A WESTON visitor has described the seaside town as a "dump with a sea view" in a scathing review on Tripadvisor.

The town was described as a "sad, featureless, cheap and tacky environment" by the visitor, who returned to see the sights after a 30-year absence.

The reviewer wrote: "Weston-super-Mare has often been described as a dump with a sea view, and from my experience yesterday following an absence of 30 years, nothing has changed much, except there is now the burned out crumbling remains of the abandoned old pier left to photograph.

"It's so desperately sad to see remnants of once gracious Victorian and Georgian buildings boarded up, covered in graffiti, and simply neglected nestled alongside the cheap beach trinket tat shops and fish and chips outlets galore, that now encompass this forlorn façade of lost memories of much happier times.

"Weston town itself has become a sad, featureless, cheap and tacky environment, and a bleak remnant of a once thriving popular English beach resort."

Not everybody agrees. Posting in a Weston Facebook group, one local said: "Weston has many problems but I love the fact there is so much interesting history here and lovely sunsets etc."

Another added: "Weston is lovely. Beaches, woodlands, nice restaurants. Like many towns retail establishments have closed and we need to plan how best to use some of these closed buildings. If people are making comments as stated, they came with closed minds and didn't look far."

A North Somerset Council spokesperson said: “We have a vibrant town centre with a wide range of independent shops and high street names.

"Our town centre is not just reliant on retail though, and we have a burgeoning arts and culture scene with a year-round programme of events.

"The town has seen multi-million pound investment in recent years and has now been awarded £20m from the government’s Levelling Up Fund which will enable more projects to go ahead.

"Birnbeck Pier now has a bright future and the Tropicana event venue is about to undergo major investment.

“Like many councils across the country we are replacing parking machines to cashless payment, although cash continues to remain a current option.

"Cashless parking can be made by a variety of methods and there is no need to have a smart phone.

"Visitors can also easily extend their stay at a car park without having to return to their vehicle. There’s also free on street parking around the town centre for anyone who’d prefer not to pay to park.”

Visit Somerset and Visit Weston-super-Mare have also been approached for a comment.