Popular UK beach has been given the dreaded ‘brown flag’ for being one of the UK’s dirtiest – read the full list

A list of Britain’s dirtiest beaches has been published with ‘brown flags’ awarded to the dirtiest, including some popular seaside spots.

Porthluney beach in Cornwall was rated as one of the dirtiest in England, but Cornwall as a whole was the fourth cleanest county in England for summer sea swimming. Meanwhile, Dorset, Devon and Suffolk have the highest percentage of ‘excellent’ beaches for clean water, according to UK travel website Holiday Park Guru.

The site analyzed Environment Agency summer water quality data from hundreds of beaches, Cornwall Live reports. Now it has isolated the 13 dirtiest beaches, which are given “Brown Flag Awards”.

“Winners” are given free brown flags with a poop emoji on them to display to swimmers. These beaches are rated ‘poor’ by the Environment Agency due to bacteria such as e-coli from sewage and other waste.

Overall, 81% of Cornwall’s beaches are rated ‘excellent’ for seawater quality. Dorset scored 89 per cent, while Devon scored 86 per cent. Cornwall had the highest number of designated bathing beaches that are rated as ‘excellent’ of any county in England – but the region also has the highest number of beaches overall.

Lancashire in north-west England came last in the England rankings, with none of the 10 designated bathing spots achieving the coveted three-star ‘excellent’ cleanliness rating. Somerset, Norfolk, Yorkshire and Kent were all in the bottom half of the rankings. The Isle of Wight, Lincolnshire, Northumberland and Essex performed well, with all their designated bathing areas gaining one of the top two ratings (‘good’ or ‘excellent’).

Keen sea swimmer Robbie Lane, from Holiday Park Guru, said: “We’re hoping to make a real splash in the papers with the launch of England’s first ‘Brown Flag Awards’. Congratulations to our 13 winners this year – you really are among the best.

“We just hope they’ll take up our offer of a free brown flag, although I’m afraid we can’t afford to provide a mast as well. On a more positive note, praise is due for the 273 beaches in England with the best rating for water quality – including 72 beaches in Cornwall.”

It’s worth noting that the Environment Agency only includes water quality readings between 15 May and 30 September when rating bathing areas. Seawater quality tends to be worse in winter after heavy rains. Holiday Park Guru says that although the ‘Brown Flag Awards’ uses official Environment Agency data, it has no official link with the Environment Agency or any other awards. This is designed as a sincere award to support the campaign for cleaner beaches.

It says: “Brown Flag awards are reserved for those selected beaches that have a ‘poor’ rating (or should be ‘poor rating’) in Environment Agency water quality tests.”

Winners of the 2024 Brown Flag Awards

1. Porthluney in Cornwall
2. Southsea East in Hampshire
3. Saint Mary’s Bay in Kent
4. Littlestone in Kent
5. Blackpool North in Lancashire
6. St Annes North in Lancashire
7. Heacham in Norfolk
8. Weston Main, Weston Super Mare Sand Bay and Weston Super Mare Uphill Slipway in Somerset
9. Dunster Beach in Somerset
10. Bognor Regis, Aldwick in Sussex
11. Tynemouth Cullercoats in Tyne and Wear
12. Scarborough South Bay in North Yorkshire
13. Bridlington South Beach in the East Riding of Yorkshire

County-by-county ranking table for clean beaches

For the 2024 ranking, Holiday Park Guru analyzed data from every designated bathing beach in England. The study looked at the percentage of beaches in each county that achieved the Environment Agency’s best rating for water cleanliness (three stars = “excellent”).

Percentage of beaches rated ‘excellent’ by the Environment Agency for seawater cleanliness. From best to worst:

1. Dorset: 89%
2. Devon: 86%
3. Suffolk: 83%
4. Cornwall: 81%
5. Tyne and Wear: 78%
6. Northumberland: 77%
7. Lincolnshire: 77%
8. Hampshire and New Forest: 75%
9. Isle of Wight: 73%
10. Merseyside: 57%
11. Essex: 53%
12. Sussex: 52%
13. Cumbria: 50%
14. Norfolk: 50%
15. Kent: 45%
16. Yorkshire: 40%
17. County Durham: 16%
18. Somerset: 10%
19. Lancashire 0%