Whitstable has been named the prettiest seaside town or village in South East England, but the honour may be undeserved. The Kent town was ranked eighth overall in a UK-wide list by Love Exploring, which praised its coastal walks, independent shops, restaurants and famous oysters.
A town with plenty to offer
Despite reservations about the title, Whitstable has much to recommend it. The town is renowned for its oysters, hauled from the seabed and served fresh at the harbour market and restaurants such as Wheeler's Oyster Bar. Its working fishing roots remain visible, with fishing boats and crab stalls lining the quay, where Romans first cultivated native oysters in the shallow waters of the Swale River and Thames Estuary.
The high street features around 400 independent businesses, including Whitstable Vintage, art gallery Frank, and women's wear shop Far and Few. The Whitstable Oyster Festival brings energy to the town for three days each September, and quiet days offer views of the Isle of Sheppey and the rusting WWII Maunsell forts.
Why the title is questionable
Love Exploring described Whitstable as having a "heady cocktail of lovely coastal walks, independent shops, good transport links, great restaurants and delicious seafood," noting The Old Neptune pub on the beach as a prime spot for sundowners. Yet the writer, who spent childhood summers there, argues the town is visually unremarkable.
Rival destinations offer more traditional beauty: Rye boasts haunted pubs, cobbled streets and narrow alleyways; Dungeness provides a bleaker, more eerie coastal atmosphere; Hastings features townhouses, fishing huts and a funicular railway; and Broadstairs offers sandy beaches that outshine Whitstable's shingle-covered hillocks.
Whitstable remains an excellent place to visit, but its beauty should not be overstated.
