News & Commentary
News & Commentary
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January 2026
January 2026
Is revitalising social clubs in coastal communities part of the answer to “deprivation bingo”?
Jonny Gordon-Farleigh
Jonny Gordon-Farleigh
Coastal communities face some of the most entrenched forms of deprivation in Britain. As new research continues to establish the role of social infrastructure in economic regeneration, this article argues that member-owned social clubs – with their deep roots, democratic governance, and local accountability – could be a vital part of the solution.
When we talk about inequality in the British economy, we often reach for the same familiar categories: North versus South, London versus the Regions, or so-called “left-behind” areas. These narratives have become so powerful that they shape how whole regions understand themselves and how policymakers prioritise intervention. Yet if these categories matter so much, why do we talk so rarely about the “sea wall”: the coastal communities facing some of the country’s deepest and most persistent forms of deprivation?
Despite representing 19% of the national population, or around ten million people, coastal communities have largely been overlooked. According to a 2023 poll from the Fabian Society, more than 60% of residents in coastal regions feel they are not prioritised by politicians in Westminster, when compared with urban or rural areas. And this is backed up by the think tank Onward’s report published the same year, which found that neighbourhoods on the coast are 42% more likely to be in the worst decile for income deprivation than inland areas.
The latest English Indices of Deprivation 2025 reinforces the extent to which this coastal deprivation has become entrenched. Nine of the ten most deprived neighbourhoods in England are coastal, and seven of those are concentrated within Blackpool alone. The famous Lancashire coastal town has the lowest life expectancy for men in Britain, at 73.1 years, which is 18 months lower than in 2019, and nearly 44% of children there live in poverty. But this is not isolated to a few coastal regions: from 2009 and 2018, half of all British coastal towns saw employment decline, a rate 13% higher than elsewhere in the country.
Simply put, if you take “left-behind” regions as a whole, coastal areas are often more disadvantaged than inland areas. Yet we rarely discuss the distinct challenges facing these “sea wall” communities. While these peripheral economies are known to suffer from poor transport links and seasonal, low-paid work, far less attention is paid to the dramatic erosion of industrial capacities, or to the long-term consequences of failing to address this decline through economic regeneration.
But could this be starting to change? Earlier this year, Polly Billington, MP for East Thanet, created the Coastal Parliamentary Labour Party group. As the group’s chair, she is pushing for the appointment of a dedicated coastal minister, and argues that her constituency has more in common with places such as Lowestoft, Scarborough, Blackpool, Hastings or Weymouth, describing her discussions with other coastal MPs as like playing “deprivation bingo.”
Recognising that these structural challenges are specific to coastal regions marks an important shift, and the emergence of this coalition could help forge a stronger collective voice in the years ahead. It would be great news if there is substantial investment to revive coastal regions, but what's the best approach to invest in ways that will drive long-term change and build collective agency?
How does social infrastructure influence economic regeneration?
The positive relationship between social infrastructure and economic regeneration is well established. Over the last decade, a £150m programme supported by Local Trust – an independent, place-based funder focused on supporting community-led development in some of England’s most disadvantaged neighbourhoods – has found that “having spaces to meet, an engaged community, and accessible connectivity are all critical in forming, supporting and boosting the levels of social capital in a local area.” But these spaces are not only essential for building trust among residents, they also play a significant part in “wider social and economic health and wellbeing”, and are foundational to communities seeking to respond to challenging social and economic circumstances.
More research by the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods, a cross-sector, evidence-led review body set up in September 2024 to assess and rethink the role of neighbourhoods in public policy, identifies certain places as “mission-critical” for the Labour government: without rebuilding social infrastructure, they are unlikely to benefit from broader economic growth at all. The key evidence suggests that targeted investment in neighbourhoods should include social infrastructure as a core strand – not an afterthought – of regeneration strategy.
Could member-owned social infrastructure be part of the answer to long-term economic regeneration?
