Weston-super-Mare

Weston comes from Old English for west tun - this word has numerous different meanings, although at its root it is most likely to have an original connotation of 'enclosure'. In English place-names, meanings of 'settlement, farmstead, estate', are most likely to be reasonably close to the mark.{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=A H |title=English Place-Name Elements, Part II: JAFN-YTRI |publisher=Cambridge University Press (for the English Place-Name Society) |year=1956 |edition=English Place-Name Society, Vol. 26 |pages=188–198}} Super mare is Latin for "upon the sea"{{cite book | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SR8FnSFQ0WgC&q=weston-super-mare+name+meaning&pg=PA35 | title= Discovering Place-names: A Pocket Guide to Over 1500 Place-names in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales | first= John | last= Field | publisher= Osprey Publishing | year= 2008 |page= 35 | isbn=978-0-7478-0617-2}}

and was added to distinguish it from the many{{cite news|title=How did Weston-super-Mare get its name?|url=http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/how-did-weston-super-mare-get-its-name-1-306273|access-date=24 June 2017|work=Weston, Worle & Somerset Mercury |date=2 March 2006|archive-date=11 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511123047/http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/how-did-weston-super-mare-get-its-name-1-306273|url-status=live}} other settlements named Weston in the Diocese of Bath and Wells.{{cite book | title= The Oxford history of English | first= Lynda | last= Mugglestone | page= 336 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UcM7sN3idSgC&q=weston-super-mare+name+history&pg=PA336 | publisher= Oxford University Press | year= 2006 | isbn= 978-0-19-924931-2 | access-date= 22 November 2020 | archive-date= 24 November 2021 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211124230829/https://books.google.com/books?id=UcM7sN3idSgC&q=weston-super-mare+name+history&pg=PA336 | url-status= live }}

In considering the ultimate origin of the name, ‘Weston’, we need to ask exactly what the settlement or estate of that name was considered to be west of – since such ‘cardinal’ place-names usually only arise in relation to another, perhaps ‘superior’ estate to which they were somehow directly related. In this respect, some of the place-names in the wider landscape around Weston may hold a clue, and two especially – Norton and Milton. Norton, on the low-lying levels land immediately to the north of Worle Hill, is, simply, the ‘north tūn’. Norton, which historically was in Kewstoke parish, was certainly in existence by the early 13th century,{{Cite book |last=Walker |first=David |title=The Cartulary of St Augustine's Abbey, Bristol |publisher=Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society |year=1998 |isbn=0900197463 |edition=Gloucestershire Record Series, Vol. 10 |publication-date=1998 |pages=195, fn.1}} and can be confidently asserted to be of at least late Anglo-Saxon foundation. Milton is ‘the middle tūn’. It seems at various times to have been split between Weston and Worle parishes. Milton is actually mentioned by name in the Domesday Book (1086), and is certainly of at least late Anglo-Saxon origin. Taking the three places together – the west, the middle, and the north tūnas - , and looking for a bigger, more important place to which these three were subservient, and in direct relation to which they took their names,{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Richard |title=Sense of Place in Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Shaun Tyas |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-907730-17-7 |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Richard |publication-place=Donington |pages=196-210 |chapter=Directional names in the early medieval landscape |editor-last2=Semple |editor-first2=Sarah}} the most obvious solution is Worle, which by the late 11th century, as shown by the Domesday Book, was a substantial estate.{{Cite book |editor-last1=Thorn |editor-first1=F |editor-last2=Thorn |editor-first2=C |title=Domesday Book: Somerset |date=1980 |publisher=Phillimore |isbn=0850333679 |location=Chichester }} Milton lies directly between Weston and Worle, although rather closer to Worle. So by, say, the year 1000 CE, we can perhaps imagine a large estate centred on Worle, at the eastern end of Worle Hill and with the hill itself, indeed, forming in effect, its backbone, and taking in a swathe of territory to the north and south of the hill (probably including Kewstoke), and all the way to its west tūn at the coast. This would make an economically very viable estate, which would have included a variety of different types of agricultural land, on the hill, on the lower flanks of the hill, and on the low-lying level lands to both north and south of the hill.

Weston is not identified by name in the Domesday Book, but as almost certainly a recognised territorial entity before the Norman Conquest, it would have been liable for tax, even if at only a low level. Most reliable authorities consider that Weston's tax assessment in the Domesday is subsumed, without identification by name, within the assessment for Ashcombe.

Prior to 1348, it was known as Weston-juxta-Mare ("beside the sea"). The name seems to have become changed during the episcopate of Ralph of Shrewsbury, who was Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1329 to 1363, although it is entirely incorrect to suggest that he personally would have been responsible for this. It would most likely have been the idea of a scribe in the scriptorium at Wells, acting on his own initiative. Between the 14th and 17th centuries the 'super Mare' part of the name disappeared and it was just known as Weston, although in 1610 it was recorded as Weston on the More - with 'more' in this context most likely to be understood in the Somerset sense of 'moor' as low lying, damp, semi-marshland.

File:Worlebury Camp Somerset Map.jpg

Weston's oldest structure is Worlebury Camp, on Worlebury Hill, dating from the Iron Age.{{cite web|url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=4976|title=Worlebury Camp|publisher=Megalithic Portal|access-date=24 January 2010|archive-date=9 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609224555/http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=4976|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.worlebury.co.uk/wra.html|title=Worlebury Residents' Association.|publisher=Worlebury Residents Association|access-date=1 April 2010|archive-date=23 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723151641/http://www.worlebury.co.uk/wra.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=Worlebury Hillfort and the Linear Earthworks to its east, Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset: Archaeological Survey Report. Historic England Research Report 93/2019|url=https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=16486&ru=%2fResults.aspx%3fp%3d1%26n%3d10%26rn%3d93%26ry%3d2019%26ns%3d1|last=Bowden|first=M|access-date=15 May 2020|archive-date=19 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119024637/https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=16486&ru=%2FResults.aspx%3Fp%3D1%26n%3D10%26rn%3D93%26ry%3D2019%26ns%3D1|url-status=live}} However, outside of the hillfort itself, a series of extremely important, rock-cut burials, and fragmentary remains, of this date have turned up intermittently during the course of progressive development on the southern slope of Worlebury Hill. These have been reviewed by Emily La-Trobe Bateman, whose Extensive Urban Survey of Weston, undertaken by her on behalf of the former Avon County Council, is an extremely important and authoritative modern source for the general history of Weston, but especially for the earlier, more 'archaeologically dependent' periods.{{Cite book |last=Bateman |first=Emily La-Trobe |title=Avon Extensive Urban Survey, Archaeological Assessment Report: Weston-super-Mare |publisher=Avon County Council/North Somerset Council |year=1999 |publication-date=1999 |pages=Not paginated. See Section 2.2.4 for Iron Age burials on Weston hillside}}

La-Trobe Bateman has identified two clusters of such burials in particular: one in the Montpelier area, and the other to the north-east of Knightstone Road. Bateman follows an earlier suggestion by Jane Evans that there may have been a major Iron Age cemetery related to the hillfort, on the slopes of the hill. The 15 or so discoveries known at the time that Bateman was writing, may, she suggests, represent only a fraction of the burials and cremations that originally existed. She further suggests that

The area above Knightstone Road is of particular importance since this was the site chosen for the parish church, suggesting the possibility of continuity from at least the Iron Age to the present day.

Many of these remains were chance finds, during 19th or early 20th century construction, and were poorly recorded, if at all. However, during archaeological evaluation work in 2005, prior to the construction of a new parish room on the north-western side of St John's church, a crouched inhumation burial, with pottery indicating a mid- to late-Iron Age date, was discovered within the churchyard, below a series of unmarked post-medieval burials.{{Cite journal |last=Broomhead |first=Richard |date=2007 |title=Weston-super-Mare, church of St John the Baptist |journal=Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society. |volume=150 |pages=212}} This is one of very few such finds on Weston hillside that has been excavated and recorded to full modern archaeological standards. The burial's contents imply that this site was sacred, at the very least about 1,500 years before any Christian church had been established on the site. But the local incumbent at the time refused permission for the individual to be reinterred within the graveyard, on the grounds that he had not been a Christian.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}.

