Opinions / What do you think of the English seaside?

BERYL COOK, artist and former boarding house landlady: The problem isn't the great British seaside, it's the great British weather. Adults are much more bothered by this. As a 10-year- old, my main interests were sausage-and-mash stalls and slot machines. I shouldn't think things have changed that much.

JIM BOWEN, comedian and cabaret artist, Blackpool: Give me Blackpool every time. I'm a knotted handkerchief man. The British seaside is what makes Britain Great: I can't be bothered to learn another language just so I can struggle to get egg and chips in some foreign country.

RANDALL LEE ROSE, American disc-jockey: The English seaside sucks; it's down-at-heel and depressing. All the old fantastic Victorian stuff has changed and has been replaced with second- rate hotels, third-rate entertainment and fourth-rate bars.

KEN, hotel manager, Weston- Super-Mare: I never lived in the Victorian age, so how do I know if it would be a nicer place if it was all restored? I like it the way it is, and so does everyone.

JAQUELINE LOVETT, on holiday in Torbay: I went to Lanzarote a couple of years ago and it was dreadful. It poured with rain and the resort looked like the Gaza Strip. It's been very rainy here too but we've still had a laugh.

BOB MALCOLM, Punch and Judy man, Bognor Regis: I hear a lot about more and more people going abroad, but if they are, I haven't noticed. We had 180 watching the last show, and sometimes we get over 300. It's the same as ever.

SHAUN CAREY, schoolboy, on holiday in Worthing: There's too much seaweed and sewage. And there's not much to do either. It's just pebbles and water.

JOHN FOWLES, writer: I am a littoralist: that is I prefer beaches to either the sea or the land. That for me is the seaside and that is where I can really enjoy it.

Fr PETER CANSDALE, priest, Cromer: Cromer has a certain charm, but but I think five days here would suffice for most people.

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