Why Southend?

Taking its name as the ‘south end’ of Prittlewell village, it became a popular seaside resort for Londoners during the Victorian era. Only 30 miles from London and with easy access by train and road, the town's economy has largely been based on tourism ever since.

Southend Pier is the world's longest pleasure pier at 1.34 miles long, it hasn’t enjoyed the best of health, with a number of incidents and injuries over the years, most recently a further fire in October 2005.

Southend area has the usual selection of theatres and cinemas, a wider than average range of restaurants and eateries, and very easy transport links with central London for an evening at the West End.