The question, then, is not only whether coastal towns need more social infrastructure. It is also whether they have the right kind. What if social infrastructure was owned by and accountable to local people? What if it was shaped by the social and economic needs of people in these neighbourhoods? And what if it already exists in areas of deprivation on our coastline but is not recognised by government and civil society?
Despite the economic realities, coastal Britain still has its fair share of member-owned ‘social clubs’. From railway clubs to dock workers to working men’s clubs, many of these locally owned spaces have remained in continual member ownership since the Victorian or post-war era, embodying a rich heritage of neighbourly trust, popular culture, and democratic engagement. Today, social clubs remain essential spaces for connection, learning, and participation, particularly in an economy that is experiencing a rapid increase in the commercialisation of social spaces.
Though not immune to the wider decline around them, there are positive stories from along our coasts. In Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, the local Railway Club has recently surpassed 1800 members, attracting 700 new members in the past year alone, and it offers family-friendly events, live music, affordable meals, and even a member welfare officer. In Kent, Sheerness East Working Men's Club – which also has 1800 members – offers yoga classes, sequence dancing, senior exercise classes, and singing and dancing groups for dementia sufferers. “During the pandemic”, said the club manager, “our Hall became one of the first 'drop-in' COVID testing stations in the UK; then we became a vaccination facility and now we host a blood donation unit once a month."
Crucially, these clubs are existing social infrastructure that can rebuild social capital. They are far cheaper and quicker to support than constructing new facilities, and they already have legitimacy within their communities. Using existing social infrastructure, rather than bypassing it, could allow investment to translate more effectively into long-term local benefit.
Pride in Place – a new opportunity?
We now have a policy window. The Government’s emerging “Pride in Place” programme repeatedly emphasises community ownership, civic assets, and social infrastructure. Thanks to our work through 21st Century Social Clubs, with the Co-operative Party and Kirsty McNeill MP, social clubs are explicitly mentioned as community institutions, as well as in relation to their role on Neighbourhood Boards.
Now it’s important to ensure that policymakers continue to see member-owned social clubs as the important twenty-first-century civic institutions they are – stable physical spaces, open to all generations, governed locally, and capable of supporting everything from community organising and adult education to active movement, health, and wellbeing.
Revitalising social clubs does not replace economic regeneration, as some might assume, but it will probably make economic regeneration more likely to succeed. If we want to stop playing “deprivation bingo” with coastal communities, listing familiar problems without changing outcomes, we must take social infrastructure seriously. But we do need to build a wider coalition between government and civil society, which can commission new research, secure funding for development pilots, and ensure the members of these social clubs are part of these regeneration efforts.
Coastal communities face some of the most entrenched forms of deprivation in Britain. As new research continues to establish the role of social infrastructure in economic regeneration, this article argues that member-owned social clubs – with their deep roots, democratic governance, and local accountability – could be a vital part of the solution.
When we talk about inequality in the British economy, we often reach for the same familiar categories: North versus South, London versus the Regions, or so-called “left-behind” areas. These narratives have become so powerful that they shape how whole regions understand themselves and how policymakers prioritise intervention. Yet if these categories matter so much, why do we talk so rarely about the “sea wall”: the coastal communities facing some of the country’s deepest and most persistent forms of deprivation?
Despite representing 19% of the national population, or around ten million people, coastal communities have largely been overlooked. According to a 2023 poll from the Fabian Society, more than 60% of residents in coastal regions feel they are not prioritised by politicians in Westminster, when compared with urban or rural areas. And this is backed up by the think tank Onward’s report published the same year, which found that neighbourhoods on the coast are 42% more likely to be in the worst decile for income deprivation than inland areas.
The latest English Indices of Deprivation 2025 reinforces the extent to which this coastal deprivation has become entrenched. Nine of the ten most deprived neighbourhoods in England are coastal, and seven of those are concentrated within Blackpool alone. The famous Lancashire coastal town has the lowest life expectancy for men in Britain, at 73.1 years, which is 18 months lower than in 2019, and nearly 44% of children there live in poverty. But this is not isolated to a few coastal regions: from 2009 and 2018, half of all British coastal towns saw employment decline, a rate 13% higher than elsewhere in the country.
