You May Want To Avoid Swimming At This Beach On Your Next UK Trip

If you've ever fancied a UK seaside retreat after hearing Mrs. Lovett sing By the Sea in "Sweeney Todd," you know beachy holidays are not simply reserved for tropical places or the best beaches in the world. Although less romanticized, beaches in the UK are no less beautiful or worthwhile than sandy spots elsewhere in the world. Though, unfortunately, there is one beach that you might want to reconsider visiting for a while if you want to swim: St. Mary's Bay in Kent. 

That's because the Environment Agency issued a do-not-swim order to St. Mary's Bay due to high levels of harmful bacteria in early 2023. Unfortunately, the state of the water around the beach is such that the town of Romney Marsh is struggling as tourists stay away. The once thriving and profitable beach town has been built upon and abandoned by developers, which has left townspeople devastated. Locals told the UK Sun that they hope city officials will do something about the beach so it doesn't get forgotten.  

Safety for visitors is paramount, though danger from bacteria is much different than some of the most dangerous spots to swim in the world we've covered. In any case, it may be best to steer clear of St. Mary's Bay if you want swimming and not just some beachside time. 

The do not swim order at St. Mary's Bay was issued in February 2023 and was put in place for the entire year unless the bacteria levels dropped. That was because the Environment Agency discovered bacteria in the water from wastewater pollution. At the time, the agency told KentLive that they were trying to find the cause of the pollution to bring back the cleanliness of the waterway. Unfortunately, over a year later, there are concerns that the beach will not be swimmable for the foreseeable future, even potentially years later. 

If you come into contact with any contaminated water, you may want to seek medical attention. As always, though, this simple tip is the best way to steer clear of stomach bugs. You want to be vigilant whether or not you encounter contaminated water or worse — accidentally consume it. 

That's because, in continued testing of the area water, the Environment Agency continues to find unsafe levels of intestinal enterococci, which is the harmful fecal bacteria. Nearby Littlestone beach is also under a do-not-swim order, though local officials in public meetings have emphasized that the beaches themselves are not closed, per Kent Online. During these meetings the Environmental Agency has stated that they have not yet found a singular cause for the pollution. Instead, they believe it is a combination of wildlife and dog poop as well as sewage misconnections, per Kent Online.

When it comes to polluted bathing water, Littlestone and St. Mary's Bay aren't alone. Per the Environment Agency's safe bathing map (Swimfo), there are 22 closed-for-swimming beaches at the time of this writing. These beaches span the entire country along both sides and the south. Sadly, water pollution in the UK is an increasingly difficult issue. According to data from a government report dated January 2022 per National Geographic, only 14% of England's rivers are considered ecologically good, and there were 375,000 known sewage spills into various waterways across the UK that year as well. 

According to research from the Independent, many of the now closed for swimming beaches only became unsafe in the last few years. Many of the beaches dropped into the poor ecological category by the Environment Agency in 2022. Even if a beach is marked as safe to swim when you arrive or before you go on a trip, you need to stay up to date on the current state of the water. That's because rain can make the water unsafe, as it did for nearly three dozen beaches in Victoria in early April 2024. 

Mark Taylor, a chief environmental scientist at the Environment Agency, said, per the Daily Mail, that it isn't uncommon for weather to impact the cleanliness of bathing water. He said that everything from fecal matter to oil or ecological debris transition into the water during heavy rains.