I'd had the odd glimpse of Bridlington on previous East Yorkshire visits - while driving through - but I'd never spent a while there, wandering around on foot, and getting to know it better. Recently I got my chance. Actually, I had more than one reason to check it out. I wanted to visit Hull by train, and Bridlington was the obvious place to travel from, leaving Fiona parked at the station all day. So Bridlington station was my first call.
It was an impressive station, clearly built to handle the many thousands of holidaymakers that would (in the long heyday of holiday travel by train) descend on the town from the big cities inland. The glazed hall was cavernous, the canopied platforms wide. They had modernised the place and prettied it up with tubs and hanging baskets full of flowers. These shots will give the general idea.
It was a sunny and attractive place to wait for your train. If going south to Hull, you didn't have to wait very long: even off-peak, there was a half-hourly service. Going north, to Scarborough, it was an hourly service. Decent enough.
The station had three platforms. One of them (platform 6, for Hull only) was a dead end with buffers. The other two (platforms 4 and 5) were through platforms for trains to and from Scarborough.
On the town centre side of the station, beyond platform 6, were two derelict platforms that had presumably been numbered 7 and 8. Clearly Bridlington station once possessed (as Scarborough and Skegness stations still did) several extra platforms intended for busy holiday times, or for day excursions, but no longer needed. The large signal-box on the south side of the station must have once handled many more trains than now use the few platforms left.
Where were platforms 1, 2 and 3? It looked as if they too had once existed, but had gone. It seemed most peculiar that the numbering began at 4.
Actually, you frequently come across strange platform numbering. Unless there is a radical station rebuild, it seems to be the practice to keep the historical platform numbers - and not rename them - when unwanted platforms are taken out of use, even if it makes the remaining number sequence look decidedly odd. Hence only platforms 4, 5 and 6 at Bridlington. It's quaint, isn't it?
There's even more to this numbering business. The platform for the most important destination - generally London - is almost always numbered 1, and the facing platform, for trains arriving from the London direction, is platform 2. Or if there are four platforms, then 1 and 2 will be for trains to London and 3 and 4 for trains arriving from London. That's almost invariably how it is in the south-east of England. Which makes the situation at Haywards Heath (an important and busy commuter station not far from me, that handles over four million passengers a year) seem very out-of-kilter. For there, for some arcane reason, the London-bound trains depart from platforms 3 and 4, and coast-bound trains leave from platforms 1 and 2, the very reverse of the usual rule. I wonder why this is.
Back to Bridlington. I enquired about the price of an off-peak train ticket next day to Hull and back, with a Senior Railcard discount. It was only £8.65. I paid for that, then asked whether I could buy a station car park ticket for the next day also. If they could sell me one, it would save me time. Indeed they could; and because I was using the train, I'd get a 50% discount on the car parking ticket, normally £4.00 for all day. So I'd pay only £2.00. Excellent!
It was in fact debatable whether going to Hull by train, even with a Senior Railcard discount, was cheaper than driving Fiona there. But I'd certainly not be able to park Fiona for hours in Hull for just £2.00. So I reckoned this was, overall, the cheapest, most hassle-free way to go. I wanted to see something of Beverley on the way back - a handsome town with a famous minster - but I could break my return rail journey to do that. And in any case, the occasional train ride while on holiday was something of a treat in itself, a little adventure, and worth a little expense.
I re-parked Fiona a bit closer to the town centre, then walked about for a hour.
There were some desultory building works disrupting the ordinary flow of traffic. It seemed that Bridlington was attempting to create a vibrant new heart. That's not always a good sign, when a place has to upgrade itself. It suggests that it's flagging a bit as a resort, or has become tatty in appearance. And I was bound to say that it wasn't smart and glitzy. It was a very traditional town, with an old-fashioned feel. With the backs of old shops and houses in view, I passed a pub that seemed to epitomise a local town boozer from twenty or thirty years back.
Just a bit further along, I came across what seemed to be a Mod-era scooter, something straight out of the film Quadrophenia, festooned with mirrors in the classic manner.
Looking closer, I think it was actually a modern fake, a 2004 scooter made to look like something older. But then I am no expert. Fake or original, I certainly wouldn't have left this out in the street for anyone to mess around with or wheel away.
Suddenly I was near the seafront. The shops were the sort that cater for holidaymakers' needs, even though you could hardly say that the streets were full of people...
But there were people enough on the sunny sea front. And for the first time, I saw the real attraction of Bridlington as a beach resort. It was all very jolly and bucket-and-spadey, with gardens and flags flying.
It was a place for ordinary folk to frolic, and I was surprised to see this refuge for superior people, in the shape of the Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club.
The large harbour was partly for pleasure, partly for work. And just off, some attractive buildings with a nautical feel.
All very nice, but I still hadn't got at the heart and soul of Bridlington. Back in the town centre, I looked in the shop windows for clues.
Aha...traditional reading matter for visitors...
...and rock, biscuit and fudge shops...
Was I tempted? No! Way too much sugar! I value having (and keeping) a nice set of teeth far too much.
I don't want to suggest that rock and fudge shops are what Bridlington is all about. Away from the centre, it's actually a rather nice residential town, with substantial houses and manicured gardens. A place you'd aspire to live in, or perhaps retire to. So please don't take my photos as typical. They capture only the things that caught my eye. Mind you, if you are used to my way of thinking, that might still say something very true about the place.