An occupation site of Romano-British date was investigated in 2008-2009 as part of a planning application by Weston College immediately to the west of the School of Science and Art, on the south side of South Terrace. This built on investigations that had already been carried out on the site in the late 1950s which strongly suggested the presence of Romano-British occupation. It is the only site known of this date in central Weston and was probably a small farmstead or hamlet. Finds included an extremely important burial of a male individual who had clearly led a very hard life, and had suffered multiple medical conditions which were expressed on his skeletal remains. It is possible that he had been a slave.{{Cite journal |last=Young |first=Andrew |date=2022 |title=Excavation of a Roman coastal occupation site at the Hans Price building, Weston College, Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset |journal=Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society |volume=165 |pages=142–158}}Weston College has not conducted a full post-excavation analysis and publication of the site west of the School of Science and Art, despite being required to do so by the local authority as a planning condition (North Somerset Planning Reference 08/P/1596/F, Condition 20). This means that information from the excavation work remains unexplored.{{fact|date=May 2025}}

The parish was part of the Winterstoke Hundred.{{Cite journal |last=Thorn |first=Frank |date=2011 |title=Defining 'Winterstoke' Hundred, Somerset |journal=Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society |volume=154 |pages=119–164}}

File:Weston-Super-Mare 1890s 2.jpg

The medieval church of St John was demolished in 1824 and rebuilt on the same site.{{NHLE|num=1129734|desc=Parish Church of Saint John the Baptist|access-date=24 January 2010}} The former rectory, now known as Glebe House,is a 19th-century structure but may have been remodelled from a 17th century building.{{NHLE|num=1320674|desc=Glebe House|access-date=24 January 2010}}

The Old Thatched Cottage restaurant on the seafront is listed Grade II. Its official Historic England list entry states that it is 'late 18th century, certainly before 1804' and that it is 'thought to be Weston-Super-Mare's oldest building'. Although the building carries the date 1774, the date of its construction is unknown.{{cite web |title=The Thatched Cottage |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1129729 |access-date=2025-01-01 |publisher=Historic England}}{{cite web |title=Brief history of Weston-super-Mare |url=http://www.weston-super-mare.com/newhistory/newhistory.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101019040835/http://www.weston-super-mare.com/newhistory/newhistory.html |archive-date=19 October 2010 |access-date=29 November 2009 |work=Weston-super-Mare}} Historical evidence shows that it was definitely extant by June of that year (1804).{{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Jane |title=George Cumberland: Farming - Family - Fossils |publisher=Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society |year=2022 |isbn=978-0902152335 |location=Taunton}} It cannot date to before 1779, which is when its builder, William Leeves, became Rector of Wrington, and Leeves is not known to have had any prior connection with Weston {{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}. Likewise, a recurrent tradition of an earlier building on the site, occupied by a man called Light, is also without any clear historical evidence.The claimed date of the Old Thatched Cottage can be traced to an article in the Weston Mercury on 30 December 1966 by John Bailey but he did not give the source of his account. It may have arisen from a misinterpretation of a late 18th century map of Weston-super-Mare, which explicitly identifies the house in which William Light and his family lived. Comparison against later mapping, most notably the Weston enclosure map of 1815, shows that this house was on a completely different site from Leeves's Cottage.

Early in the 19th century, Weston was a small village of about 30 houses, located behind a line of sand dunes fronting the sea, which had been created as an early sea wall after the Bristol Channel floods of 1607. The Pigott family of Brockley, who were the local Lords of the Manor, had a summer residence at Grove House. Weston owes its growth and prosperity to the Victorian era boom in seaside holidays. Construction of the first hotel in the village started in 1808; it was called "Reeves" (now the Royal Hotel).{{cite book |title=Somerset harbours, including the port of Bristol |last=Farr |first=Grahame Edgar |year=1954 |publisher=Christopher Johnson |location=London |pages=76–79 }} Along with nearby Burnham-on-Sea, Weston benefited from proximity to Bristol, Bath and South Wales. The first attempt at an artificial harbour was made in the late 1820s at the islet of Knightstone and a slipway built from Anchor Head towards Birnbeck Island.

File:Birnbeck Pier c1900 2.jpg

Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his family lived in Weston, at Swiss Villa (towards the north end of Trevelyan road), while he was supervising the construction of the Bristol and Exeter Railway in the area. With the opening of the railway in 1841, thousands of visitors came to the town from Bristol, the Midlands and further afield, on works outings and bank holidays. Mining families also came across the Bristol Channel from South Wales by paddle steamer. To cater for them, Birnbeck Pier was completed in 1867, offering in its heyday amusement arcades, tea rooms, amusement rides and a photographic studio. It is now in a derelict state and has been added to English Heritage's Buildings at Risk Register,{{cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/heritage-at-risk/search-register/list-entry/46865|title=Birnbeck Pier|work=Heritage at Risk|publisher=Historic England|access-date=10 February 2018|archive-date=11 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180211071825/https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/heritage-at-risk/search-register/list-entry/46865|url-status=live}} but visitors can still admire its structure from behind barbed wire. It was designed by Eugenius Birch with ironwork by the Isca Foundry of Newport, Monmouthshire. It is a grade II* listed building.{{NHLE | desc=Birnbeck Pier | num=1129718 | access-date=2 December 2006}}

Large areas of land were released for development from the 1850s onwards. Large detached villas, for the middle classes, were built on the southern slopes of Worlebury Hill. Semi-detached and terraced housing was built on the low "moorland" behind the sea front in an area known as South Ward. Many of these houses have now been converted into bedsits. Most of the houses built in the Victorian era are built from stone and feature details made from Bath Stone, influenced by local architect Hans Price.

In 1885, the first transatlantic telegraph cable of the Commercial Cable Company was brought ashore and the company started a long association with the town, ending in 1962.{{cite web|url=http://www.cial.org.uk/cable13.htm|title=The Commercial Cable Company, early development as told by the president and others|publisher=John Crellin|access-date=20 March 2010|archive-date=16 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716141107/http://www.cial.org.uk/cable13.htm|url-status=live}}

Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of wireless telegraphy, successfully transmitted radio signals across the Bristol Channel in the spring of 1897, from Penarth (near Cardiff) to Brean Down (just south west of Weston, on the other side of the River Axe).{{cite web|url=http://www.swehs.co.uk/archives/news03su.pdf|title=Marconi – the Father of Radio|last=Phillips|first=Barrie|year=1996|work=Supplement to Histalec News NO.3|publisher=South Western Electricity Historical Society|access-date=20 March 2010|archive-date=17 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717024129/http://www.swehs.co.uk/archives/news03su.pdf|url-status=live}}

A second railway, the Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Light Railway, opened on 1 December 1897, connecting Weston to Clevedon.Maggs, Colin G. (1990). The Weston Clevedon & Portishead Light Railway: The Oakwood Press. {{ISBN|0-85361-388-5}}. The terminus station was at Ashcombe Road. The railway was extended to Portishead on 7 August 1907 but was closed in 1940.{{cite book | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cP2XN4vSz3IC | page= 19 | title= Amazing and Extraordinary Railway Facts | first= Julian | last= Holland | publisher= David & Charles | year= 2007 | isbn= 978-0-7153-2582-7 | access-date= 4 June 2020 | archive-date= 24 November 2021 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211124230835/https://books.google.com/books?id=cP2XN4vSz3IC | url-status= live }}