Simply put, if you take “left-behind” regions as a whole, coastal areas are often more disadvantaged than inland areas. Yet we rarely discuss the distinct challenges facing these “sea wall” communities. While these peripheral economies are known to suffer from poor transport links and seasonal, low-paid work, far less attention is paid to the dramatic erosion of industrial capacities, or to the long-term consequences of failing to address this decline through economic regeneration.
But could this be starting to change? Earlier this year, Polly Billington, MP for East Thanet, created the Coastal Parliamentary Labour Party group. As the group’s chair, she is pushing for the appointment of a dedicated coastal minister, and argues that her constituency has more in common with places such as Lowestoft, Scarborough, Blackpool, Hastings or Weymouth, describing her discussions with other coastal MPs as like playing “deprivation bingo.”
Recognising that these structural challenges are specific to coastal regions marks an important shift, and the emergence of this coalition could help forge a stronger collective voice in the years ahead. It would be great news if there is substantial investment to revive coastal regions, but what's the best approach to invest in ways that will drive long-term change and build collective agency?
How does social infrastructure influence economic regeneration?
The positive relationship between social infrastructure and economic regeneration is well established. Over the last decade, a £150m programme supported by Local Trust – an independent, place-based funder focused on supporting community-led development in some of England’s most disadvantaged neighbourhoods – has found that “having spaces to meet, an engaged community, and accessible connectivity are all critical in forming, supporting and boosting the levels of social capital in a local area.” But these spaces are not only essential for building trust among residents, they also play a significant part in “wider social and economic health and wellbeing”, and are foundational to communities seeking to respond to challenging social and economic circumstances.
More research by the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods, a cross-sector, evidence-led review body set up in September 2024 to assess and rethink the role of neighbourhoods in public policy, identifies certain places as “mission-critical” for the Labour government: without rebuilding social infrastructure, they are unlikely to benefit from broader economic growth at all. The key evidence suggests that targeted investment in neighbourhoods should include social infrastructure as a core strand – not an afterthought – of regeneration strategy.
Could member-owned social infrastructure be part of the answer to long-term economic regeneration?
The question, then, is not only whether coastal towns need more social infrastructure. It is also whether they have the right kind. What if social infrastructure was owned by and accountable to local people? What if it was shaped by the social and economic needs of people in these neighbourhoods? And what if it already exists in areas of deprivation on our coastline but is not recognised by government and civil society?
Despite the economic realities, coastal Britain still has its fair share of member-owned ‘social clubs’. From railway clubs to dock workers to working men’s clubs, many of these locally owned spaces have remained in continual member ownership since the Victorian or post-war era, embodying a rich heritage of neighbourly trust, popular culture, and democratic engagement. Today, social clubs remain essential spaces for connection, learning, and participation, particularly in an economy that is experiencing a rapid increase in the commercialisation of social spaces.
Though not immune to the wider decline around them, there are positive stories from along our coasts. In Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, the local Railway Club has recently surpassed 1800 members, attracting 700 new members in the past year alone, and it offers family-friendly events, live music, affordable meals, and even a member welfare officer. In Kent, Sheerness East Working Men's Club – which also has 1800 members – offers yoga classes, sequence dancing, senior exercise classes, and singing and dancing groups for dementia sufferers. “During the pandemic”, said the club manager, “our Hall became one of the first 'drop-in' COVID testing stations in the UK; then we became a vaccination facility and now we host a blood donation unit once a month."
Crucially, these clubs are existing social infrastructure that can rebuild social capital. They are far cheaper and quicker to support than constructing new facilities, and they already have legitimacy within their communities. Using existing social infrastructure, rather than bypassing it, could allow investment to translate more effectively into long-term local benefit.
Pride in Place – a new opportunity?
