The 19 worst beaches in England for water quality revealed

There’s no doubt that the UK boasts some stunning stretches of coastline. And on a hot summer’s day, it’s hard to resist a swim in the glimmering blue sea. But hold your horses. While the water might look incredibly inviting under a blazing sun, there are a number of places around the country where a swim is best avoided – because you’d essentially be floating through a whole load of poo. 

Each year, the Environment Agency takes samples from England’s bathing waters to determine how clean or dirty they are, rating them from ‘excellent’ to ‘poor’. The samples indicate how much the water has been polluted with faecal matter from things like sewage, livestock, wildlife, birds and road drainage. Delightful. 

Out of 455 bathing waters that were tested in 2024, 19 of the 37 classed as poor were beaches. That’s six more than the year before. 

Holiday Park Guru used the Environment Agency data to hand out its ‘Brown Flag Awards’ and noted that Deal Castle in Kent, Blue Anchor West in Somerset, Worthing Beach House in Sussex, Coastguards Beach in Devon, Littlehaven Beach in Tyne and Wear and Dymchurch in Kent were all newcomers to the ‘poor’ list. 

It also pointed out that Somerset and Kent have the highest number of Brown Flag beaches among the English counties, but with no ‘excellent’ rated beaches at all, Lancashire actually ranks the worst. 

At the other end of the spectrum, Northumberland boasts more than 90 percent of beaches rated ‘excellent’ for cleanliness. Though they do have some ‘poor’ rated beaches, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall were also some of the best regions for excellent quality bathing waters. 

All the beaches in England with a ‘poor’ water quality rating in 2024

1. Porthluney in Cornwall
2. Coastguards Beach, Erme Estuary in Devon
3. Lyme Regis Church Cliff Beach in Dorset
4. Southsea East in Hampshire
5. Deal Castle in Kent
6. Dymchurch in Kent
7. Littlestone in Kent
8. Blackpool North in Lancashire
9. St Annes North in Lancashire
10. Heacham in Norfolk
11. Weston Main, Weston Super Mare Sand Bay and Weston Super Mare Uphill Slipway in Somerset
12. Dunster Beach in Somerset
13. Blue Anchor West in Somerset
14. Bognor Regis, Aldwick in Sussex
15. Worthing Beach House in Sussex
16. Tynemouth Cullercoats in Tyne and Wear
17. Littlehaven Beach in Tyne and Wear
18. Scarborough South Bay in North Yorkshire
19. Bridlington South Beach in East Riding of Yorkshire​

Where to swim in the UK

If you want a wild sea swim without all the icky bits, we recommend one of these beautiful (and clean) beaches instead. Or, one of these more hidden coves. There’s also a bunch of waterfalls, lakes and lagoons around the country that make for a gorgeous alfresco dip, too. 

ICYMI: The 13 best beaches in the UK, according to the Independent

Plus: England’s 16 best seaside towns in 2025, according to a luxury travel magazine

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