File:Price, Hans, The Mercury Building, DSC00749 edited-1.jpg

File:Weston super mare - panoramio (21).jpg

Much of the character of the buildings in the town derives from the use of local stone, much of it from the Town Quarry. Notable among the architects working in the 19th century was Hans Price (1835–1912). Many examples of his work are still to be seen: the Town Hall, the Mercury Office, the Constitutional Club (originally the Lodge of St Kew), villas and numerous other domestic dwellings. The Odeon Cinema by Thomas Cecil Howitt is notable for fully retaining many Art Deco features both internally and externally, and retaining its original theatre organ, a Compton from 1935. It is believed to be the only cinema organ in the West Country left working in its original location and is still in regular use.{{cite web|title=Odeon Cinema|url=http://www.cinema-organs.org.uk/uk%20Organ%20venues/odeonwsm.html|publisher=Cinema Organ Society|access-date=16 October 2015|archive-date=26 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150826001535/http://www.cinema-organs.org.uk/uk%20Organ%20venues/odeonwsm.html|url-status=live}} Other organs by Compton in Weston-super-Mare can be found at Victoria Methodist Church and All Saints' Church by George Bodley (modelled on that in Downside Abbey).{{cite web|title=Music and Organs|url=http://www.allsaintswsm.org/music/|publisher=All Saints Weston-super-Mare|access-date=16 October 2015|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304073113/http://www.allsaintswsm.org/music/|url-status=live}}

Local traders, unhappy that visitors were not coming as far as the centre of the town, built a new pier closer to the main streets. Opened in 1904, and known as the Grand Pier, it was designed to be {{convert|1.5|mi|km|1}} long.{{NHLE | desc=Grand Pier | num=1137759 | access-date=2 December 2006}} Further development occurred after World War I, with the Winter Gardens Pavilion in 1927,{{cite web|url=http://www.thewintergardens.com/|title=History|publisher=Winter Gardens|access-date=24 January 2010|archive-date=11 July 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060711222509/http://www.thewintergardens.com/|url-status=live}} the open air pool, with its arched concrete diving board,{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2006/jul/17/architecture.watersportsholidays|title=Just add water|last=Rose|first=Steve|date=17 July 2006|work=The Guardian|access-date=24 January 2010|location=London|archive-date=24 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924230214/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2006/jul/17/architecture.watersportsholidays|url-status=live}} and an airfield dating from the inter-war period. Art Deco influences can be seen in much of the town's architecture from this period.

During World War II over 10,000 official evacuees were accommodated in the town, however only 130 spent four or more years in the town.Elcock, Audrey. “Government Evacuation Schemes and Their Effect on School Children in Sheffield During the Second World War.” University of Sheffield, 1999, p. 376. The area was also home to war industries, such as aircraft and pump manufacture, and a Royal Air Force station at RAF Locking. The town was also on the return route of bombers targeting Bristol and was itself bombed by the Luftwaffe. The first bombs fell in June 1940, but the worst attacks were in January 1941 and in June 1942. Large areas of the town were destroyed, particularly Orchard Street and the Boulevard. On 3 and 4 January 1941, incendiary bombs fell on the town.{{cite web|url=http://www.century-of-flight.net/Aviation%20history/WW2/bombing%20in%20the%20Bristol%20area.htm|title=bombing in the Bristol area|publisher=Century of Flight|access-date=24 January 2010|archive-date=10 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610154533/http://www.century-of-flight.net/Aviation%20history/WW2/bombing%20in%20the%20Bristol%20area.htm|url-status=live}} The Air Ministry set up a "Q-station" decoy at Bleadon in an attempt to divert the bombers to an unpopulated area.{{cite web| url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/professional/research/landscapes-and-areas/national-mapping-programme/severn-estuary-rczas-nmp/| title=Severn Estuary RCZAS NMP| publisher=english-heritage.org.uk| access-date=8 June 2012| archive-date=29 May 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120529015312/http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/professional/research/landscapes-and-areas/national-mapping-programme/severn-estuary-rczas-nmp| url-status=live}} In all 110 civilians lost their lives through enemy action in the borough.{{cite web|title=Weston-super-Mare Municipal Borough, with list of casualties|url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/4005010/WESTON-SUPER-MARE,%10MUNICIPAL%20BOROUGH|publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=22 February 2019}} In the later part of the war, United States Army troops were billeted in the area, but they were relocated in the run-up to D-Day.

File:WestonHelicopterMuseum.jpg]]

RAF Weston-super-Mare was opened in 1936 by No. 24 Group, with a single tarmac runway. It served as a flying candidates selection and initial training facility, and as a relief airport during World War II, latterly as the Polish Air Force Staff College from April 1944 to April 1946.{{cite web|url=http://www.rafweb.org/Stations/Stations-W.htm#Weston-super-Mare|title=RAF Weston-super-Mare|publisher=rafweb.org|access-date=12 July 2009|archive-date=18 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618081446/http://www.rafweb.org/Stations/Stations-W.htm#Weston-super-Mare|url-status=live}} After the war it served as a logistics supply station, with helicopter makers Westland Helicopters on site until closure in 1987.{{cite web|url=http://www.controltowers.co.uk/W-Z/Weston_Super_Mare.htm|title=RAF Weston-super-Mare|publisher=controltowers.co.uk|access-date=12 July 2009|archive-date=26 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090126223530/http://controltowers.co.uk/W-Z/Weston_Super_Mare.htm|url-status=live}} Today there is an operational heliport on site used occasionally by the RAF Search and Rescue service. The former Westland site, which closed in 2002, houses the Helicopter Museum featuring examples of Westland aircraft. Pride of place is given to an immaculate Westland Wessex HCC Mk.4, formerly of the Queen's Flight.{{cite web|url=http://www.flugzeuginfo.net/acdata_php/acdata_wessex_en.php|title=Westland Wessex|publisher=flugzeuginfo.net|access-date=21 March 2010|archive-date=23 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723131523/http://www.flugzeuginfo.net/acdata_php/acdata_wessex_en.php|url-status=live}}

Residential areas outside the town centre include Ashcombe and the Oldmixon, Coronation, and Bournville housing estates, built in the mid to late 20th century.

In 1986, Weston General Hospital was opened on the edge of Uphill village, replacing the Queen Alexandra Memorial Hospital on The Boulevard, which was opened in 1928.{{cite web | url= http://www.waht.nhs.uk/About_the_Trust/history_facts.htm | title= History & Figures | access-date= 28 August 2007 | work= Weston Area Health NHS Trust | url-status= dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071009222907/http://www.waht.nhs.uk/About_the_Trust/history_facts.htm | archive-date= 9 October 2007 | df= dmy-all }}

File:Silica (2007) by day.jpg

Around 2000, the town saw a growth in residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation treatment centres, with attendant crime and social problems. These problems were highlighted by Weston's councillors and newspapers, and by the Member of Parliament (MP), John Penrose during his maiden speech in the House of Commons in 2005.{{cite web | url= https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/vo050606/debtext/50606-26.htm | publisher= House of Commons of the United Kingdom | title= Hansard Debates | date= 6 June 2005 | access-date= 22 July 2009 | archive-date= 27 June 2009 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090627070553/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/vo050606/debtext/50606-26.htm | url-status= live }} By 2009, Weston was home to around 11% of drug rehabilitation places in the UK, and North Somerset Council proposed an accreditation system examining the quality of counselling, staff training, transparency of referral arrangements, along with measures of the treatment's effectiveness and site inspections.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2009/jul/22/weston-super-mare-rehab-regulation|title=Turning the tide|last=Bowcott|first=Owen|date=22 July 2009|work=The Guardian|access-date=22 July 2009|location=London|archive-date=8 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308054806/http://www.theguardian.com/society/2009/jul/22/weston-super-mare-rehab-regulation|url-status=live}} By 2012, there had been a significant reduction in the number of rehabilitation facilities in the town, with the number of patient beds having nearly halved.{{cite news|url=https://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/joy-at-weston-s-rehab-rehabilitation-1-1491176|title=Joy at Weston's rehab rehabilitation|last=Angear|first=Simon|date=28 August 2012|publisher=Weston, Worle and Somerset Mercury|access-date=8 September 2020|archive-date=18 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918134300/https://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/joy-at-weston-s-rehab-rehabilitation-1-1491176|url-status=live}}

