What’s going for it? I’m not sure all the cupcake-yarn-bombing-vintage-craft-beer-artisan-cream-horn-emporia in the country could entirely resuscitate Lowestoft. This old seaside town is not going to do a Margate any time soon. The shiny bollards and benches installed, I’d guess, sometime during the reign of Tony Blair have failed to spark any “urban renaissance”… ah, remember that? The dedicated spotter of regeneration schemes can I-Spy decades of attempts to put the fizz back in Lowestoft, decimated by the double whammy decline of its port and its seaside punters. The middle classes, who dominate the Suffolk coast to the south, have here fled inland to the comfort of Oulton Broad. This is strange. Because Lowestoft, for all its For Sale signs, shares the same bone structure: that easterly bleakness, municipal gardens, beach huts, dunes, Blue Flagged strands with sand as soft as talc, a pretty, pantiled high street the image of anything in Aldeburgh. Their loss.
The case against Extensively shabby, drab and deprived, with little cheer on the horizon. Schools are a mixed bag. Getting from here to anywhere else (even Great Yarmouth) can be a trial. Traffic can clog in the centre when the bridges are raised.
Well connected? Trains: hourly to Norwich (45-50 mins) or south on the slow line to Ipswich (90 mins). Driving: 50 mins to Norwich.
Schools Primaries: Poplars Community, Northfield St Nicholas, Roman Hill, St Mary’s RC are “good”, Ofsted says, with Oulton Broad and Carlton Colville “outstanding”. Secondaries: Pakefield is “good”.
Hang out at… I’ve a soft spot for Woodbine Cafe on Suffolk Road, for unironic nostalgia, though I hear good things about the Jolly Sailors.
Where to buy Start in the faded old town, around the High Street, and the small Victorian terraces to the west. For period homes, look south to London Road South, Kirkley “Village” and the Victorian seafront around Marine Parade and Kirkley Cliff Road, or north to Gunton Cliff and Yarmouth Road. It’s poshest in Oulton and Oulton Broad, south past Cotmer Road to Carlton Colville and Pakefield. Large detacheds and town houses, £300,000-£800,000. Detacheds and smaller town houses, £150,000-£300,000. Semis, £130,000-£325,000. Terraces, flats and cottages, £70,000-£200,000. Rentals: one-bed flat, £370-£550pcm; three-bed house, £500-£700pcm.
Bargain of the week Six-bed, spacious Victorian terrace in south Lowestoft, needs modernisation, £134,995, with howards.co.uk.
From the streets
Susan Burrett “A great location with a fantastic sandy beach and easy access to the Broads. Good value. The town centre is a bit lacking; I’d head to Southwold, 15 minutes away, for a nice dinner.”
Ian Hall “Lovely, relaxing pace of life. Check out the Wherry hotel for sunset drinks overlooking the Broads.”
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