As the weather warms up, new research has revealed which beaches are the most accessible for those with limited mobility.

There are few places more appealing than the seaside on a hot day and in the last three years the number of people spending their leisure time at a UK beach has increased by 4 million.

For those with mobility issues however, spending some time on the sand is that little bit trickier. With this in mind, Middletons Mobility has conducted research, revealing the top 10 most accessible beaches in the UK.

To create their league table, Middletons Mobility considered data sourced from TripAdvisor, Disability Rights UK, Instagram, beach websites and customer reviews.

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Top 10 most accessible beaches

The Argus: Bournemouth beach named UK's most accessible beach. Picture: PABournemouth beach named UK's most accessible beach. Picture: PA

Brighton Beach made it into the top ten, coming in a respectable sixth place.

Not too far down the road, West Sussex destination, West Wittering Beach in Chichester also appeared in the list, making it into ninth place.

Topping the league table is Bournemouth Beach in Dorset and it wasn't the only location in the county - Sandbanks Beach followed up in second places and Weymouth Beach and Studland Beach took seventh and eighth position respectively.

Here’s the full list of beaches scoring highly enough to be named among the most accessible:

  1. Bournemouth Beach, Dorset
  2. Sandbanks Beach, Poole, Dorset
  3. Porthminster Beach, St Ives, Cornwall
  4. Portobello Beach, Edinburgh
  5. Perranporth Beach, Cornwall
  6. Brighton Beach, Brighton and Hove
  7. Weymouth Beach, Dorset
  8. Studland Beach, Dorset
  9. West Wittering Beach, Chichester, West Sussex
  10. Whitby Beach, North Yorkshire

Most picturesque accessible beaches 

 

 


For those looking for a beach with the highest levels of accessibility matched by desirable aesthetics, it has been revealed the most Instagrammable beach within the top 10 is Brighton Beach, with 945,000 hashtags on the platform.

This is followed by Bournemouth, at 186,000 hashtags, and Portobello Beach with 45,500.

All of these beaches have ramps for wheelchair access and some even offer beach wheelchairs for hire equipped with specially designed wheels to cope with sand and shallow water, allowing for seaside enjoyment for those who may not have believed it was possible.

Ricky Towler, founder of Middletons Mobility, said: “The summertime is the perfect season to spend time at the beach, regardless of levels of mobility.

“As we have assessed which beaches are the most accessible for people with physical disabilities, we wish to inform the public as frequently as possible whenever UK destinations have good or poor accessibility.

“As UK accessibility plummets nearly 50% in just three years, we wish to ensure that our beaches remain accessible to all, allowing for the life quality of individuals with mobility issues and disabilities to consistently match that of physically able people.

“Ensuring that beaches have appropriate entrances, pathways and amenities that allow for wheelchair and motor scooter use is imperative to allowing equality for all.