Pictographic of Great Yarmouth capturing the middle and last weekends of the holiday peak season and indicating the hoped for 2021 summer staycation boom was a muted affair, leaving a bleak outlook for the businesses still operating.
Staycations
With the Covid-19 pandemic still spreading across the globe, international travel has been a less attractive proposition in 2021. There was expectation across hospitality and tourism for a staycation boom with the British public choosing to stay in the UK for the summer holidays rather than travelling overseas. Despite the UK summer weather being generally poor with weeks of grey, rain and often chilly, many regions and towns have been booming as predicted, particularly Cornwall and North Norfolk. Unfortunately, Great Yarmouth seemed to have bucked this positive trend.
Weekend 20-21st August 2021
Bleak outlook
Visiting Great Yarmouth on two separate weekends during summer peak season, it became apparent that the town was not having the staycation boom that other UK holiday destinations were experiencing. This once vibrant holiday destination was again struggling, with sparsely populated restaurants and few retail customers to be spotted. Many more shops have closed since leaving the town in May 2021 and the outlook for a good number of the businesses that remain operating looks bleak indeed.
Saturday 05th September 2021
Sunday 06th September 2021
Sunday 5th was the busiest day observed during my time in Great Yarmouth. A classic car event was taking place and the weather was good, warm, sunny, no wind, just a gentle summer breeze. The seafront was comfortable, certainly not packed and there were plenty of spaces to park a car. Away from the seafront the town was empty. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, many businesses were not open, including a whole stretch of the Pleasure Beach at 1pm. It is a mystery why the businesses are not open until 11pm throughout the summer to maximise trade, one of the many mysteries of Great Yarmouth.
Delusion or obfuscation
This post documents, for the record, the streets and seafront of Great Yarmouth over two weekends of peak season during summer 2021, regarded locally as the most important and busiest weeks of the year. It serves to counter any claims from those in power in the town that Great Yarmouth thrived throughout the entire summer.
John M
Haphazard Business 
You have shed a truthful harsh light on this beleaguered town. Compare your photographs with the ethereal images of Mark Cator. G
Gillian Harwood
BUSWORKS LTD
United House, North Road, London N7 9DP
T 020 7700 4114
F 020 7700 3921
gillianharwood@busworks.co.uk
There is a collective blindness across that part of Norfolk, a refusal to see what is clearly there. These images, and others like those on the Postcard Decay have been dismissed by local ‘dignitaries’ as painting the town in a bad light, as if they are all staged in some form. I avoid photographing people in general as it is not my style, however in Great Yarmouth there are times it would be almost impossible to photograph people in the street as the streets are so often devoid of humans. As with other posts on this blog, the intent is to document what I come across without fear or favour. It is for others to interpret as they choose. JM