The pretty UK seaside village ruined every year by feral youths ‘having sex on beach’.TA
The town was once frequented by princes but has become a hotspot for anti-social behaviour. (Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
A pretty UK seaside village faces recurring problems with misbehaving youths and anti-social behaviour for around two weeks at the start of every summer. Local people say they are fed up with the situation, describing how hundreds of teenagers descended on the beach late at night this summer, leaving behind huge amounts of rubbish, including broken glass, while allegedly threatening beach rangers and security staff. Some have even been spotted having sex on the beach.
Polzeath, located at the mouth of the Camel Estuary on the popular north coast of Cornwall, holds a long-standing connection to Prince William and Prince Harry who frequently visited during their time at Eton College. The brothers spent many summers bodyboarding and surfing at the resort during their teenage years, and have continued to visit during their adult lives. However, some locals believe they are the catalyst for an influx of affluent, private-school teenagers to Polzeath in recent years.
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“There’s a two-week period before the public schools break up where the private schools have already broken up. It’s that two-week period,” local Molly Pick tells the Daily Express. “I hate to make a generalisation but there’s certainly a correlation between when the incidents happen and when which schools have broken up.”
The 31-year-old, who works at a coffee hut on Polzeath Beach and lives in the village, reiterates that tourist behaviour is fine throughout large parts of the year. However, there is significant disruption at the start of July every year.
“For the majority of the summer, it’s absolutely not an issue,” she explains. “There’s just a small period of time, before the main summer holidays where we get disruption.
“One of the main problems is the way the youngsters turn up and treat the beach. They leave rubbish everywhere, broken glass, vandalism. That’s the main problem.
“There’s also underage drinking but that sort of thing happens in a lot places. But the locals get most upset about the vandalism and the rubbish that’s left.”
Molly Pick says the children treat the beach with disrespect. (Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed their Polzeath Neighbourhood Policing Team introduced a dispersal order to “control anti-social behaviour in the beach area” on July 8. This gave officers the power to remove people from the area if they were causing nuisance, leaving litter, or causing harassment.
Meanwhile, beach rangers were also deployed to prevent an escalation of the anti-social behaviour. Andy Stewart, who became a beach ranger after retiring from the police force in 2019, said disruption lasted for two weeks but incidents throughout the rest of the summer are “negligible”.
The ranger says this year’s fortnight of chaos saw around 300 school children descend on the beach, with rangers forced to work “double shifts” to deal with the mayhem. He adds that plans are already in place to “hit the kids hard” next year.
He explains how incidents this year included teenagers underage drinking in public and having sex openly on the beach. Others became hostile and abusive to the rangers as they tried to manage the crowds.
Mr Stewart shows the Express video footage of crowds of children on Dunders Hill, located at the beachfront, at night. Many were ordered to leave but lingered into the early hours of the morning, causing chaos to locals and those staying in the village.
Andy Stewart says police are going to “hit the kids hard” next year. (Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
The ranger points out how tourists pay “thousands” to stay in Polzeath and do not deserve to have their trip ruined by misbehaving teenagers.
It was also reported by local media that customers of a pop-up restaurant in the village were seen urinating on the beach and neighbouring cliff path in front of families this summer. The incident has raised concerns about awarding certain venues alcohol licenses in the area.
Lucinda Robins, 45, is visiting the village from Hampshire with her young family. She is well-aware of the issues facing the village but believes it is one of the nicest coastal locations to visit in the UK.
“I know it’s always a full-on period and then I read it in the newspaper and thought “well it must be getting worse’,” she says. “It just struggles with congestion in that period as the children come down here to start their holidays.”
She believes it is a minority of children who cause the trouble while the majority behave perfectly fine. Instead of blaming the children for their behaviour, Ms Robins believes parents should take more responsibility.
“I have private school teenagers but I think a few are ruining it for the majority,” she says. “It’s not all of the children causing problems, it’s just a couple. There are some parents who are entitled and they think they can let their kids just run riot. It’s not on.”
Lucinda Robins is visiting Polzeath with her family. (Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
The 45-year-old adds that the situation is “fine at this time of year”. She says: “I’ve spoken with people since arriving and they said there’s no issues for the rest of the summer.”
Local businesses also feel the impact of the anti-social behaviour. Many employ security guards to protect customers and prevent incidents during the worst-affected weeks.
YoCoast, a cafe, arcade and entertainment centre located directly on the beach in Polzeath, officially opened earlier this summer. While its manager Kate Klimkova says the venue’s start to life in the village has been “lots of fun” with “good footfall”, she has already got one eye on next summer.
“We are thinking about hiring security guards down at the arcade to protect it from troublemakers next year,” the 35-year-old says. “It’ll help keep people safe here and hopefully stop any issues.”
She adds: “The police and beach rangers are really good in trying to contain them. They come around and ask the businesses if they are ok or if there have been any problems.”
Kate Klimkova is already concerned about next summer. (Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
As well as hitting tourists, the anti-social behaviour puts some locals off from visiting the beach at the start of July. Tigs Coleman explains how the situation was “really bad this year after the schools had finished”.
