Southend-on-Sea News Stories

Scared Scriptless back for Charity Improv Night

News of a top comedy event in Southend next week – The return of Scared Scriptless. Scared Scriptless is a local improvisational comedy group that performed regular comedy gigs in venues such as the Palace Theatre, New Empire Theatre and the Railway Hotel. If you’re familiar with TV’s “Who’s Line Is It Anyway”, you’ll know all about [...]

Southend-on-Sea Mile – 21 March 2010

Southenders – time to do your bit for charity… On Sunday the 21st of March, Southenders are being encouraged to do their bit for Sport Relief by taking part in the Southend Mile. Similar events are taking place across Essex and the UK to raise money for Comic Relief, which goes to help poor and vulnerable people, [...]

Southend Deeping Underpass to close next week

The underpass underneath the Victoria Shopping Centre is set to close permanently on Sunday the 21st February 2010 (originally the 15th Feb). Apparently, the closure of the Deeping is to enable a series of “road improvements”, including a programme to replace the Victoria Circus roundabout with a traffic light junction. The closure of the Deeping will make [...]

What’s wrong with Southend, Pamela?

According to reports in the Sun, former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson is looking to buy herself a place at a seaside town in the UK. Favourite locations include Bournemouth, Brighton, Blackpool and Morecambe Bay. Sadly, not a mention of our own Sunny Southend though. Pam, if you’re reading, and we know you’re an avid reader of [...]

Tick Tock – Time Up For Our Clock

Southend’s infamous Millennium Clock is to be removed. The clock arrived (12 monthe late) at the top of the High Street as a celebration of the dawn of a new millennium. It was based on a design by a local schoolgirl. Over the last nine years, the clock has been a) temperamental and b) controversial, and it’s [...]

Amazing vanishing Southend o2 store

OK – Technically, this isn’t a news story worthy of inclusion on southendnews.co.uk, but it’s our site, so we can bend the rules to vent a little. My mission today was to take back a faulty Joggler to the o2 store in Southend – you know – the one that’s been on the High Street for [...]

Ohh looking – It’s snowing

In probably the most pointless post we’ve ever made, we’ve been asked to alert our loyal readers that, err, it’s snowing. Yes – that’s right – we’ve had reported sightings of white stuff falling and settling on surfaces, in turn turning those surfaces a white, snowy colour. As a real insult to your intelligence, here’s a photo, [...]

c2c sets reliability record

In a far cry from the old LTS “Misery Line” days of the Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness rail service, current operator of the line, c2c, has just beaten the record for service performance. c2c has become the first train operator in the UK to get punctuality score of 96% for a 12 month period. c2c’s MD Julian [...]

South Essex College Merger Approved

The proposed merger between South-East Essex College and Thurrock and Basildon College is set to go ahead after approval has been granted by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The merger of the two colleges will take place on the 1st of January 2010, and the new combined college will be known as “South Essex [...]

Unseen 1963 Exhibition this November

“Unseen 1963″ is an exhibition showcasing a collection of Black and White photos taken at Southend and Romford Odeon cinemas back in their heyday of theatre shows. Image © Derek Cross Artists include The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dusty Springfield, Cliff Richard, The Kinks and many more.Image © Derek Cross“Unseen 1963″ starts on Saturday the 7th of [...]

Southend United facing Administration

Southend United may shortly go into Administration as HM Revenue and Customs call in a £690,000 outstanding tax bill. The Blues has a few days to find the money or go into Administration. Failure to pay could result in a drop to the bottom of League One or League Two relegation, the need to sell off [...]

Southend, the Capital of Culture?

In case you’ve not been following the local press, the town of Southend-on-Sea is bidding to become the UK’s Capital of Culture 2013. So, what are Southend’s selling points? Events such as the Southend Airshow, Southend Carnival and Leigh Art Trail? Tourist attractions such as our 7 miles of beaches and our pier? Or perhaps our two theatres, new [...]

Southend York Road Market closed

Southend’s historic York Road Market closed on the 17th of October 2009. Following a Health and Safety review undertaken for the council in September, it was identified that the market, and the 22 shops based there, would have to close. Three days notice was given before the closure. The report cites rotted roof timbers, the need for [...]

Heart Essex Launches

Today, Monday the 22nd June 2009, Essex FM was replaced by “Heart”, taking the total of Heart-branded stations in the UK to 33, and adding networked daytime programming from London. The station re-launched at 6am – first track was Janet Jackson, The Best Things in Life are Free. Here’s a short extract from today’s 6am [...]

Puppets on the Pier

News of a local Puppet Festival. If puppets are your thing, look out for the Puppet Festival on July 31st, August 1st and August 2nd. There will be a number of free shows on and near Southend Pier. Kids; bring your grown-ups to see Punch. Grown-ups; bring your kids to see Judy. The shows, from all [...]

Essex FM becomes Heart from Monday

From Monday the 22nd June, Essex FM vanishes from our local airwaves, to be replaced by “Heart” As we’ve reported before, Essex FM is owned by the largest commercial radio group in the UK, Global Radio. Their three-phase plan to rebrand over 30 stations with a local identity to “Heart”. For the last couple of weeks, listeners [...]

iPhone 3GS on sale in Southend

This morning we saw ten eager shoppers in the o2 queue by 8:30, and two chaps with laptops and seats outside Southend High Street’s Carphone Warehouse. These chaps have been queueing for the new Apple iPhone 3GS, which goes on sale today. The new phone, an update on last year’s 3G version, offers a faster processor, a [...]

Southend Book Fair 2009

A date for your literary diary… Saturday the 6th of June sees the third Southend Book Fair come to town. Writers Anonymous and South East Essex College are working together to make the 2009 Southend Book Fair the literary event of the local calendar. The free fair is open to all with an interest in the [...]

Essex FM becomes Heart in June

Global Radio, the largest player in UK commercial radio, is set to re-brand local station Essex FM to “Heart” this June. This UK-wide re-branding of stations to the “Heart” umbrella started in January 2009, and Essex FM will be one of the last stations to change its name. Once complete, 33 local radio stations will be [...]

Southend A127 Speed Camera are live

Users of the A127 ‘Arterial Road’ into Southend take note… The SPECS Average Speed Camera network is now live. As locals will know, the speed for the stretch of the dual carriageway approaching Southend recently dropped from 70mph down to 50mph, with average speed cameras in place to enforce this limit. According to reports on longpier.com, [...]