The pier fell in. The gate stayed.

Withernsea has grand castle towers at the start of a pier that ships kept crashing into until there wasn't one. The lighthouse is in the middle of the houses. Motorhomes park all along the prom and block the view, the cliffs are falling into the sea and some bright spark keeps smashing things up. Vape shops, bookies, pubs.

The sea's rated Excellent and the sun's out more than in the typical town, so there's something. The vandalism and public order offences both run at twice the typical town's rate, though, and there's 11 pubs, nearly four times the typical town's per head, so you can see how the evening goes. Lloyds has gone. The coast's going too, a bit at a time.

The editor, who walked through the gateway and stopped