I’m dragging up this old thread because I had the pleasure of briefly visiting Canvey Island yesterday. Heading to Southend on the line out of Fenchurch Street, I hopped off at Benfleet to catch the bus to Canvey Eastern Esplanade. But, before you read any further, you’ll need musical accompaniment:
It’s roughly twenty minutes on the bus from Benfleet to Canvey and even before I glimpsed the water I saw an expanse of the famous Canvey Front as a likely lad (fully-formed) unsuccessfully attempted to blag the half-mile ride to the Haystack on an out-of-date ticket. Furthermore, his offer to make the journey before getting the money from the cash point was rejected by the driver. That put me in the mood for the
Canvey Strip.....
I’m pleased to report that – in the manner of these things – the cafes were open even if the beaches were slightly disappointing. The splendid Labworth cafe wasn’t offering the
al fresco option so I chose the more basic facility at Concord beach: plastic table and chairs up against the sea wall with a magnificent view of Kent’s finest chimneys. Ah, Concord beach – is that how
Concord Rangers FC (Ryman Premier) got their name? Romantic stuff.
Having enjoyed the autumnal sun for a good half-an-hour I now only had time to admire the sea defences – crucial in a place that lost so many people in the floods of 1953 – and walk along the sea wall (much higher than a double-decker bus) before having a quick peek inside the ground of
Canvey Island FC. Maybe I should have remained on the island to see the yellow-and-blue shirted Gulls tonk Hendon in the FA Trophy. Or even see Concord lose to Harlow in the same competition. Instead I went to Roots Hall....
Canvey Island FCChecking up on the club’s history I see they knocked around the Essex Senior League until the early 1990s. They then won the FA Trophy and had a couple of years in the Conference National until the balloon went up in 2006. We missed playing them by a year although they can count
two league wins in Devon at Exeter City amongst their achievements. Here’s a picture from Geograph showing Canvey’s ground from the air:
Canvey StripYou need to go to Google Street View to see it in its full glory. Bloody lovely it is - but no chance to see the Thames estuary with that all-important towering sea wall:
Labworth cafeI really should have stopped here but chose the
al fresco option just along the sea wall. I’ve nicked this from Wikipedia which has an article about this 1930s beauty:
Concord beach cafeRather in the shadow of both the Labworth and the behind-the-sea-wall Monico. For 70p I sampled my first mince pie of this Christmas season. The devastatingly beautiful vistas of the coast of Kent makes you yearn for that February visit to Gillingham:
Canvey is England's LourdesBugger me, I didn’t see this. Had I done so I might have nipped back there after the game at Southend for a quick prayer and a few cheap trinkets from along the Strip. Only joking.....
Pictures from Geograph and elsewhere.
