Rain or shine, the British have always had a penchant for their coastal towns. But over the past half century, the number of visitors has declined as cheap flights have allowed thousands of people to enjoy the good weather elsewhere.
However, in 2020, the year of forced “staycation”, these traditional places have seen the return of many vacationers, which prompted the London photographer Alex Micu to document them. By visiting two coastal towns of Kentish throughout August, he wanted to show the British side during this particular period.
“As you probably know, coastal towns in the UK are an ecosystem in their own right: they were left in a state of neglect and disarray after the democratization of vacations in the 1970s and 1980s and have never really recovered from that,” he says. “They are ruins that express a sense of Britannicity that you don’t see anywhere else. People make the most of the changing weather, the pebble beaches and the fish & chips”.
