As the summer holidays come to a close, the UK celebrates another year of local beaches and charming seaside towns, perfect for a British 'staycation'. One particular town has been crowned UK's best – a contraversy after being rated 43% by Which? just weeks ago. Southend-on-Sea, situated on Essex's coast, was praised as Britain's best on a list of top beach towns to visit compiled by the Mirror. The Southend City Council leader, Daniel Cowan, called this "a fantastic accolade," during an appearance on Greatest Hits Radio Essex.

When asked what was the key to securing Southend's number one spot, Cowan replied that a "huge amount of effort" was put into "turning around the reputation" of the city, it's method of hosting "fantastic events," by working with the police, local businesses, and the Community safety team. The leader claimed that because of this, "when people come to Southend, they're safe".

He shared that their seven mile stretch of coastline and good luck with weather, compared to other parts of England, were just two of the many reasons, insisting that "Southend is a fantastic place to come for more than just the beach". The Mayor stated: "We've got incredible arts, culture, history, music," adding that the "Council administration have been working really hard to enhance those elements of [the] city and encourage people to [visit]".

Cowan said: "It's great to see recognition for all of the hard work that goes in between us, the  businesses and the people of the city and making South end a great place". With an estimated seven million tourists each year, Cowan claimed Southen-on-Sea could "massively punch above" its weight.

Cowan supported his statement, explaining: "[As] a city of 183,000 people, we get seven million visitors a year, approximately 34 times our population. If you look at London, they get 30 million visitors a year, and they have 8 million people who live there, which means they get 4 times".

He went on to suggest: "We need to treasure, nurture and keep alive the fact that Southend is 100 different things all at once so we can attract a wide range of visitors - that's one of the beauties of major cities. We've got a lot going for us and we need to continue to innovate and encourage people to keep coming here. So in five years time, we're talking about Southend having won it five years in a row".