A structure known as Silica was installed at Big Lamp Corner during 2006.{{cite web|title=Silica artwork |access-date=2 June 2007 |work=North Somerset Council |url=http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/Community/Regeneration+and+sustainability/Weston+Regeneration/silicaartwork.htm |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110928041039/http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/Community/Regeneration%2Band%2Bsustainability/Weston%2BRegeneration/silicaartwork.htm |archive-date=28 September 2011 |url-status=dead }} It is a piece of public art, an advertising sign, a retail kiosk selling newspapers and hot food, as well as a bus shelter. It has been criticised by local residents who liken it to a carrot{{Cite news|url=http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/our_mouldy_carrot_1_1380687|title=Our mouldy 'carrot'...|last=Richardson|first=Report by Charlotte|newspaper=Weston Mercury|access-date=2 January 2017|archive-date=3 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103165804/http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/our_mouldy_carrot_1_1380687|url-status=live}} or a space ship, although it is meant to symbolise man's harmony with the sea. This was part of North Somerset Council's ongoing civic pride initiative that has sought to revitalise Weston-super-Mare's public spaces, which had suffered a period of decline. Other public space improvements have been made throughout the town such as improvements to the street scene in Grove Park Village.{{cite web|url=http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/Community/News/grovevillageimprovements.htm|title=Grove Village improvements|date=9 March 2006|publisher=North Somerset Council|access-date=1 April 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607102050/http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/Community/News/grovevillageimprovements.htm|archive-date=7 June 2011|df=dmy-all}}

On 28 July 2008, the pavilion at the end of the Grand Pier was completely destroyed by a fire. Eleven fire engines and 80 firefighters could not contain the blaze, which is believed to have started in the north-east tower of the Pavilion.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/7528165.stm|title=Huge fire destroys historic pier|work=BBC News|date=28 July 2008|access-date=29 November 2009|archive-date=24 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124142702/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/7528165.stm|url-status=live}} A competition was held to design a new pavilion, and the project was awarded to the winning architect Angus Meek Architects of Bristol. Construction work began on the pier and new pavilion in 2009, and it was scheduled to reopen in July 2010,{{cite web|url=http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/content/twm/news/story.aspx?brand=westonmercury&category=news&tBrand=westonmercury&tCategory=znews&itemid=WeED10%20Jun%202010%2009%3A07%3A32%3A890|title=The Weston Mercury – Video exclusive: Inside the new Grand Pier}}{{Dead link|date=July 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} after a £39 million rebuilding programme. After continuing problems and setbacks, with the pier not opening until a formal opening ceremony on 23 October 2010, the overall costs reached £51 million. During the same period there was a £34 million redevelopment of the promenade, including refurbishment of the Marine Lake and pedestrianisation of Pier Square. As part of the work, a scour protection apron and splash wall were added as part of flood prevention measures.{{cite journal|title=Stunning £34m seafront improvements wow visitors|journal=North Somerset Life|date=September 2010|issue=71|pages=10–11|publisher=North Somerset Council}}

In March 2017 Weston-super-Mare was chosen as one of the 10 successful bids for the first phase of the creation of Heritage Action Zones (HAZ) a scheme where Historic England works with local partners in places with significant historic environment to use that heritage to help build economic growth and other opportunities in the locality.{{cite web|title=Great Weston Heritage Action Zone {{!}} Historic England|url=http://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/heritage-action-zones/weston-super-mare/|website=historicengland.org.uk|language=en|access-date=2020-05-15|archive-date=11 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111210611/https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/heritage-action-zones/weston-super-mare/|url-status=live}} Over a three-year period the Heritage Action Zone{{cite web|title=Great Weston Heritage Action Zone – One Year On {{!}} Historic England|url=http://historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/in-your-area/south-west/weston-haz-year-1/|website=historicengland.org.uk|date=17 May 2018 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-15|archive-date=5 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605215239/https://historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/in-your-area/south-west/weston-haz-year-1/|url-status=live}} aimed to boost economic growth and researched Weston's heritage and urban development, by reviewing Weston's listed buildings, using aerial photographs, undertaking a historic characterisation of Weston-super-Mare, its land and sea environs{{cite web|title=A Historic Characterisation of Weston-Super-Mare and its Land and Sea Environs. Historic England Research Report 47/2018|url=https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=16099&ru=/Results.aspx?p=1&n=10&rn=47&ry=2018&ns=1|website=research.historicengland.org.uk|access-date=2020-05-15|archive-date=19 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119015449/https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=16099&ru=%2FResults.aspx%3Fp%3D1&n=10&rn=47&ry=2018&ns=1|url-status=live}} and a report on the architecture of the town, which culminated with the publication of a new book Weston-super-Mare The town and its seaside heritage.{{Cite book|last=Brodie, Roethe and Hudson-McAulay|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/weston-super-mare-town-and-seaside-heritage/weston-super-mare/|title=Weston-super-Mare The town and its seaside heritage|year=2020|access-date=18 September 2019|archive-date=6 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201006015356/https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/weston-super-mare-town-and-seaside-heritage/weston-super-mare/|url-status=live}}

In November 2021, it was announced that North Somerset Council had agreed to purchase Birnbeck Pier from its owners and planned to restore it with additional funding from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), Historic England, and others.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-59234300|title=Birnbeck Pier to be renovated by council as owner sells up|date=10 November 2021|access-date=11 November 2021|website=BBC News|archive-date=10 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110162400/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-59234300|url-status=live}}

Newer housing has since been built towards the east of the town in North Worle, Milton, Locking Parklands, Weston Village, Haywood Village and West Wick, nearer to the M5 motorway.

Weston-super-Mare has expanded to include the established villages of Worle, Uphill, and West Wick, as well as new areas such as Locking Parklands and Haywood Village.

File:WestonTownHall.jpg]]

Municipal history began in 1842 when a Local Act was obtained for "paving, lighting, watching, cleansing and otherwise improving the Town of Weston-super-Mare in the County of Somerset and for establishing a Market therein" under the jurisdiction of eighteen appointed Commissioners. Town Commissioners gave way to an Urban District Council in 1894, and then in 1937 the town received its Royal Charter as a municipal borough. In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, it was merged into the Woodspring district of the Avon County Council, and became a Charter trustees town. Weston-super-Mare regained its town council in 2000, becoming a civil parish.{{cite web |title=Brief history of Weston-super-Mare |url=http://www.weston-super-mare.com/newhistory/newhistory.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101019040835/http://www.weston-super-mare.com/newhistory/newhistory.html |archive-date=19 October 2010 |access-date=29 November 2009 |work=Weston-super-Mare}} The island of Steep Holm is part of the civil parish of Weston-super-Mare.

