'For Sights worth Remembering' by John Byford
🇬🇧 Brighton & Blackpool
🇬🇧 Brighton & Blackpool
For sights worth remembering, visit Skegness!
B&B ~Â Brighton & Blackpool vs. Skeg-Vegas
A cheeky, provocative and wildly successful campaign that put Skegness centre-stage in the great British seaside showdown.
When Brighton and Blackpool became the stars of B&B: The Battle of Britain’s Beaches, they probably didn’t expect to be portrayed as graffiti-covered eyesores. But that was exactly the point. The campaign challenged the nation to rethink what a modern seaside resort could be - and it didn’t hold back.
What began as two sunny postcards quickly revealed something grittier: Blackpool Tower and Brighton’s iconic Promenade peeking out from behind spray-painted walls. Then the punchline:
“For sights you’ll want to remember – visit Skegness.”
The reaction? Explosive.
Local papers pulled adverts. Rival resorts bristled. Radio phone-ins buzzed. Online discussions turned fiery. National TV picked it up. And the whole thing even landed as a question on The Million Pound Drop.
But the goal was never to insult - it was to spark conversation. As East Lindsey District Council’s communications manager put it, the campaign gave seaside towns the perfect platform to talk about their strengths. And it worked.
Skegness-based artist John Byford, who created the images, praised the council for having the courage to take such a bold leap. The result? Millions of pounds’ worth of publicity for Skegness and, ultimately, a raised profile for all British seaside resorts.
A Marmite campaign? Absolutely.
A success? Undeniably.
In an era when UK tourism was fighting to keep holidaymakers at home, B&B proved that sometimes the boldest message makes the biggest splash.
Text and images  ©John Byford ~ All rights reserved