We now have a policy window. The Government’s emerging “Pride in Place” programme repeatedly emphasises community ownership, civic assets, and social infrastructure. Thanks to our work through 21st Century Social Clubs, with the Co-operative Party and Kirsty McNeill MP, social clubs are explicitly mentioned as community institutions, as well as in relation to their role on Neighbourhood Boards.
Now it’s important to ensure that policymakers continue to see member-owned social clubs as the important twenty-first-century civic institutions they are – stable physical spaces, open to all generations, governed locally, and capable of supporting everything from community organising and adult education to active movement, health, and wellbeing.
Revitalising social clubs does not replace economic regeneration, as some might assume, but it will probably make economic regeneration more likely to succeed. If we want to stop playing “deprivation bingo” with coastal communities, listing familiar problems without changing outcomes, we must take social infrastructure seriously. But we do need to build a wider coalition between government and civil society, which can commission new research, secure funding for development pilots, and ensure the members of these social clubs are part of these regeneration efforts.
Coastal communities face some of the most entrenched forms of deprivation in Britain. As new research continues to establish the role of social infrastructure in economic regeneration, this article argues that member-owned social clubs – with their deep roots, democratic governance, and local accountability – could be a vital part of the solution.
When we talk about inequality in the British economy, we often reach for the same familiar categories: North versus South, London versus the Regions, or so-called “left-behind” areas. These narratives have become so powerful that they shape how whole regions understand themselves and how policymakers prioritise intervention. Yet if these categories matter so much, why do we talk so rarely about the “sea wall”: the coastal communities facing some of the country’s deepest and most persistent forms of deprivation?
Despite representing 19% of the national population, or around ten million people, coastal communities have largely been overlooked. According to a 2023 poll from the Fabian Society, more than 60% of residents in coastal regions feel they are not prioritised by politicians in Westminster, when compared with urban or rural areas. And this is backed up by the think tank Onward’s report published the same year, which found that neighbourhoods on the coast are 42% more likely to be in the worst decile for income deprivation than inland areas.
The latest English Indices of Deprivation 2025 reinforces the extent to which this coastal deprivation has become entrenched. Nine of the ten most deprived neighbourhoods in England are coastal, and seven of those are concentrated within Blackpool alone. The famous Lancashire coastal town has the lowest life expectancy for men in Britain, at 73.1 years, which is 18 months lower than in 2019, and nearly 44% of children there live in poverty. But this is not isolated to a few coastal regions: from 2009 and 2018, half of all British coastal towns saw employment decline, a rate 13% higher than elsewhere in the country.
Simply put, if you take “left-behind” regions as a whole, coastal areas are often more disadvantaged than inland areas. Yet we rarely discuss the distinct challenges facing these “sea wall” communities. While these peripheral economies are known to suffer from poor transport links and seasonal, low-paid work, far less attention is paid to the dramatic erosion of industrial capacities, or to the long-term consequences of failing to address this decline through economic regeneration.
But could this be starting to change? Earlier this year, Polly Billington, MP for East Thanet, created the Coastal Parliamentary Labour Party group. As the group’s chair, she is pushing for the appointment of a dedicated coastal minister, and argues that her constituency has more in common with places such as Lowestoft, Scarborough, Blackpool, Hastings or Weymouth, describing her discussions with other coastal MPs as like playing “deprivation bingo.”
Recognising that these structural challenges are specific to coastal regions marks an important shift, and the emergence of this coalition could help forge a stronger collective voice in the years ahead. It would be great news if there is substantial investment to revive coastal regions, but what's the best approach to invest in ways that will drive long-term change and build collective agency?
How does social infrastructure influence economic regeneration?
The positive relationship between social infrastructure and economic regeneration is well established. Over the last decade, a £150m programme supported by Local Trust – an independent, place-based funder focused on supporting community-led development in some of England’s most disadvantaged neighbourhoods – has found that “having spaces to meet, an engaged community, and accessible connectivity are all critical in forming, supporting and boosting the levels of social capital in a local area.” But these spaces are not only essential for building trust among residents, they also play a significant part in “wider social and economic health and wellbeing”, and are foundational to communities seeking to respond to challenging social and economic circumstances.