Before 1 April 1974, Weston-super-Mare came under the administration of Somerset County Council. When Avon was split up in 1996, it became the administrative headquarters of the unitary authority of North Somerset, one of the successor authorities, which remains part of the ceremonial county of Somerset.{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199495/cmhansrd/1995-02-22/Debate-14.html |title=Avon Structural Change order |publisher=Parliament UK |access-date=1 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604194829/http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199495/cmhansrd/1995-02-22/Debate-14.html |archive-date= 4 June 2011 }}

There are 11 electoral wards in Weston.{{cite web|title=Councillors by ward|url=https://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/Your_Council/The%20Council/councillors/Pages/Councillors-by-ward.aspx|publisher=North Somerset Council|access-date=8 October 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151029082645/http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/Your_Council/The%20Council/councillors/Pages/Councillors-by-ward.aspx|archive-date=29 October 2015|df=dmy-all}}

The MP for the Weston-super-Mare parliamentary constituency is Dan Aldridge of the Labour Party, who won the seat from John Penrose of the Conservative Party in the 2024 general election.{{Cite news |title=Weston-super-Mare - General election results 2024 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001581 |access-date=2024-07-12 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}

{{Clear}}

File:Weston-super-Mare tidal range.jpg

File:WestonSuperMareBeach1.jpgThe mainly flat landscape of Weston is dominated by Worlebury Hill, 109 metres (357 ft),{{cite web |url=http://www.peaklist.org/WWlists/GB/England100m.doc |title=P100m HILLS of ENGLAND, Region 41 South Central England, Section 41A Hills of Somerset |author=Mark Jackson |publisher=peaklist.org |access-date=24 March 2010 |archive-date=27 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100927213115/http://peaklist.org/WWlists/GB/England100m.doc |url-status=live }} which borders the entire northern edge of the town, and Bleadon Hill, 176 metres (577 ft) which together with the River Axe, and Brean Down at Uphill form its southern border. In the centre of the town is Ellenborough Park a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to the range of plant species found there.{{cite web | url= http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1005488.pdf | work= English Nature | title= Citation – Ellenborough Park West | access-date= 6 September 2007 | archive-date= 27 September 2007 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070927003400/http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1005488.pdf | url-status= live }} Much of Worlebury Hill is wooded, with some Ancient Woodland sites,{{cite web|title=Natural England Map of Ancient Woodland Sites|url=https://naturalengland-defra.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/ancient-woodland-england/explore?location=51.357759%2C-2.962203%2C13.98|publisher=Natural England |access-date=1 May 2025}} and at its far western end, the town centre of Weston-super-Mare is overlooked by the limestone grassland of the ancient hillfort, Worlebury Camp.

The beach of Weston Bay lies on the western edge of the town. The upper part is sandy, but the sea retreats a long way at low tide, exposing large areas of mud flats (hence the colloquial name of Weston-super-Mud).{{cite web|url=http://www.bristolnomads.org.uk/location_reports/s_bristol_channel/wsm.htm|title=Weston Super Mare|publisher=Bristol Nomads windsurfing club|access-date=21 March 2010|archive-date=11 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180511014618/http://www.bristolnomads.org.uk/location_reports/s_bristol_channel/wsm.htm|url-status=dead}} The tidal range in this part of the Bristol Channel is great, and since beach and mud flats are on a gentle slope, it is inadvisable to try to reach the sea at low tide, as the sand gives way to deep mud which has often resulted in loss of life over the years. Driving on the beach is permitted in certain areas, but occasionally the drivers are caught unawares as they drive too close to the sea and break through the sand into the underlying mud, and are then stuck {{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}.

The tidal rise and fall in the Severn Estuary and Bristol Channel can be as great as {{convert|14.5|m|ft|0|abbr=on}},{{cite web|title=Severn River Basin District|url=http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Research/sev_wt_e_new_1815638.pdf|publisher=Envioprnment Agency|access-date=28 September 2010|page=3|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20090207152654/http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Research/sev_wt_e_new_1815638.pdf|archive-date=7 February 2009}} second only to Bay of Fundy in Eastern Canada.{{cite book | title= Extreme Depositional Environments: Mega End Members in Geologic Time | first1= Marjorie A. | last1= Chan | last2= Archer | first2= Allen William | page= 151 | location= Boulder, Colorado | isbn= 978-0-8137-2370-9 | publisher= Geological Society of America | year= 2003 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=b3_1Ry0gDqEC&q=bristol+channel&pg=PA152 | access-date= 22 November 2020 | archive-date= 7 November 2021 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211107105557/https://books.google.com/books?id=b3_1Ry0gDqEC&q=bristol+channel&pg=PA152 | url-status= live }}{{cite web | url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/articles/2005/07/04/bristolchannel_feature.shtml | title= Coast: Bristol Channel | work= BBC | access-date= 27 August 2007 | archive-date= 7 March 2013 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130307233742/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/articles/2005/07/04/bristolchannel_feature.shtml | url-status= live }} This tidal movement contributes to the deposition of natural mud in bays such as Weston. There has been concern about pollution levels from industrial areas in Wales and at the eastern end of the Bristol Channel; however this tends to be diluted by the Atlantic waters. There are measurable levels of chemical pollutants, and little is known about their effects. Of particular concern are the levels of cadmium and to a lesser degree residual pesticides and hydrocarbons.{{cite web|url=http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/sotp-chapter_5_coast.pdf|title=State of the park report. Chapter 5 Coasts|publisher=Exmoor National Park|access-date=5 August 2008|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20080728133713/http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/sotp-chapter_5_coast.pdf|archive-date=28 July 2008}}

Just to the north of the town is Sand Point which marks the lower limit of the Severn Estuary and the start of the Bristol Channel. It is also the site of the Middle Hope {{convert|84.1|ha|acre|adj=on}} biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest.{{cite web|url=http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1002814.pdf|title=Middle Hope|work=SSSI citation sheet|publisher=English Nature|access-date=31 October 2008|archive-date=19 March 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090319222324/http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1002814.pdf|url-status=live}}

The town's suburbs include Ashcombe, Bournville, Coronation, Ebdon, Haywood Village, Hutton, Locking, Locking Parklands, Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmixon, St. Georges, Uphill, West Wick, Worle and Worlebury.

Along with the rest of South West England, Weston has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of the country.{{cite web|title=South West England: climate |work=Met Office |url=http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/sw/ |access-date=14 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605003222/http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/sw/ |archive-date= 5 June 2011 }} The annual mean temperature is approximately {{convert|11|°C|°F|0|lk=on|abbr=on}}. Seasonal temperature variation is less extreme than most of the United Kingdom because of the adjacent sea temperatures. The summer months of July and August are the warmest with mean daily maxima of approximately {{convert|22|°C|°F|0|abbr=on}}. In winter mean minimum temperatures of {{convert|2|-|3|°C|°F|0|abbr=on}} are common. In the summer the Azores high pressure affects the south-west of England, however convective cloud sometimes forms inland, reducing the number of hours of sunshine. Annual sunshine rates are slightly less than the regional average of 1,600 hours. In December 1998 there were 20 days without sun recorded at Yeovilton. Most of the rainfall in the south-west is caused by Atlantic depressions or by convection. Most of the rainfall in autumn and winter is caused by the Atlantic depressions, which is when they are most active. In summer, a large proportion of the rainfall is caused by sun heating the ground leading to convection and to showers and thunderstorms. Average rainfall is around {{convert|900|mm|abbr=on}}. About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, and June to August have the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west.

{{Weather box|location = Weston-super-Mare (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1959–1971, 1985–1994)

