Whitby, North Yorkshire, is one of the UK’s most famous seaside resorts, but an urban explorer found it was eerily quiet and had many closed shops when he visited
A British coastal gem, hailed as the most famous in the UK, was surprisingly deserted during one urban explorer’s visit to see if it lived up to its lofty reputation.
David Burnip, better known to his 140,000 YouTube fans as The Wandering Turnip, was taken aback by the lack of tourists and numerous shuttered shops on his trip to Whitby, North Yorkshire. Despite being crowned the UK’s “Best Seaside Resort” by Which? holiday magazine back in 2006, two decades later, the allure of Whitby seems to have diminished.
The town is also famed for hosting “the best fish and chip shop in Britain” as per celebrity chef Rick Stein, yet the YouTuber’s first impressions were underwhelming.
“I did expect it to be a lot busier than this,” David remarked. “Maybe because the weather’s not as good, but I thought more things would be open,” reports the Express.
Even the few attractions that were open, like the sailing ship turned floating restaurant, were eerily quiet – echoing Whitby’s eerie connection to Bram Stoker’s 1897 gothic novel where Count Dracula’s ship arrives at the British seaport.
Glancing uneasily at the vacant seats, David commented: “I might have been duped when I was told that this is the best fish and chips in Whitby, because literally no-one else is on this boat which is a restaurant and a bar.”
In all honesty, the battered cod served to David was as fresh and flavoursome as one would expect from a Northern Sea fishing port, though he reckoned the chips didn’t quite hit the mark. On the subject of unnecessary garnish, he quipped: “I’m having fish and chips, not a bloody Joe Wicks meal.
“Come on you don’t need that on there!”
As day broke, Whitby awakened with its beachside bars springing into action and the town’s unique indie stores welcoming customers.
You could spot several shops offering jewellery crafted from jet, the local semi precious stone forged from ancient fossilised wood, a nod to Whitby’s heyday as a jet mining hub.
The town is not just famed for its Dracula connections, but also as the starting point for the legendary 18th Century navigator Captain James Cook, celebrated for charting Australia’s eastern coastline and Hawaii.
A tribute to this pioneering seafarer can be found in a Whitby museum, where it’s disclosed that after Cook’s fatal encounter with Hawaiians, he was identified only by a notable scar on his right hand, given little else of him remained.
These days, Whitby buzzes with excitement during the iconic Goth Weekends, a celebration for one of the UK’s enduring pop subcultures, complete with music festivals graced by top bands like Heaven 17, The Damned, and Altered Images, attracting a sea of fans in their gothic best.