The Sandrock

The pub – typical place for spending free evenings

by LanaFromRiga

Chips and fish is a typical food in England. Also I tasted grilled chicken and meat. Hmm, what can I say?… Very very specific taste. Probably because cook used only one kind of spice. Anyway if you’ll be in Clacton-on-Sea and you want to taste what simple English people eat, try fish and chips, but be ready that this well known food will have a specific taste.

It is what it is.

by planxty

"Well, I'd heard about it."

If you've read my Frinton-on-Sea tips, and my Walton-on-Sea tips, you will know that this is one of what I call the "holy triumvirate" of Essex seaside resorts that were for many years beloved of people from the East End of London, giving them a welcome respite from the dirt and grime of the city.

So, I've been living in London for nearly 20 years and I'd never been there. If I'm lucky it will be another 20 until I go again. No disrespect to the people who live there, but I found it the most awful place. It is one of those English seaside resorts hanging onto a trade that realistically isn't there any more, and I found the place depressing in the extreme.

A few tacky bars (mostly featuring karaoke) along the seafront and a pier with an amusement arcade cater for the daytrippers from "the smoke" who seem Hell-bent on getting drunk as early in the day as possible and creating mayhem. One of the first things I saw in the town was a security guard at an amusement arcade wearing a stab-proof vest. I thought that told me all I needed to know about Clacton.

I'll include a couple of tips here, but I really advise you not to bother - and in the reasonably large number of places I have written tips about, this is the first place I have ever found with just about nothing to recommend it. Sorry, Clacton.