|collapsed =

|metric first = y

|single line = y

|Jan record high C = 14.0

|Feb record high C = 15.6

|Mar record high C = 21.1

|Apr record high C = 22.7

|May record high C = 26.0

|Jun record high C = 30.2

|Jul record high C = 28.7

|Aug record high C = 29.4

|Sep record high C = 28.3

|Oct record high C = 25.6

|Nov record high C = 17.1

|Dec record high C = 15.9

|Jan record low C = -11.4

|Feb record low C = -7.9

|Mar record low C = -9.0

|Apr record low C = -4.5

|May record low C = 0.2

|Jun record low C = 1.9

|Jul record low C = 5.9

|Aug record low C = 4.2

|Sep record low C = 0.4

|Oct record low C = -4.0

|Nov record low C = -7.2

|Dec record low C = -8.1

|Jan high C = 8.5

|Feb high C = 9.3

|Mar high C = 11.2

|Apr high C = 14.0

|May high C = 17.2

|Jun high C = 20.1

|Jul high C = 21.9

|Aug high C = 21.5

|Sep high C = 19.4

|Oct high C = 15.1

|Nov high C = 11.8

|Dec high C = 8.9

|year high C = 14.9

|Jan mean C = 5.7

|Feb mean C = 6.0

|Mar mean C = 7.6

|Apr mean C = 9.7

|May mean C = 12.6

|Jun mean C = 15.8

|Jul mean C = 17.7

|Aug mean C = 17.3

|Sep mean C = 15.1

|Oct mean C = 11.7

|Nov mean C = 8.5

|Dec mean C = 5.9

| year mean C =

|Jan low C = 2.8

|Feb low C = 2.7

|Mar low C = 4.0

|Apr low C = 5.3

|May low C = 8.0

|Jun low C = 11.5

|Jul low C = 13.5

|Aug low C = 13.1

|Sep low C = 10.8

|Oct low C = 8.2

|Nov low C = 5.2

|Dec low C = 2.8

|year low C = 7.3

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 93.4

|Feb precipitation mm = 63.4

|Mar precipitation mm = 53.9

|Apr precipitation mm = 60.2

|May precipitation mm = 53.7

|Jun precipitation mm = 65.7

|Jul precipitation mm = 73.3

|Aug precipitation mm = 77.9

|Sep precipitation mm = 91.2

|Oct precipitation mm = 96.3

|Nov precipitation mm = 112.3

|Dec precipitation mm = 98.7

|year precipitation mm = 940.0

|unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm

| Jan precipitation days = 13.5

| Feb precipitation days = 10.1

| Mar precipitation days = 11.2

| Apr precipitation days = 10.5

| May precipitation days = 9.1

| Jun precipitation days = 9.4

| Jul precipitation days = 10.3

| Aug precipitation days = 9.9

| Sep precipitation days = 9.3

| Oct precipitation days = 13.5

| Nov precipitation days = 13.5

| Dec precipitation days = 13.4

| year precipitation days =133.8

|Jan sun = 55.0

|Feb sun = 76.2

|Mar sun = 116.1

|Apr sun = 167.5

|May sun = 196.3

|Jun sun = 193.4

|Jul sun = 206.6

|Aug sun = 185.0

|Sep sun = 140.5

|Oct sun = 97.2

|Nov sun = 60.3

|Dec sun = 44.9

|year sun = 1538.8

| source 1 = Met Office (precipitation days 1981–2010){{cite web

|url = https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/location-specific-long-term-averages/gcjujye83

|title = Station: Weston-super-mare No 2, Climate period: 1991–2020

|publisher = Met Office

|access-date = 15 December 2024}}

|source 2 = Starlings Roost Weather{{cite web |url=http://starlingsroost.ddns.net/weather/ukobs/temp_month_record_tmax_map.php

|title= Monthly Extreme Maximum Temperature, Monthly Extreme Minimum Temperature

|publisher=Starlings Roost Weather

|access-date= 16 December 2024

}}

}}

The population of Weston-super-Mare is 82,418 according to the United Kingdom Census 2021. 17,602 (21%) are aged over 65. 73,147 (89%) were born in the United Kingdom and 77,951 (95%) declare themselves as white.{{cite web |title=Census 2021: Weston-super-Mare |url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/customprofiles/build/#E04012104 |publisher=Office for National Statistics |access-date=2025-01-19}}{{cite web |title=Weston-super-Mare |url=https://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/southwestengland/admin/north_somerset/E04012104__weston_super_mare/ |publisher=City Population |access-date=2025-01-19}}

In 1831 the town's population was 1,310. The town had approximately 36,900 households in 2021 but in 1801 there were just 138 while in 1829 there were 250.{{cite book | last= Rutter | first= John | publisher= Longman, Rees, and co. | year= 1829 | title= Delineations of the North Western Division of the County of Somerset, and of Its Antediluvian Bone Caverns, with a Geological Sketch of the District | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=B6wHAAAAQAAJ | page= 42 | access-date= 4 June 2020 | archive-date= 14 March 2021 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210314160528/https://books.google.com/books?id=b6wHAAAAQAAJ | url-status= live }}{{cite book|last=Havinden|first=Michael|title=The Somerset Landscape|year=1982|publisher=Hodder and Stoughton|location=London|series=The making of the English landscape|page=169|isbn=978-0-340-20116-9}}{{cite book | title= The Penny Cyclopaedia for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge | page= 229 | volume= XXII Sigonio–Steam-Vessel | location= London | publisher= Charles Knight & Co | year=1842 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=E9sGAAAAYAAJ&q=population+weston-super-mare&pg=PA229 }}

File:Weston-super-Mare beach from the Pier.jpg

File:Tropicana as seen from the beach.jpg

Since the 1970s, Weston has suffered a decline in popularity as a holiday destination, as have most British seaside resorts,{{cite web|url=http://www.cpreavonside.org.uk/districts/north-somerset/weston-vision/|title=The Weston Vision|publisher=CPRE Avonside|access-date=20 September 2010|archive-date=13 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313000728/http://www.cpreavonside.org.uk/districts/north-somerset/weston-vision/|url-status=live}} due to the advent of cheap foreign holidays and the demise of the traditional "works holidays" of heavy and manufacturing industries elsewhere in UK. The town had become a centre of industries such as helicopter production, and maintenance at the GKN Westland factory until its closure in 2002,{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/3733361.stm | title=GKN confirms Westland sale talks | work=BBC News | date=20 May 2004 | access-date=5 January 2008 | archive-date=18 February 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060218082009/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/3733361.stm | url-status=live }} however the company still retains a design office under the name GKN Aerospace Engineering Services at the Winterstoke Road site. Road transport links were improved with the M5 motorway running close by, and the town now supports light industries and distribution depots, including Lidl's distribution centre for its southern based stores, and is also a dormitory town for Bristol.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/content/articles/2008/02/05/weston_development_feature.shtml|title=Can Weston-super-Mare cope with development?|date=6 February 2008|work=BBC Somerset|publisher=BBC|access-date=21 March 2010|archive-date=19 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120619080921/http://www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/content/articles/2008/02/05/weston_development_feature.shtml|url-status=live}} Vutrix, one of the largest semiconductor and video/audio distribution equipment companies in the television broadcasting industry, is based in the town.{{cite web|url=http://www.vutrix.com/home/|title=Vutrix|publisher=Vutrix|access-date=21 March 2010|archive-date=21 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100421023624/http://www.vutrix.com/home/|url-status=live}} Two of the town's largest employers are the local council and Weston College, which has recently begun to offer university degrees as a secondary campus of Bath Spa University.

Weston-super-Mare is a tourist destination, with its long sandy beach, Helicopter Museum,{{cite web|url=http://www.culture24.org.uk/sw000160|title=Helicopter Museum|publisher=Culture24|access-date=21 March 2010|archive-date=5 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100305152856/http://www.culture24.org.uk/sw000160|url-status=live}} Weston Museum, Grand Pier and seasonal Wheel of Weston.{{cite web|url=http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/Leisure/Tourism/The+Wheel+of+Weston/ |title=Wheel of Weston |publisher=North Somerset Council |access-date=7 November 2010 |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110927193605/http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/Leisure/Tourism/The%2BWheel%2Bof%2BWeston/ |archive-date=27 September 2011 |url-status=dead }} A 2009 survey by Visit England placed the Grand Pier in the top ten free attractions in England.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8225517.stm|title=England visitor numbers 'rising'|date=29 August 2009|work=BBC News|access-date=1 April 2010|archive-date=24 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124230833/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8225517.stm|url-status=live}} However, as of 2014, the pier charges for admission. On the Beach Lawns was a miniature railway operated by steam and diesel locomotives, which closed in 2012.{{cite web | url=http://www.westonminiaturerailway.co.uk/ | title=Weston Miniature Railway | publisher=Weston Miniature Railway | access-date=21 October 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070620191805/http://www.westonminiaturerailway.co.uk/ | archive-date=20 June 2007 | df=dmy-all }} The Paddle Steamer Waverley and MV Balmoral offer day trips from Knightstone Island to various destinations along the Bristol Channel and Severn estuary.{{cite web|url=http://www.ports.org.uk/port.asp?id=828|title=Knightstone|publisher=Ports and Harbours of the UK|access-date=21 March 2010|archive-date=28 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110128063510/http://www.ports.org.uk/port.asp?id=828|url-status=live}}

