The UK seaside town that's miserable because of 'too many' tourists - 'There's hundreds!'

Locals successful Eastbourne accidental the municipality is ruined by tourists (Image: Getty)

The seaside municipality of Eastbourne, Sussex, known for its stunning beaches and charming promenade, has agelong been a favourite getaway for Londoners seeking an flight from metropolis life. 

With its Victorian pier, melodramatic cliffs, and caller oversea air, it’s casual to spot wherefore it attracts thousands of visitors each year.

However, not each residents are thrilled astir the influx of tourists. 

Many assertion the municipality is present overcrowded, noisy, and struggling with transgression and cause issues, leaving semipermanent locals feeling pushed retired of their ain community.

A caller survey by Beds Divans placed Eastbourne arsenic the 4th happiest municipality successful the UK, but according to locals, the world tells a antithetic story. 

Locals person been unhappy astir the authorities of Eastbourne (Image: Getty)

A abstracted ranking by the Telegraph listed Eastbourne arsenic the eighth slightest blessed spot to live, based connected factors specified arsenic household income, transgression rates, and employment levels.

For galore who person called Eastbourne location for decades, the town’s soaring popularity with tourists has travel astatine a cost. Resident Debbie Milnes, 36, voiced her frustration, she said: "Everywhere you go, they are there. About 100 of them astatine a time. You can’t get done the municipality for them all."

She added that she avoids the formation wholly present owed to the sheer fig of visitors, contempt surviving conscionable minutes from the seafront.

Aside from overcrowding, Eastbourne locals are progressively acrophobic astir rising transgression and cause problems. 

Barman Tommy Powell, who has lived successful Eastbourne his full life, said: "Crime and cause addiction person got progressively worse successful the past fewer years."

Another resident, Patty, who has lived successful Eastbourne since 1975, described the town’s decline:

"This was a beauteous spot once, cleanable for retirement. But now, determination are truthful galore boarded-up venues, derelict houses, and litter everywhere. And you've got to support your eyes unfastened due to the fact that there's been much unit connected the streets."

Official statistic earlier this twelvemonth revealed that the town’s transgression complaint is 2% higher than the nationalist average, with reports of cause activity, vandalism, and unit increasing.

Authorities corroborate that drug-related transgression is simply a large issue, with constabulary informing astir expanding cases of cause gangs moving into susceptible locals’ homes to usage arsenic bases for amerciable activity. 

Detective Chief Superintendent Till Sanderson stated that the main drugs circulating the country see cannabis, powdered cocaine, crack, and heroin.

Eastbourne isn’t the lone UK coastal municipality struggling nether the value of tourism and different issues.

Residents of Whitstable, Kent, person deed retired astatine second-home owners, saying their once-thriving assemblage is present overrun with bare vacation homes and large summertime visitors.

In Staithes, Yorkshire, spot prices person surged owed to affluent outsiders snapping up 2nd homes, forcing young section families to determination away.

And successful Swanage, Dorset, transgression rates person risen, leaving locals feeling progressively unsafe successful what was erstwhile considered an idyllic seaside retreat.