The ‘Brown Flag’ award given to the UK’s 13 dirtiest beaches for swimming

These are the UK beaches you’d better not swim in – because you could catch a serious illness. The ‘brown flag’ awards are created by analyzing Environment Agency data on summer water quality from hundreds of beaches.

Cornwall is the fourth cleanest county in England for summer sea swimming – but a Cornish beach has been given a ‘Brown Flag Award’ for being one of the worst.

Water quality readings look for intestinal levels of enterococci and Escherichia coli (e-coli) to see if there is “fecal matter” in the water. This comes from “sewage, farm animals, wildlife, birds and road drainage”, according to the Environment Agency.

Each spa is then given an official Environment Agency score of: three stars (excellent), two stars (good), one star (sufficient) or zero stars (poor). Overall, 66.4% of monitored resorts in England currently have a three-star rating, while 4.3% achieve zero stars.

Dorset, Devon and Suffolk have the highest percentage of ‘excellent’ beaches for clean water, according to UK travel website Holiday Park Guru, which analyzed Environment Agency summer water quality data. 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.

The site analyzed Environment Agency summer water quality data from hundreds of beaches. 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.

In total, Cornwall has 72 designated bathing beaches that are rated as ‘excellent’ – more than any other county in England in total. Lancashire came last in England, with none of the ten 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 only hope they will accept our offer of a free brown flag, although I’m afraid we can’t afford to offer a flagpole as well.”

“On a more positive note, high praise is due for the 273 beaches in England with the best rating for water quality – including 72 beaches in Cornwall. You can find a full list of all three star swimming spots at https://www.holidayparkguru.co.uk. With a little research, there’s a good chance you’ll be the only thing floating in the sea this summer!”

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 said 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

14. County-by-county ranking table for clean beaches

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%