(EMAILWIRE.COM, June 17, 2009 ) Scarborough, North Yorkshire, UK - Following on from our story about Portsmouth being pitched to the masses as a seaside hotspot, Scarborough, another rather tired UK coastal town, has swapped bargain bingo on the bed and breakfast belt for the glory of being named the most enterprising town in EuropeÂ…
Fighting off stiff competition from towns all over Europe, the unlikely winner of the European Enterprise Awards is Scarborough.
Traditionally, Scarborough in North Yorkshire was an important venue for tradesmen from all over England, who congregated at the famous famous Scarborough Fair, a huge forty-five day trading event where all sorts of produce was bought and sold.
The harbour port was one of the busiest and most important in Europe, but it fell into decline and Scarborough has been a small, quiet town ever since.
So, acknowledging that the town needed an injection of energy and a makeover, local bods decided to make Scarborough ‘fair’ again.
Nick Taylor of the Scarborough Renaissance Partnership said, “There was urgency in the community to do something.
“There were several areas to address - a makeover for some of the worst areas, turning the town into a year-round, not just seasonal, destination and finding something to fill the gap left by mass tourism,” he added.
Scarborough suffered from the seasonal up and downs common to most seaside beach resorts - popular with tourists in the summer months, but becoming empty and unappealing once winter rolled around. Local shopkeepers and hoteliers rely on tourism to such an extent that it was decided something must be done to inject life into the town in the winter.
The new plan has obviously worked - Scarborough has just nabbed top prize in the European Enterprise Awards for ‘its impressive results in tackling seasonal unemployment and developing a year-round economy with the active involvement of the local community.’
As well as constructing a brand new 83-acre high-tech business park, there are also new shops and a swanky new marina in place of its dusty old port. A concert venue and museum are also in the works.
But, whilst planning the works, protecting the townÂ’s old-world charm has been key, as it is this that attracts so many tourists during the summer, seeking that traditional British beach break.
The heart of Scarborough is still the Old Town, with its collection of Georgian terraces, and the South Cliff and Esplanade area, which is principally Victorian, with many of the old guesthouses converted into apartments.
It looks like the property market could be picking up in the town too- local estate agents have reported an increase in interest in second-home buyers in the past six months, particularly in the Old Town.
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