Since the 1970s the number of visitors staying for several nights in the town has decreased, but the numbers of day visitors has increased.{{cite web|url=http://www.westonsupermare.org/page31.htm|title=Introduction and brief tourism economy history and influences|publisher=Weston super Mare chamber of trade and commerce|access-date=1 April 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071223214630/http://www.westonsupermare.org/page31.htm |archive-date = 23 December 2007}} In 1995 there were 4 million visitors but by 2005 this had risen to 5.3 million.{{cite web|url=http://consult.n-somerset.gov.uk/consult.ti/WestonTownCentreAAP/printCompoundDoc?docid=34996&partid=47700|title=Introductory Section|work=Weston Town Centre Area Action Plan& – Issues and Options Stage|publisher=North Somerset Council|access-date=1 April 2010|archive-date=13 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813231012/http://consult.n-somerset.gov.uk/consult.ti/WestonTownCentreAAP/printCompoundDoc?docid=34996&partid=47700|url-status=live}} In 2007 69% of visitors to the resort were day visitors, compared to 58% in 2005.{{cite web|url=http://consult.n-somerset.gov.uk/consult.ti/CoreStrategyCD/viewCompoundDoc?docid=320756&partid=360628|title=Tourism Strategy|work=Core Strategy – Consultation Draft|publisher=North Somerset Council|access-date=1 April 2010|archive-date=13 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813230500/http://consult.n-somerset.gov.uk/consult.ti/CoreStrategyCD/viewCompoundDoc?docid=320756&partid=360628|url-status=live}} The 2005 survey showed that day visitors stay in Weston-super-Mare for an average of six hours whilst overnight visitors stay for an average of five nights. The largest percentage of visitors (22%) were from the West Midlands. Weston was found to attract two distinct groups: "grey tourists" over the age of 60 and families with young children.

The Art Deco Tropicana, once a very popular lido on the beach, suffered years of neglect before closing to the public in 2000, and despite a number of attempts to reopen it, permission was given to demolish it in 2012.{{cite news|last1=Evans|first1=Alex|title=Tropicana: Government approves demolition|url=http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/tropicana_government_approves_demolition_1_1475009|access-date=2 July 2014|publisher=Weston, Worle & Somerset Mercury|date=8 August 2012|archive-date=14 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714203723/http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/tropicana_government_approves_demolition_1_1475009|url-status=live}} However, the complex reopened in 2015 and now serves as an events space, primarily hosting a seasonal amusement park and ice rink.{{cite web|url=http://tropicanaweston.co.uk/tropicana-history-timeline/|title=Tropicana history|publisher=Tropicana Weston|access-date=30 August 2020|archive-date=12 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812172519/http://tropicanaweston.co.uk/tropicana-history-timeline/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/ice-rink-weston-tropicana-icescape-3331431|title=The UK's biggest ice rink is opening near Bristol this winter|publisher=Bristol Post|first=Heather|last=Pickstock|date=18 September 2019|access-date=30 August 2020|archive-date=29 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929200319/https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/ice-rink-weston-tropicana-icescape-3331431|url-status=live}}

In July 2011, North Somerset Council gave planning approval to the £50 million Leisure Dome,{{cite news | url= http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/50million_leisuredome_gets_planning_approval_1_971959 | newspaper= The Weston Mercury | date= 22 July 2011 | access-date= 22 July 2011 | title= £50million Leisuredome gets planning approval | first= Alex | last= Ross | archive-date= 5 November 2011 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111105214310/http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/50million_leisuredome_gets_planning_approval_1_971959 | url-status= live }} a {{convert|210|m|adj=on}} indoor ski slope to be built on the site of RAF Locking. In 2015 the future of the project was in doubt because of the need for additional funding,{{cite news|last1=Parker|first1=Becky|title=Leisuredome project could be scrapped|url=http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/business/leisuredome_project_could_be_scrapped_1_4307277|access-date=17 September 2016|work=Weston, Worle & Somerset Mercury|date=17 November 2015|archive-date=18 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918005702/http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/business/leisuredome_project_could_be_scrapped_1_4307277|url-status=live}} and no mention of the LeisureDome proposals appear on the information provided by St. Modwen Properties, the developers about their plans for Locking Parklands as the site is now known.{{cite web|title=Locking Parklands|url=http://www.stmodwen.co.uk/uploads/documents/Locking%20Parklands.pdf|publisher=St. Modwen|access-date=17 September 2016|archive-date=18 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918010605/http://www.stmodwen.co.uk/uploads/documents/Locking%20Parklands.pdf|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Parker|first1=Becky|title=Leisuredome project could be scrapped|url=http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/business/leisuredome-project-could-be-scrapped-1-4307277|access-date=28 December 2017|work=Weston, Worle & Somerset Mercury|date=17 November 2015|archive-date=29 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229112347/http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/business/leisuredome-project-could-be-scrapped-1-4307277|url-status=live}}{{cite news | url= http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/sport/ski_centre_buy_out_won_t_block_leisuredome_1_1468623 | newspaper= The Weston Mercury | title= Ski centre buy-out 'won't block Leisuredome' | first= Simon | last= Angear | date= 4 August 2012 | access-date= 4 December 2012 | archive-date= 31 December 2012 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121231100224/http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/sport/ski_centre_buy_out_won_t_block_leisuredome_1_1468623 | url-status= live }} It was planned to include a {{convert|40|m|adj=on}} climbing wall, a vertical wind tunnel for indoor skydiving, indoor surfing, a BMX track, a health and fitness club, and a number of shops and restaurants. The ski slope will be the longest in the United Kingdom.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

'International HeliDays', in association with the Helicopter Museum, are staged at the beach lawns over a long weekend around the end of July, when up to 75 helicopters from Europe fly in for a static display. There are frequent Helicopter Air Experience flights from the Museum heliport. There is also an annual display by the Red Arrows.{{cite news|url=http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/wdp/news/Crowds-turn-Red-Arrows-Weston-super-Mare/article-292959-detail/article.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120913080202/http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/wdp/news/Crowds-turn-Red-Arrows-Weston-super-Mare/article-292959-detail/article.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 September 2012|title=Crowds turn out for Red Arrows at Weston-super-Mare|date=28 August 2008|work=Western Daily Press|publisher=This is Western daily Press|access-date=21 March 2010}}

Weston Bike Nights are motorcycle meetings on the Promenade each Thursday during the summer. They are organised by The Royal British Legion Riders Branch to raise money for the Poppy Appeal.{{cite news | url= http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/newsresults/user/2009/may/Weston-Bike-Night---Bigger-and-Better-for-2009/ | publisher= Motorcycle News | date= 5 May 2009 | title= Weston Bike Night – Bigger and Better for 2009 | access-date= 10 July 2010 | archive-date= 17 January 2012 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120117232106/http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/newsresults/user/2009/may/Weston-Bike-Night---Bigger-and-Better-for-2009/ | url-status= live }}

File:Weston-super-Mare Madeira Cove with tram.jpg

The Bristol and Exeter Railway arrived in Weston-super-Mare on 14 June 1841. This was not the route that serves today's Weston-super-Mare railway station, but rather a single-track branch line from {{Stnlnk|Weston Junction}}, midway between the present day {{Stnlnk|Worle}} and Uphill junctions, which terminated at a small station in Regent Street close to the High Street. A second larger station was constructed in 1866 to replace this, when planning permission was gained to create a loop station from the main line. After legal action was taken by residents along the proposed new route through issues of planning blight, the station on the current site was constructed in 1881.{{cite book | last = MacDermot | first = E T | title = History of the Great Western Railway, volume II 1863–1921 | publisher = Great Western Railway | year = 1931 | location = London}}{{cite book | author = District of Woodspring | title = Steam to the Seaside | publisher = Woodspring Museum Service | year = 1991 | location = Weston-super-Mare }}

