking dinners at the KitKat cafe on the seafront in Camber, East Sussex, she meets dog walkers who are treating themselves to a sausage sandwich or cappuccino after a wind-beaten trek across the dunes with a smile.
And, whilst their presence is a reassuring reminder that the heart of the village keeps beating when the summer sun has faded and daytrippers from London stop making the two-hour journey, the bitter truth is that the holiday season is now a pale imitation of the past.
Wright remembers her childhood in the 1980s when a Wembley Stadium-sized crowd would descend on Camber Sands, their money pouring into the penny slots of the amusement arcades or the donkey ride handler’s coin pouch.
“I think a lot of people are now going abroad,” she told the Express with a sigh. “It is just as cheap as the UK and you’ve got good weather.
“Here, it is so unpredictable. I mean, one minute, it could be sunny, and the next, it could be tipping it down. And I think the cost of living doesn’t help, you know, people find the British pound is a lot stronger somewhere else than what it is here.”
The past half-century has been a period of decline for a once legendary destination. Last year, the legendary Pontins holiday camp shut its doors for the final time, cutting off a vital revenue stream for many local businesses.
A Nisa convenience store, loved by locals for its discounted items and located on the edge of the resort, closed not long after, as did a pie and mash shop.
They joined an already lengthy list of shuttered establishments that perished in the years before the holiday camp entered its terminal decline.
Wright added: “Now we’ve only got the one shop in Camber, which is ‘BJ’s on the beach’. Unfortunately, it’s only a tiny shop, and you’d have to go elsewhere if you want to go shopping.
“It’s not the same. When we used to have a village shop everyone flocked there. You didn’t go off to the supermarket because he had everything here. But now we haven’t got any of that, it’s such a shame.
“When they took the arcades down, I think that took a lot of trade away as well. They demolished them completely and [turned one into a] pizza place.”
The result is that these days there are just a handful of places left on the front for visitors to spend their money. However, the absence of crowds has transformed the once-famous sands into something of a hidden gem.
It’s now a getaway spot enjoyed by people staying in Airbnbs choosing an alternative to the hustle and bustle of seaside resorts in other parts of Sussex like Brighton, Hastings or Eastbourne.
Just two hours from London, visitors now come to the area for a relaxing stay in holiday lets such as the White House or Sunnyside.
As Daily Express reporter Aimee Robinson writes: “Recently named “Britain’s best beach for warm temperatures” in a study by Parkdean Resorts, the East Sussex stretch is a beautiful place to relax in tranquil surroundings or take a dip in the sea.”
Wright doesn’t disagree. “It’s a beautiful beach,” she said, “and the amount of people that come in and say ‘what a beautiful beach it is’ [shows what] a shame it is that we don’t have that tourism trade anymore.”
And it doesn’t help with recent council price hikes, with parking now costing £30 for the day.
One establishment that has been resistant to the struggles of Camber is the post office and its owner Neha Patel remains steadfastly optimistic about Camber re-establishing itself as a top tourist destination.
“I discovered Camber 10 years ago,” she told the Express. “Its sandy beach has always been a favourite of mine because I’m a sun person and I believe if it’s going to be a seaside [day out] it has to be sand. It’s always been one of those kind of dreamy places [and] we always come down for the sunset.”
When the sun is shining over Camber, Patel has a large display with giant beach balls and other inflatables spread out onto the pavement outside her shop.
Her most popular items are the classic bucket and spade, along with towels, bought by beachgoers who’ve forgotten the essentials.
She’s noticed that whilst domestic tourism might have dried up, a significant number of Europeans visit, with the reduction in holiday camp accommodation compensated by other sources.
“We get a lot of German customers here in the summertime,” she continued. “Over the last year or so we’ve seen a lot of a lot of houses come up for Airbnb, which is nice because it gives customers another option [for] how they want to stay.”
It might not have 80,000 visitors on its beach in the summer, but as Patel points out there is something to be gained from the calm as well.
“It’s a getaway from your normal life and from the hecticness,” she added.
This post was originally published on here
