General Discussion

I am seriously looking into purchasing and running a small guest house. I have always held Dawlish close to my heart, but keep reading alot of negative comments on this forum regarding the current problems Dawlish has. Firsly I would like to know if Dawlish is recommended and would be a suitable location to run a guest house, and secondly with regard to high property prices is a guest house any longer financially viable? Any serious comments or ideas would be most appreciated.

not sure about the viability, but guest houses are in short supply here.
My sister got married last summer some of the guest came from miles away, we couldnt get accomodation for them 10 months in advance.
There is a lot of good about Dawlish its the minority who whinge

Thats a very interesting point. I have been thinking that with property prices so high these days, if someone had the funds to buy a suitable premises (i'd imagine well in excess of £500,000) then why would they bother. Buy a smaller premises and live off the remaining interest. But that doesn't solve my wish! I am assuming that it is the property prices that are responsible of the lack of guest houses. I wonder how many there are in Dawlish compared to say 10 or 20 years ago?

Had quick look on net can only find one hotel the Langstone Cliff and 6 b&b in Dawlish

i think dawlish is crying out for a more upmarket b&b. i believe we have a small number, but mostly seem to be of the tacky variety. i am fiercely campaigning to maintain dawlish as a select small seaside town with as little expansion as possible, but a revamp of as much of the town as possible. we need to get dawlish categorised into the select band. this obviously means discouraging the less at heel types, but that is only for the good of the area. maybe some others on here could assist in your research of b&b numbers now as opposed to a few years ago. i know there used to be alot more in days gone by.

Bob I have lived here all my life Dawlish has never been an up market seaside town and never will be and the poeple who come here are great.
What do you mean by expansion, the very nature of things is the natural population grows and extra resources and growth a necessity.
Unless of course you want to limit Dawlish to one child per family like China and ban people from other places moving here

my dear olive you are so negative. there is absolutely no reason why dawlish cannot move into the bracket of an upmarket quaint seaside town. with careful nurturing and selective encouragement towards suitable shops and services our town could be an absolute haven. if they were overhauled and maintained to a good standard look at what the town has: a pretty stream, a lovely lawn with bandstand suitable for small concerts and events, a unique shoreline with railway, beautiful walks, buildings with character (abused of course by their current occupants ie downmarket pubs and shops). the list is endless. why do we need to follow you down the path leading to cheap and cheerful? lets make this town great then maybe we would attract more small hotels and b&b's into the town. as said before i am not against holidaymakers, just against the ones that do not enhance the town.

Never thought I'd say this, but there's a lot that Bob says above that I agree with.

And how are the minimum wage earners supposed to be able to live? I've lived here all my life, work in Dawlish and earn begger all. But if Bob's dreams come true, my young family and I will be living in the streets. That would hardly enhance the town now, will it? Bob, the wages in Dawlish will not support an upmarket town.

frannie, is it not possible that you and your young family could grow with the town. if dawlish becomes a more affluent town with more upmarket shops and businesses, then if those new employers are worth half their salt they will thrive by looking after their employees. this town will offer your children absolutely nothing by continually encouraging cheap tatty pound a shot pubs, betting shops and downmarket eateries. obviously being a seaside town it should always have traditional seaside shops for the holidaymakers and their children ie icecream shops and fish and chip shops. there is the theory that if the town did become upmarket then property prices would escalate a la st ives in cornwall. this would be good news for people already in residence in the town. first time buyers (your children in the future) may have to start off on the outskirts of the town, but that is the case in any town. im sure the usual people will respond saying im bonkers but dawlish cannot continue this downward trend of ruining what we have and had.

Can't believe it! Again a lot of me agrees with Bob.

If Dawlish doesn't go upmarket it is only going to go one way and that is down. And that most certainly won't help the local wage economy.

Any employer in Dawlish, whether it be a pound shop or Thorntons will pay the going rate, which is whatever they can get away with - ie minimum.

yes maybe the shops will although some chains do pay more than the standard plus perks. What it may do if we move upmarket is influence offices etc to move here instead of outskirts of Exeter if there were sufficient modern office accommodation say at Shutterton for them. All jobs are not in shops!