Like many a seaside town, Weston-super-Mare could be seen as going through a bit of an identity crisis. Naysayers have unkindly called it ‘Weston-super-Mould’, and in the ultimate back-handed compliment Banksy chose it as the venue for his satirical art piece ‘Dismaland’.
But others have fond memories of visiting the beach resort on holiday, while council employees have ambitious plans for a town they think could have ‘little pockets of Shoreditch’.
Perhaps the split personality of seaside towns lie in the inherent contrast between summer and winter. I grew up in a seaside town myself: in July, I’d struggle to find a free spot on the beach to put down a deck chair and read a book. But in January I could go for a walk after school and pretend to be one of the last survivors of a zombie apocalypse, a strange childhood whimsy made plausible by the fact I could walk from one end of the bay to the other without seeing another person.
What is Weston-super-Mare like in the winter? Among non-residents, how many of us know? On a stark Monday morning in the middle of January, I ventured there to find out. Well, it certainly wasn’t quiet enough to play the zombie apocalypse game: The Sovereign Shopping Centre and High Street were both well-attended. The Grand Pier was obviously not in its busiest season, but they still had crews filming there for an Apple TV series and four gentlemen of retirement age riding the ‘Freefall’ drop tower in a state of pure glee.
Batman watches over the bins while Van Gogh’s ‘A Starry Night’ dazzles in the distance.
(Image: Phoebe Hobbs)
In places, the town is lovely: I was impressed by the attempts to make Weston-super-Mare into an outdoor art gallery, with murals on every corner turning the town into a canvas. I also admired the Italian Gardens and the Winter Gardens with its lush, ivy-covered pergolas.
On the flip side, I also saw seven empty shop fronts in a row on South Parade, some with to-let signs promising ‘discounted rates’. While many High Streets in the UK are struggling, I fear seven empty units in a row beats the record in my experience.
Warren Parker-Mills is the Tourism and Information Services Manager for Weston-super-Mare’s town council. In the past, he’s worked on brands like Playboy and Chupa Chups. When we first meet, he speaks animatedly about Weston-Super-Mare’s ‘brand’. The idea that Weston could be a brand as much as it is a tangible place, a marketable product in the same way as a lollipop or an adult magazine, is thought-provoking.
Warren is friendly, enthusiastic and one of the town’s biggest cheerleaders. He’s also aware that not everyone rates it as much as he does: “If you go on YouTube and search ‘Weston-super-Mare’, you will find some negative content.”
That’s putting it diplomatically. The first result for me reads ‘Weston-super-Mare! The UK’s dying town’. The second looks more even-handed. The third is from a channel called ‘Turdtowns’, promising the viewer a “deep dive into the biggest Turdown [sic] in Somerset, Weston-super-Mare.” The thumbnail ungraciously christens the resort ‘Weston-Super-Mould’.
As a reporter, I think this kind of content is easier to make than positive content. It doesn’t take much creativity or deep thought to write something putting somewhere down. Nor does it take grand vision to point out problems with a place. What does actually take some skill is to write a sincere compliment that attracts the same amount of attention as a sneering put-down.
Taking a dump on somewhere is easy. Planting a seed takes effort. I got the impression the Town Council are more interested in planting seeds.
Weston captured on a cloudy day in January 2025.
(Image: Phoebe Hobbs)
When I bring up the row of uninterrupted empty shopfronts of South Parade, Warren is buzzing with ideas. There are plans to start up a weekly market at the Italian Gardens this spring, he says, and who knows if some of the stallholders might be inspired to set up a brick-and-mortar shop on South Parade?
He also floated the idea of utilising Weston-super-Mare’s ‘huge arts scene’ to highlight the empty shops’ potential: “Could we get a couple of artists to come in and hand paint a green grocers on the inside of the glass, and a barbershop next door, and a butchers next door?”. It’s a novel idea.
The town’s ambition doesn’t end there. I’m told there are plans to open a new waterpark this summer, to revitalise Birnbeck Pier, and to use the Old Town Quarry as a performance space: “We could have an opera there, we could have a ballet there, we could have things that are not necessarily associated with Weston-Super-Mare.”
Super Weston is the name of the Weston Placemaking Strategy, a ten-year vision (2020-2030) for Weston’s renewal and regeneration. The strategy was shaped by more than 5,000 residents who took part in the ‘Weston Wishes’ consultation exercise in 2018. An outcome was that people wanted an experience-based economy with a thriving arts, culture and heritage sector.
North Somerset Council has also been successful in its bid for £2.7m for further improvements to the Tropicana. This funding – part of a UK government pot totalling £16.2m – will enable the council to carry out additional work within its project to transform the iconic building on the seafront in Weston-super-Mare.
In the middle of our conversation, he says one thing that sticks in my mind: “I used to spend a lot of time in London and actually, I can almost envisage Weston further down the line to have little pockets of Shoreditch or little pockets of Islington.”
A rebrand from Weston-super-Mould to Shoreditch-on-Sea would be an ambitious plan indeed. I find myself trawling through my mind to recall the six months I spent in London a few years ago, albeit in a different area. While this is no bad thing, I can’t see a lot of overlap.
Is Weston ripe for ‘Little pockets of Shoreditch’ to be carved out?
(Image: Phoebe Hobbs)
I’m unsure if Weston could ever have its little pockets of Shoreditch, and I’m unsure if it needs one. In fact, Weston might have some plus points over London’s hippest spots: affordable housing, peace and quiet outside tourist season, and most wonderfully, the sea.
With so many ideas for the town, I had hoped Warren might be able to resolve Weston’s identity crisis. What is Weston-Super-Mare’s brand? He replied: “I can’t answer that question yet. I’ll be honest with you, it’s been a challenge. But ask me again next year!”.
Right now, I don’t think it’s fair to say the brand is ‘Weston-Super-Mould’. But I’m also struggling to see the vision for a ‘pockets of Shoreditch’ style makeover. For now, the town seems to be brimming with possibilities, with maybes and what-ifs.