Torquay Local Customs

Not long after the Second World War the four towns around the bay, Babbacombe, Torquay, Paignton and Brixham teamed up to market the area as a whole as the "English Riviera" which in a lot of ways it is. There's some fine architecture, classy hotels, the seafront with its beaches of course and when the weather is good you could almost imagine yourself in Nice or Cannes. In fact Torbay is often used by UK film and television companies as a budget alternative when shooting scenes supposedly set around the Mediterranean.

So instead of having a Torquay Tourist Information Centre the town instead has its "English Riviera Visitor Centre". But this is a TIC by any other name. Here you'll find friendly, knowledgeable staff who can assist with just about anything you, as a visitor, could need. They can arrange accommodation, theatre and event tickets, National Express bus tickets, public transport info and much, much more, As the well as the usual freebie info leaflets and maps they also sell guide books and Ordanance Survey maps and even stock copies of Agatha Christie's books - Agatha having lived here in the town.

The office is located at 5 Vaughan Parade which is on the harbourside just before the marina.

Website is also very useful with comprehensive local information and an online accommodation booking service.

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Torquay's Clock Tower, the landmark that is, is a memorial built in 1902 to Richard Mallock who died in 1900. The Mallock family owned Cockington Village for several hundred years and were major investors in the town's 19th century development. Bizarrely in the 1960's the town planners built a roundabout at the base of the tower, covering the stepped first couple of feet.

In 2010 the Borough Council, with a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, decided to renovate it and restore the original base by removing the built up roundabout. During the renovation the original bell that chimed the hours was discovered inside, tucked away in a nook, and this too has been restored and is now back in action.

it's still a roundabout but at least now it is an attractive and useful one.

The Clock Tower pub, on the other hand, looks like an attractive boozer but inside is just another "Sky Sports" venue with naff beer and not particularly welcoming staff. I suppose on match days it probably comes into its own - which is a scary thought!

Good location for sitting outside in the sun though - but note you MUST SIT - that's the local bylaw.

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You would have thought that this neo-classical late Victorian/Edwardian building on Torwood St, just up from the harbour, would have been a listed building. It seems not judging by the garish facades of the fast food places and the taxi office on the ground floor. I'm not sure what the building's original function was but the name "Carrick" is embossed on the frontage and so maybe it was something to do with the Carrick Gazette which is a local newspaper.

I think the upstairs bits are used by the nightclubs Attic and Venue whose entranceways are a little bit more subdued - at least during the day.

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Torquay harbour has a small commercial fishing fleet who land their catches here and supply several local pubs, hotels and restaurants. The main species caught are mackerel, dogfish, bass, pollock and whiting with some cod and flatfish. Strangely enough the "Torbay Sole" which you'll often find on restaurant menues isn't caught here but is an Atlantic species, usually known as "Witch", and is mostly landed in North Cornwall and Wales.

As well as the commercial fleet there are a couple of leisure fishing boats available for charter and several places around the area where you can fish from the shore. Website below has details of these.

The church of st George and st Mary is beautiful,a chapel has existed here since saxon times.The present structure dates from 1210.The church was damaged in 1943,by two German bombs.You can still see the crater left by them.