Minehead seafront

The town beach changed with the building of the Esplanade started before 1889 and extended in 1904 as far as Quay Street. From 1913 properties east of Quay Street were demolished to extend the promenade but work was not completed until the 1920s and it was 1952 before the promenade was extended east of the station. Following the 1996 storm, which threatened to remove the beach, new defences and raised walls have changed the seafront again and left part of the beach above the tideline.

In this photograph looking west to Quaytown and the harbour in the distance the former Metrepole hotel is on the left with the tower of St Michael’s church above on the hillside.