Retirement-by-the-sea

Last updated at 08:40 31 March 2005


Bracing Skegness has been named the best place in Britain to retire to - not for its sunshine but for its flatness and short operation waiting times.

Seaside resorts are the best places to retire to because of their OAP-friendly factors, the study by over-50s magazine Yours says.

Second in the survey was another East Coast resort, Southend-on-Sea, followed by King's Lynn in Norfolk, Spalding in Lincolnshire and Llandudno on the North Wales coast.

Other top 10 retirement places included Fakenham in Norfolk, the Shetland Islands off Scotland, and two more seaside towns - Exmouth in Devon and Poole in Dorset.

Other regional winners included the coastal resorts of Rhyl in North Wales, Weston-super-Mare in Somerset and Herne Bay in Kent.

Visiting 60 destinations in the UK, Yours researchers judged places on house prices, average hospital waiting times, crime rates, council taxes, things to do, beauty spots, weather and ease of getting about.

Yours editor Valery McConnell said: "Who'd have thought it? Skegness followed by Southend-on-Sea - two of our most traditional seaside towns which are suitable for so much more than a day trip.

"Both are real winners on the cost of living, the ease of getting around and the huge range of leisure activities, clubs and societies which make them great places for year-round retirement living. And despite Skegness's bracing reputation, its average weather statistics are actually on a par with Gloucester."

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