More research by the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods, a cross-sector, evidence-led review body set up in September 2024 to assess and rethink the role of neighbourhoods in public policy, identifies certain places as “mission-critical” for the Labour government: without rebuilding social infrastructure, they are unlikely to benefit from broader economic growth at all. The key evidence suggests that targeted investment in neighbourhoods should include social infrastructure as a core strand – not an afterthought – of regeneration strategy.
Could member-owned social infrastructure be part of the answer to long-term economic regeneration?
The question, then, is not only whether coastal towns need more social infrastructure. It is also whether they have the right kind. What if social infrastructure was owned by and accountable to local people? What if it was shaped by the social and economic needs of people in these neighbourhoods? And what if it already exists in areas of deprivation on our coastline but is not recognised by government and civil society?
Despite the economic realities, coastal Britain still has its fair share of member-owned ‘social clubs’. From railway clubs to dock workers to working men’s clubs, many of these locally owned spaces have remained in continual member ownership since the Victorian or post-war era, embodying a rich heritage of neighbourly trust, popular culture, and democratic engagement. Today, social clubs remain essential spaces for connection, learning, and participation, particularly in an economy that is experiencing a rapid increase in the commercialisation of social spaces.
Though not immune to the wider decline around them, there are positive stories from along our coasts. In Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, the local Railway Club has recently surpassed 1800 members, attracting 700 new members in the past year alone, and it offers family-friendly events, live music, affordable meals, and even a member welfare officer. In Kent, Sheerness East Working Men's Club – which also has 1800 members – offers yoga classes, sequence dancing, senior exercise classes, and singing and dancing groups for dementia sufferers. “During the pandemic”, said the club manager, “our Hall became one of the first 'drop-in' COVID testing stations in the UK; then we became a vaccination facility and now we host a blood donation unit once a month."
Crucially, these clubs are existing social infrastructure that can rebuild social capital. They are far cheaper and quicker to support than constructing new facilities, and they already have legitimacy within their communities. Using existing social infrastructure, rather than bypassing it, could allow investment to translate more effectively into long-term local benefit.
Pride in Place – a new opportunity?
We now have a policy window. The Government’s emerging “Pride in Place” programme repeatedly emphasises community ownership, civic assets, and social infrastructure. Thanks to our work through 21st Century Social Clubs, with the Co-operative Party and Kirsty McNeill MP, social clubs are explicitly mentioned as community institutions, as well as in relation to their role on Neighbourhood Boards.
Now it’s important to ensure that policymakers continue to see member-owned social clubs as the important twenty-first-century civic institutions they are – stable physical spaces, open to all generations, governed locally, and capable of supporting everything from community organising and adult education to active movement, health, and wellbeing.
Revitalising social clubs does not replace economic regeneration, as some might assume, but it will probably make economic regeneration more likely to succeed. If we want to stop playing “deprivation bingo” with coastal communities, listing familiar problems without changing outcomes, we must take social infrastructure seriously. But we do need to build a wider coalition between government and civil society, which can commission new research, secure funding for development pilots, and ensure the members of these social clubs are part of these regeneration efforts.
The CfDB is a project of Stir to Action Ltd, a worker co-operative registered in England as a Company Limited by Guarantee. Company number 07951013
Our team is based in Dorset, London, and Manchester
Designed and built by Guillermo Ortego
You can subscribe to our newsletter here
The CfDB is a project of Stir to Action Ltd, a worker co-operative registered in England as a Company Limited by Guarantee. Company number 07951013
Our team is based in Dorset, London, and Manchester
Designed and built by Guillermo Ortego
You can subscribe to our newsletter here
The CfDB is a project of Stir to Action Ltd, a worker co-operative registered in England as a Company Limited by Guarantee. Company number 07951013
Our team is based in Dorset, London, and Manchester
Designed and built by Guillermo Ortego