The 20-year-old says: “I’d say there were a lot of entitled people who left a lot of rubbish, chucking it around, and being rude to the locals. There’s a lack of respect for the people living around here.”
Like others in Polzeath, Ms Coleman believes there is a “two-week window” at the start of July when the teenagers wreak havoc. As she is familiar with the issues, she “knows how bad it can get” and chooses to avoid the beach during this time.
“They leave rubbish around and people come to the beach in the morning to find broken glass in the sand. It’s a shame. It’s always a hard time to be working locally as you know what’s going to happen.”
When asked if Polzeath locals avoid the beach when it is happening, she replies: “Yeah, they definitely avoid the beach when it’s happening which is a shame as they live here. They should feel comfortable coming down and enjoying it.”
Tigs Coleman says some locals have started to avoid the beach at the start of July. (Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
Ms Pick agrees that the “locals are used to it and know what to expect”. However, she adds that the behaviour of the youths is “frustrating as it happens every year”.
“We’d rather there was more respect for those couple of weeks as throughout the rest of the year all of the holidaymakers are great,” she says. “We always have increased police presence for those couple of weeks where things get out of hand. They monitor it as best as they can.”
Ms Coleman continues: “The police and beach rangers are certainly doing what they can. Polzeath is a great place and there’s a lovely community.”
Devon Cornwall Police said: “In July 2026, and following reports of anti-social behaviour in Polzeath, our Neighbourhood Policing Team introduced a dispersal order to control anti-social behaviour in the beach area.
“The new powers meant that anyone causing or likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress could be asked to leave the area by officers, and anyone who failed to comply may have be arrested or returned home.
“Parents were urged to make sure their teenage children didn’t cause a nuisance or have a negative impact for other residents after large noisy groups gathered on the beach and left behind litter, including broken glass.
“As part of the release issued by the force, the local team announced they would remove alcohol from any underage drinkers and high visibility patrols by local neighbourhood police officers would be carried out to minimise anti-social behaviour in the area.”
Inspector Adam Stonehill added: “We’re pleased to report that there was a significant reduction in anti-social behaviour in Polzeath as a result of action taken by the neighbourhood policing team, including the introduction of the dispersal order, increased foot patrols and engagement with young people.
“We will continue to take a proactive approach each summer, with officers maintaining a visible presence in the town, engaging with visitors and residents, removing alcohol from any underage drinkers and responding robustly to incidents reported to us.
“Polzeath remains a safe, vibrant and welcoming destination, and we look forward to welcoming visitors over the coming years.”
A guest on the BBC political programme likened small boat protests to having a “small penis”.
Question Time has gone too far this time (Image: BBC)
Question Time has truly gone too far this time, and I really can’t see a way back for the BBC politics programme. During last night’s episode, political activist and journalist Ash Sarkar made the explosive comment that people who are furious about small boat arrivals full of illegal migrants are like men with “small penises”.
The fury erupted after various protesters were jailed for violent behaviour – which, let me be clear, is despicable. 42-year-old Del Somerville was given a two year jail sentence for throwing a plastic bottle and swearing at police during an anti-migrant protest in Portsmouth. 38-year-old Shaun Thomson was also jailed earlier this year after admitting violent disorder during a protest outside a migrant hotel.
Violence is never right, and it’s entirely fair to call people lobbing projectiles “thugs”. But what’s not fair is extending that moniker to anyone raising perfectly valid concerns about small boat migrants.
One or two men do not represent the swathes of people up and down the country who are frightened of mass illegal immigration, when so much crime has also come from adult male migrants crossing the Channel.
In March this year, a man living in a migrant hotel was sent to a UK jail for sexual offences against three lone women who were simply walking to work. Earlier this month, another raped a woman on a night out – after being released from a UK jail for another sex attack.
The Home Office has been forced to hand out pamphlets telling said migrants not to rape, informing them that the age of consent in the UK is 16, and warning against domestic abuse.
Of course it isn’t all migrants. Of course plenty of UK residents and nationals are found guilty of the same crimes every day, but with migrant hotels sprouting up in small towns across the country and swathes of undocumented males entering the country, I don’t blame anyone for being scared. As a woman, it’s already frightening enough walking home alone at night.
So for Sarkar to compare said outrage to “small penis behaviour” feels more than a bit off, especially airing on the so-called “unbiased” BBC.
She fumed on the show: “I think that this is small penis behaviour, quite frankly. This is a bunch of guys who want to feel like big men because the missus says they can’t see the kids anymore.
“What I think is absurd is that when we’re talking about individuals being made to feel unsafe where they live, when we’re looking at boats being slashed on camera, children chanting into megaphones, ‘Let them drown’, you guys are saying well, it’s about the small boats. Well, maybe it’s also about the racism and the thuggery!”
Of course violence in any context is wrong. Of course I advocate for people’s safety, no matter whether they’re migrants arriving in small boats or British citizens. But expressing fear is natural, and suppressing fear and outrage would be censorship – to dismiss it as “small penis behaviour” simply went too far.
