From May to September, many beaches in England introduce dog bans as the warmer weather brings crowds of sunbathers and families down to the shore for a sunny day out.
There are bans in place on beaches across the North West and Yorkshire, so if you don’t want to be caught out, it’s best to wise up on where you can and can’t go with your pooch well ahead of time – or you could end up being fined as much as £1,000.
Image: The Manc Group
To make sure you don’t fall foul of environmental officers handing out fines, we’ve put together a list of all the beaches to avoid between 1 May and 30 September.
Unfortunately, not every beach is open to man’s best friend this summer – at least not between 1 May and 30 September.
North West
Beaches to avoid in the North West during this period include Ainsdale, Blackpool, Cleveleys, Fleetwood and Southport.
Ainsdale – The beach at Ainsdale must be kept free of dogs for 200m on either side of the main beach entrance and down to the tide itself.
Blackpool – The beach at Blackpool needs to be kept clear of dogs between North Pier and the Mirror Ball, opposite the Solaris Centre, throughout the summer. Up on the pier, dogs must be kept on leads throughout the season.
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Cleveleys – Dogs are not allowed on the beach at Cleveleys from Cage Clove to Wyre Borough Boundary throughout the summer.
Fleetwood – Dogs are banned from the east side of the Fleetwood beach slipway eastward to the west side of the former pier.
Southport – From the Pier south towards Pleasureland (for 555m) up to the tide line, dogs must be kept clear of the beach at Southport.
Beaches to avoid in Yorkshire during this period include Bridlington North and South, Filey, Hornsea, Sansend, Scarborough South and North Bays, Whitby and Withernsea, reports The Hoot.
Bridlington – At Bridlington, dog walkers are not to cross the areas between the northern end of North Marine Promenade and the north-eastern face of the North Pier, or between the southern face of the South Pier and the eastern face of Princess Mary Promenade Sea Wall.
Filey – Placed tenth in 2020 on a list of the UK’s favourite beaches, Filey also bans dogs over the summer. Walkers need to look out for the northernmost side of the beach slipway, which separates the Coble Landing from the Promenade. Everywhere from here to the southernmost point of the sea wall at Royal Parade is out of bounds.
Hornsea – Another popular Yorkshire beach included in the 2014 Good Beach Guide, Hornsea excludes dogs between the concrete ramp at Headland View and the steps south of Sands Lane.
Sansend – Everything at Sansend is out of bounds for pups, from the steps below the public conveniences below Sandhills to the slipway at the southern end of Bank Bottom car park. Similarly in Scarborough, both the North and South Bays are entirely off-limits to dogs.
Whitby – At Whitby, dogs are allowed at Tate Hill if they are kept on a lead – but must avoid the West Beach, from the West Pier to the promenade from the east side of the beach steps adjacent to the western end of the beach chalets.
Feature image – The Manc Group
News
ITV to be bought out by Sky in transformational British broadcasting deal worth £1.6 billion
Danny Jones
In a watershed moment for British broadcasting, Sky has reached a transformational agreement worth more than £1.6 billion to buy out ITV in a landmark takeover deal.
With Sky already owned by US telecommunications corporation Comcast, this is set to be one of the biggest shakeups in TV and streaming for some time.
Talks actually started last November, but the process to complete a buyout like this has obviously taken a significant amount of time and money already.
It’s also worth noting that the deal is still pending full approval from the relevant regulators; nevertheless, it’s fair to say that it could change the face of the British media giants – who are based here in Greater Manchester over at MediaCity – but might signal a significant overhaul of our media landscape.
The Sky Group have assured there will be no immediate change to popular shows and will not be put behind a paywall at present (for now, anyway), with ITV still under a free-to-air service until 2034 as part of its public licensing contract.
Aquisitons/mergers of this size like this don’t come around very often, at least not across this side of the pond, with the growing Disney’s growing multinational monopolisation being one of the biggest examples of conglomerates mopping up major networks and huge brands over the past decade.
Writing in a statement, Sky said: “The UK media market is undergoing a profound and rapid transformation, and as competition for audiences intensifies, scale matters more than ever in order to compete with global streaming giants and YouTube in the UK.
“Viewers will continue to enjoy the shows they know and love, such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Love Island, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, This Morning, Loose Women, Lorraine and News at Ten – alongside major live sporting events.”
That lattermost example feels particularly poignant at the moment, as this also means that the likes of ITV’s impressive World Cup coverage will come under the Sky umbrella in the near future.
ITV agrees sale of media and entertainment business to Sky for up to £1.6bnhttps://t.co/UtgO9REejy
It’s being seen as an ambitious attempt to shake up traditional terrestrial telly and digital platforms, with the ‘old guard’, as it were, having to move forward and fast to keep up with the mercurial market becoming evermore dominated by streaming services.
Of course, there are plenty raising questions and concerns over yet another domestic institution becoming deeper and deeper entwined with big American business; on the other hand, former ITV chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette, who still owns shares, says the deal was “essential” for its survival.
ITV will also receive £1.2bn in cash and Sky’s Love Productions business in return for ownership of their media and entertainment arm, whose shows include the Great British Bake Off.
Moving forward, ITV will also get a further £200m in 2028 if they meet revenue targets when it comes to advertising, with Sky promising to spend over £2.1bn on content from ITV Studios over a five-year period. You can read the full update from ITV right HERE.
Featured Images — James West (via Flickr)/Publicity picture
News
Wayne Rooney ‘agrees’ to bizarre bet ahead of 2026 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals
Danny Jones
England and Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has seemingly roped himself into a bizarre bet of his own making after yet more teams booked their place in the quarter-final stages of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
It’s not quite Gary Lineker doing Match of the Day in his underpants after Leicester won the league, level, but we’d still pay to see it.
However, after the bedlam following England booking their spot in the quarter-finals this morning (feels odd to say and we’re still not quite sure what day it is), you might be surprised to learn it has nothing to do with the Three Lions’ historic victory.
It does have to do with who they’ll be facing in their next game, though: Norway, as Rooney seemed confident enough in his prediction that the Scandinavian side wouldn’t make it into the final eight that he wagered he’d row down the River Mersey. Well, they did…
Yes, in case you missed it, the Norwegians did make it past Brazil with a 2-1 win – and, of course, more goals for Erling Haaland – before Thomas Tuchel’s side had barely even woken up for their very long day at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico.
While no one was quite sure why ‘Wazza’ was quite so confident that the ‘Seleção’ were going to go through, especially since Norway had shown just as much star power in spells in the opening four rounds, he still decided to throw down the gauntlet on himself.
As you can see in the clip above, he says he’s a “man of [his] word” and looks to have even roped in the likes of fellow former pros turned punditry colleagues on the night, Micah Richards and Joe Hart.
That being said, he did make the caveat that perhaps it would be better if the BBC could somehow sort them to sail down the Hudson River in New York instead, simply for the sake of ‘time’.
We’re not sure exactly how easy it is for the British broadcasters to simply secure permission to take a rowboat down one of the busiest and most famous waterways in the world, but you never know.
Here’s hoping they at least try to make something happen, anyway.
There’s been plenty of curious and comedic moments already this tournament, but for anyone who hasn’t yet watched Harry Kane’s post-match following the tense 3-2 thriller against Mexico, you really need to.
He was given the chance to chat to the media once again after his voice recovered, but let’s just say the memes that have already come from THAT interview are almost as memorable as the match itself.
Georgina Pellant -
6th May 2022 
