Great Yarmouth was among the lowest-scoring seaside towns in Which? Travel’s 2025 rankings – but some believe there could be light at the end of the tunnel for the Norfolk resort
Great Yarmouth locals say the high street is ‘dead’(Image: Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
If you’re considering investing in UK property, you might think your best bet is a swanky London pad or a home in a leafy commuter belt suburb. However, Great Yarmouth could unexpectedly be the next big thing for property seekers – despite locals lamenting that its high street is “dead” and crying out for investment.
The renowned East Anglian seaside resort ranked low in Which? Travel’s 2025 seaside town ratings. And locals have expressed their disappointment at how the town has “gone downhill” after shops closed and once-thriving attractions dwindled.
“No one wants to come to Yarmouth,” 39-year-old Nicky Harwood, who runs The Market Cobbler, admits. “What does Yarmouth offer now?”. However, some are optimistic about a potential revival – and one business leader believes there’s a “huge opportunity” for prospective homeowners to snap up affordable properties now, the Express reports.
READ MORE: Beautiful seaside town now ‘dying a death’ and ‘depressing’ as 1 in 4 shops lie empty
Critiques of Yarmouth begin even before sun-seeking tourists reach its sandy shores. The main access route is the dreaded A47 Acle Straight – a lengthy single-carriageway road notorious for its horrendous traffic jams, particularly during the peak summer season. Asa Morrison, chief executive of Visit Great Yarmouth, said: “Historically, it used to be quite hard to get into Yarmouth in the summer months, and even worse, it would take them a long time to get out.”
The £121million Herring Bridge, which opened its gates in February 2024, has provided some relief from the maddening traffic jams. However, Martin Bayfield, 43, who was visiting Yarmouth with his mother Bonnie, 70, from Lowestoft, remarked: “The bridge is fantastic but 20 years too late. A lot of industry could’ve been saved if it had been done 20 years ago.”
The town’s downturn in recent decades is deeply felt by residents, with Yarmouth weathering several economic storms. Ian Handley, publican of The Coachmakers Arms on the corner of Market Place, explained: “The market used to come down to this corner. It used to be packed with stalls. People used to go up here at 1-2am, waiting for an empty pitch. It was a proper market town. It’s just like every market town, died a death.”
And Susan Colville, landlady at the Coachmakers, lamented: “There’s not a lot of trade here any more. We’ve lost all our shops.” The finger of blame is often pointed at out-of-town shopping developments, particularly the Gapton Hall Shopping Centre on Yarmouth’s fringes.
Rene Iliff, 70, a Great Yarmouth local, observed: “This town has gone downhill, certainly in the last 10 years. One of the main issues is that all of the main shops are out of the town centre. It has killed the town centre.”
Paul Hodgson, who runs Tombstone Brewery and Saloon Bar, insisted the high street “needs a major investment”. He continued: “It needs to bring businesses back into town. The town centre is dead. You can walk up to the town centre at night, there won’t be anyone about apart from groups of young men.
“They’ve moved everything out of town. So people just follow the big shops and places out of town. They’ve got to reinvigorate the high streets. I don’t think they’ll do that unless they get big businesses coming back to the high streets, so people will go there to visit those stores.”
And Yarmouth resident Patricia Beutler added: “Although they’ve improved it quite a bit, when we go to other seaside towns, which have also been rundown in the past, we notice that they’ve come on leaps and bounds. I say to them every time, Yarmouth could learn a lesson or two.”
Her husband Konrad Beutler, vice-chairman of East Norfolk Campaign for Real Ale, reckons the town is “crying out for a Primark”. He added: “Yarmouth hasn’t got the footfall for retail. The retail is not here any more.” Yet whilst Yarmouth needs investment, he insists it “deserves more” and that locals should champion the town.
“I think anywhere that’s got deprivation does need lifting up,” he argued. “Whether this current Government will find the funds to do it is another matter. There is an element of deprivation, but that’s no different to where I was brought up in Surbiton or even affluent parts of London. There are elements of deprivation there as well. It’s possibly a bit more visible here, because it’s a small area.” Discussing plans to improve Yarmouth, he said: “The community, the people themselves, have to share in it. They have to buy into that.”
Hopes are high that the £16.3million transformation of Great Yarmouth’s historic Winter Gardens – the UK’s last surviving Victorian seaside glasshouse, shuttered for 18 years – will breathe new life into the area near the famous Pleasure Beach. Crucially, it will provide visitors with shelter when the weather turns, making Yarmouth an attractive destination even in poor conditions.
“It’s the regeneration of what will be a beautiful building, restored back to its former glory on the seafront,” said Mr Morrison. “It’s a pretty Victorian building in its own right. It gives us a significant additional wet weather coverage, which is always good for the seafront. On the East Coast, when it’s cold, wet and windy, it’s really cold, wet and windy.”
However, the greatest economic boost for struggling Yarmouth may not come from new retail outlets or a revitalised town centre, but from miles offshore, deep in the North Sea. The East Coast is emerging as a major hub for offshore renewable energy, with numerous wind turbines now visible from the beach.
This is generating thousands of highly skilled, technical, well-paid positions – and Jack Weaver, chief operating officer for Norfolk Chambers of Commerce, believes it makes Yarmouth an excellent place to purchase property. “The amount of investment in offshore renewables and the energy transition in the North Sea coastline, whether it’s the Humber down to Essex, is colossal,” he explained.
“And I think what’s really exciting about communities like Great Yarmouth is how that starts to kind of wash out into the community – and we haven’t quite seen it yet. If I had the money to invest in property, I’d probably be buying stuff on the coast in those communities right now, somewhere like Great Yarmouth or Lowestoft or Gorleston. I would be buying property in those places, because I think that’s a huge opportunity. The challenge is, the starting point is more deprived than everywhere else.”
It would certainly need a significant transformation in Yarmouth’s economic landscape. Much of its trade is seasonal, with workers grafting around the clock to serve holidaymakers in summer but left jobless come winter. Alex Capon, a lifelong Great Yarmouth resident, reckons that coastal living surrounded by nature beats city life hands down. “It’s just quite a nice pace of life, not too hectic,” he said. However, he believes Yarmouth “needs investment in infrastructure”, adding: “That’s been the main problem for years. It’s hard because the economy is not great here.”
Yet the town’s resilience despite economic struggles proves that Yarmouth perhaps possesses the most crucial thing of all – a spirit and stubborn determination that few can rival. Ricky Jeffs, 47, a property landlord living in Yarmouth, describes the atmosphere: “In the afternoons, it’s a bit like Benidorm. It’s nice. There are a lot of retired people here, and many of them enjoy a drink in the afternoon. They also play bingo and sing karaoke. It is retired people generally or people who are roofers who’ve worked since 6am and enjoy coming out.”
Mr Morrison promotes Yarmouth as a “wonderful mix” of attractions and accommodation. “Yarmouth doesn’t pretend to be anything, but it is a seaside resort, with lots and lots to do, particularly in the summer months,” he explained. He highlighted the “significant loyalty” amongst visitors, with multiple generations from the same families making the annual pilgrimage to Yarmouth’s seafront.
Should the green energy revolution truly gather momentum, the town could transform into more than just a holiday destination for thousands – breathing new life into its prospects once again.