Coasts with the most: meet the newest spots vying for the London-on-sea crown

The tide is turning on the traditional coastal escapes. Forget Whitstable and Aldeburgh — the next generation are heading to these towns. By Ruth Bloomfield

- Ruth Bloomfield

London is not officially a coastal city. But the steady creep of urban sprawl, plus inexorably expensive housing, improving train connections and the stubborn persistence of home working mean certain choice seaside outposts are becoming, if not absorbed into the capital, then arty, bohemian satellites of it.

Forget Whitstable, Deal and Aldeburgh though — too established with house prices to match. The new London-on-seas are edgier and more affordable for the steady stream of disaffected creatives seeking sea air and a new lifestyle — with good wine and nice coffee close at hand.

St Leonards-on-Sea

Hannah Devoy, 37, was born and raised in east London but had always wondered if the grass might be greener beyond the capital. In 2020 she and her journalist husband Stephen Holmes, 41, took the plunge and moved to St Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex.

One element of the move has certainly paid off. The couple sold their one-bedroom shared ownership flat in Hackney Wick for £350,000, and bought a five-bedroom Victorian terrace close to the seafront for £360,000. They share the house with their two-year-old son Harry.

St Leonards, and neighbouring Hastings, have developed a reputation as an arty hub out of London, and this was one reason Devoy, director of public relations agency Fight or Flight, chose it. "It has a creative, slightly edgy vibe to it," says Devoy. "I lived in Hackney in the 1990s and it is reminiscent of that."

It’s not all rough around the edges either. Shops on Norman Road are where to pick up tasteful seaside homewares and clothing as well as wine, courtesy of local dealer The Wine Room, and Heist food court in an old bank building is run by a former Evening Standard journalist who also has the nearby Farmyard restaurant, wine bar and shop.