Shoebury East Beach (Shoeburyness)

This less well-known council-run beach is often relatively quiet. The gently sloping beach backs on to a large area of grass incorporating a children’s play area. Sandwiched between Pig’s Bay MOD site and the former Shoeburyness Artillery Barracks, East beach is home to the Essex Kitesurfing Club. The Ministry of Defence owns the beach: if the nearby live firing range is in use, the beach is closed to the public – look for lowered or absent yellow diamond flags, clearly visible from the sand. 

Unlike most of Southend’s beaches, the quarter-mile long stretch is mainly sandy, but shingle and sharp shells and occasional bricks from previous industry make beach shoes advisable. It can get very crowded on bank holidays and hot summer days, with little natural shade. 

There’s a designated watersports zone; kitesurfing and windsurfing are especially popular. Shoebury East is ideal for crabbing, with a shallow paddling pool on the beach. The tide comes in very quickly here.

It is a five minute walk from the railway station to the beach. Parking is generally reasonably priced; some is seasonal. Disabled parking is free. Toilets include disabled facilities; there are also outside shower and beach zones and a freshwater tap. Steps from the car park lead to the beach, or further along a grassy bank slopes gently to the sand. 

The beach currently has no café although a mobile snack bar is sometimes available. The nearby village has a bakery and other shops, with a good pub nearby Public BBQs can be used until 9.30pm.