Why Scarborough is attracting a new wave of buyers as families follow coastal town dreams
Scarborough is shedding its faded seaside image as investment, regeneration, and a thriving cultural scene draw a new wave of homebuyers to the coast. Jayne Dowle reports.
Six years ago Jason Beaumont and Debbie Moxon left their steady jobs in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and moved to Scarborough, following their dream to own a guest house.
“We had always been fond of Scarborough,” says Jason. “We have many treasured memories from childhood holidays and craved the health benefits.”
After months of searching, they found The Kensington Guest House: “In the tree-lined location of Columbus Ravine in the peaceful North Bay, five rooms, so very manageable for just the two of us, ensuites, a big garden and a business with a good reputation.” On the market for £240,000, Jason, 49, a former college lecturer in media, film and English, and Debbie, 57, who was an undertaker, secured it for £230,000.
It was a brave move; like most British coastal resorts, Scarborough has experienced ups and downs in recent years. But it’s set to receive almost £20m in government funding as part of the ‘Plan for Neighbourhoods’ scheme. This will be used to finance regeneration projects and improve housing, education and the health and well-being of residents over the next decade. A more attractive, welcoming town centre and improved public transport emerged as locals’ big wishes in a town-wide consultation, Let’s Talk Scarborough, undertaken last summer.
Labour councillor Liz Colling, chair of the Scarborough & Whitby Area Committee, confirms that access to this funding will start in April 2026.
Jason and Debbie’s guest house is a few steps from Scarborough Open Air Theatre, with acts this year including Texas, McFly and Craig David, and historic Peasholm Park, its gardens, pagoda and lake bridge restored with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Local estate agent Katie Watson, manager at Andrew Cowen Estate Agents, thinks Scarborough Open Air Theatre, reopened by the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2010 after an intensive restoration programme, has brought in visitors inspired to buy: “We get two main types of buyers. People moving here to be closer to family and those who have visited or stayed here and fallen in love with the place.”
Popular spots for buyers, Katie says, include the village of Scalby, three miles north of the town centre, and seven miles inland, the traditional villages of West Ayton and East Ayton. The rise of remote working underpins recent popularity of Scarborough and surroundings with professional families, “Not many commute”, Kate adds. Trains to York take an average journey time of 56 minutes, Hull, one hour, 23 minutes, and Leeds, one hour, 29 minutes. Driving, the A64 connects Scarborough to York and Leeds, the A171 runs to Middlesbrough and the A170 to Thirsk.
In town, the Esplanade, above the South Bay and the Spa Theatre complex, where organ concerts rub shoulders with comedians, and The Crescent, are favourites of downsizers and retirees. “They’re a flat walk to the shops and everything the town has to offer, with some gorgeous period properties,” says Katie, who is marketing a beautifully-renovated four-bedroomed duplex apartment on Belvoir Terrace, The Crescent, for £525,000
Against a prevailing general wind, sold prices in Scarborough have climbed by two per cent over the last year, according to Rightmove, to an overall average of £206,073.
The majority of properties sold during this period were semi-detached, (average price £213,478). Terraced properties sold for an average of £151,780, with flats fetching £138,840.
However, those which come with all mod-cons, plus the benefit of sea-views, such as a five-bedroomed detached house on Wheatcroft Avenue, overlooking the South Bay, can attract price tags of £1m-plus
“Such properties marry what the area has to offer with high-specification,” says Lee Tuckwood-Hill, valuer at selling agents Hunter’s.
Whilst the South Bay is still lined with amusement arcades and traditional cafes and fish and chips shops dot the main thoroughfare of Eastborough, there’s a sense that Scarborough is moving forward.
“I think Scarborough is really pretty, I just think we needed the investment,” says Katie. “And I feel like it is slowly changing. People want brunches and things like that, but a few years you were still getting your English breakfast and very little choice.”
She points to the redevelopment of 1990s town centre shopping mall the Brunswick Centre, bringing a new Odeon Luxe cinema and popular chain restaurants, and the rise of independent retailers and coffee shops, such as local coffee artisans Forge Valley Roasters, which opened its ‘Brew Bar’ on Huntriss Row in May.
Co-owner Chris Brett, 37, who runs the business with his wife, Tash, 36, live in a £620,000 four-bedroomed stone house in East Ayton, with their six-year-old son, Arnold. The British-born couple moved here in 2023 after four years living and working in Arkansas, inspired to live by the Yorkshire coast after a weekend in nearby Whitby.
“The architecture is awesome,” Chris says. “We’re near the Grand Hotel, with all its Victorian splendour, right next to the funicular which goes down to the seafront, and just round the corner you get the view of the harbour and of the beach.”