The 'most nostalgic' UK seaside town loved for its amusements - it's not Blackpool

Seaside towns are a big part of UK tradition and evoke a strong sense of nostalgia. Many Brits grew up holidaying to the coast and seaside resorts often bring back amazing memories from the past.

Features like amusements, piers, arcades and donkey rides are synonymous with British seaside holidays. Most people also associate them with the smell of fish and chips and walks along the beach. A new study by Buzz Bingo has revealed the most nostalgic seaside town in the UK - and it's not Blackpool.

The research has crowned Brighton the most nostalgic seaside resort in the nation. It measured each town by the number of bingo halls, amusements (including arcades), seaside piers, fish and chip shops, ice cream shops, old-fashioned sweet shops, retro cinemas, and caravan parks.

The research also counted the number of seagulls in each town by the number of times they were mentioned in TripAdvisor reviews. Brighton got a final Nostalgia score of 81, which was calculated by giving amusements and ice cream shops a weighting of 25% each, while the other metrics shared the remaining 50% weighting equally.

According to the research, Brighton has four amusements and 83 fish and chip shops. There have also been 124 mentions of seagulls in TripAdvisor reviews of the area.

Meanwhile, Blackpool came in second place with a nostalgia score of 62. Scarborough finished third with 45 and Southend-on-Sea was fourth with 41.

Blackpool leads in amusements with 21 venues but falls short with just nine ice cream shops and six bingo halls. There are also only 31 seagull mentions on TripAdvisor.

In Scarborough there are three piers, five old-fashioned sweet shops and Yorkshire's oldest ice cream parlour. It also has 121 reviews mentioning seagulls and 73 fish and chip shops in total.

Elsewhere in the list, Broadstairs in Kent ranks 26th while Minehead comes in last place. The town only has one lot of amusements and two old-fashioned sweet shops, but does boast 20 fish and chip shops and seven ice cream shops.

Brighton beach has a number of glowing reviews on TripAdvisor. Many visitors has praised the beach as clean with beautiful coastal views.

One person said: "The closer I got to the beach through the city streets, the more I could feel the sea air saturated with salt and minerals. The beach was nice, clean and pebbled."

A second added: "Beautiful view. The very wide pathway, both up on the road and down at beach level, is perfect for walking but when it's summer it can be insanely crowded.

"I highly recommend walking along the beach once the sun sets/is dark out for no crowds. The beach is as pebbly as it looks, but isn't uncomfortable to sit on."

A third wrote: "A very nice beach, always full of people and has some shops and restaurants alongside the beachfront, from the beach you can see views of Brighton Pier."