File:Weston-super-Mare - GWR 158957 and 166204.JPG

Today, the station, which is on a short loop off the Bristol to Exeter line, is situated close to the town centre and less than ten minutes walk from the sea front. It has direct services to London Paddington{{cite web | title = Table 125: London and Oxford to Swindon, Cheltenham Spa, Bristol, Weston-super-Mare and South Wales | work = Electronic National Rail Timetable | publisher = Network Rail | date = December 2009 | url = http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/eNRT/Dec09/timetables/Table125.pdf | access-date = 14 December 2009 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} operated by Great Western Railway, and also trains to stations such as Bristol Temple Meads, {{Stnlnk|Taunton}}, {{Stnlnk| Severn Beach}} and {{Stnlnk|Cardiff Central}}.{{cite web | title = Table 134: Gloucester to Taunton | work = Electronic National Rail Timetable | publisher = Network Rail | date = December 2009 | url = http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/eNRT/Dec09/timetables/Table134.pdf | access-date = 14 December 2009 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} CrossCountry services run to Birmingham and the North.{{cite web | title = Table 135: London and Birmingham to Devon and Cornwall | work = Electronic National Rail Timetable | publisher = Network Rail | date = December 2009 | url = http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/eNRT/Dec09/timetables/Table135.pdf | access-date = 14 December 2009 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The station has two platforms.{{cite book| last = Jacobs| first = Gerald| title = Railway Track Diagrams Book 3: Western| publisher = Trackmaps| year = 2005| location = Bradford-on-Avon| isbn = 978-0-9549866-1-2}} Other stations are located at {{Stnlnk|Weston Milton}} and {{Stnlnk|Worle}}. During the middle of the day they are served by the local trains between Taunton, Bristol and Cardiff, but during the peak periods London trains call at both stations. Weston Milton station is on the single track loop and therefore has only one platform, while Worle is on the main line and has two side platforms. The Weston loop diverges just to the southwest of Worle station, and the junction is therefore known as Worle Junction.

The {{convert|2.9|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} {{RailGauge|ussg}} gauge Weston-super-Mare Tramways network opened on 12 May 1902. The main route ran from Birnbeck Pier along the sea front to the Sanatorium (now Royal Sands); a branch line ran to the railway station and on to the tram depot in Locking Road. The fleet originally consisted of 12 double deck cars and 4 open-sided "toast rack" cars. The system was bought out by the competing bus company and closed on 18 April 1937, by which time the fleet comprised 8 double deck and 6 "toast racks".{{cite book |last= Oppitz |first= Leslie |title= Tramways Remembered: West and South West England |year= 1990 |publisher= Countryside Books |isbn= 978-1-85306-095-3}} An earlier proposal for the Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Tramway to run along the streets of the town to the sea front had failed to materialise, leaving the line as an ordinary railway (the Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Light Railway) with a terminus in Ashcombe Road.{{cite book |last= Redwood |first= Christopher |title= The Weston Clevedon and Portishead Light Railway |year= 1981 |publisher= Sequoia Publishing |location= Weston-super-Mare |isbn=978-0-905466-42-2 }}

Weston is close to junction 21 of the M5 motorway, to which it is linked by a dual-carriageway relief road built in the 1990s. This replaced Locking Road as the designated A370 route and avoided some of the traffic congestion along that narrower urban road.{{cite web|url=http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=A370|title=A 370|publisher=SABRE|access-date=1 April 2010|archive-date=15 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100115091854/http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=A370|url-status=live}}

Most local bus services are provided by First West of England.{{cite web | url= http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/Transport/Travel/Bus/timetables.htm | title= Bus Timetables | publisher= North Somerset Council | access-date=1 April 2010|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110926150759/http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/Transport/Travel/Bus/timetables.htm|archive-date=26 September 2011}} All services call at stops in the Regent Street and Big Lamp Corner area, including some stops in the adjacent High Street. Some town services and those to Sand Bay, Wells, Burnham-on-Sea and Bristol Airport start from or run via the main railway station. The service to Sand Bay is sometimes operated by an open top bus. National Express operate long-distance coach services, mostly from the coach terminal in Locking Road Car Park which is close to the railway station. Bakers Dolphin previously operated a service to London but this was withdrawn in 2013.

The town had a bus station on the sea front from 1928 until 1987.{{cite book |last1=Curtis |first1=Martin |last2=Walker |first2=Mike |title=Badgerline: Bristol's country buses |date=2013 |publisher=Ian Allan Publishing |isbn=978-0-7110-3634-5 |page=90}} After nine months of construction a new "bus hub" consisting of a street lined with bus stops was opened in February 2022.{{Cite web|date=2022-02-06|title=Weston-super-Mare's £6.8 million bus hub opens after delay|url=https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2022-02-06/weston-super-mares-68-million-bus-hub-opens-after-delay|access-date=2022-02-06|website=ITV News|language=en}} It is situated on Alexandra Parade.{{Cite web|last=Frost|first=Sam|date=2017-10-27|title=Alexandra Parade to become bus interchange as part of big changes to Weston town centre's roads|url=https://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/alexandra-parade-to-become-bus-terminal-4515278|access-date=2022-02-06|website=Weston Mercury|language=en-UK}}

The WESTlink on-demand bus serves the town.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

The nearest operational airport to Weston is Bristol Airport, located {{convert|15|mi|km}}{{cite web|url=https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=bristol+airport+to+weston+super+mare|title=Google|website=www.google.co.uk|access-date=19 July 2018|archive-date=27 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227033213/https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant#q=bristol+airport+to+weston+super+mare|url-status=live}} away at Lulsgate.

File:Weston_College.jpg

The Unitary authority of North Somerset, provides support for 78 schools, delivering education to approximately 28,000 pupils.{{cite web|url=http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/Education/Schools/Schools/|title=Schools|publisher=North Somerset|access-date=19 December 2008|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110926204538/http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/Education/Schools/Schools/|archive-date=26 September 2011}}

Secondary education is provided by Broadoak Academy, Priory Community School Academy, Winterstoke Hundred Academy, Worle Community School Academy and Hans Price Academy. The town's main further education provider is Weston College, and the town's expanding higher education provision is supplied by University Centre Weston.{{cite web|url=http://www.weston.ac.uk/higher/introduction|title=Higher Education|publisher=Weston College|access-date=20 March 2010|archive-date=7 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107005720/http://www.weston.ac.uk/higher/introduction|url-status=live}}

Nigel Leat, a teacher at Hillside First School, was jailed indefinitely in summer 2011 for paedophile offences that happened over a 14-year period. The school's headmaster lost his job in December 2011 due to the incident.{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jan/26/nigel-leat-school-sexual-abuse-review | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Steven | last=Morris | title=Nigel Leat school 'failed on every level' to prevent his sexual abuse of pupils | date=26 January 2012 | access-date=13 December 2016 | archive-date=12 March 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312154036/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jan/26/nigel-leat-school-sexual-abuse-review | url-status=live }}{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-16738934 | work=BBC News | title=Paedophile teacher Nigel Leat 'too cuddly' | date=26 January 2012 | access-date=20 June 2018 | archive-date=4 December 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204102910/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-16738934 | url-status=live }}

File:WSM Winter Gardens.jpg

The town contains several arts venues. The Playhouse serves both tourists and the local population. The Winter Gardens on the seafront hosts shows, exhibitions and conferences. The Blakehay Theatre & Community Arts Centre is a small venue housed in a former Baptist church.{{cite web | title= Our History | work= Clarence Park Baptist Church | url= http://www.cpbc.co.uk/history.asp | access-date= 4 July 2007 | url-status= dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070929061031/http://www.cpbc.co.uk/history.asp | archive-date= 29 September 2007 | df= dmy-all }} All Saints Church hosts regular concerts, some of high national standing. This church is also used for recording, especially by the Emerald Ensemble and has featured on BBC TV programme Songs of Praise.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/songsofpraise/factsheets/20081123.html|title=Songs of Praise factsheet for Sunday 23 November 2008|publisher=BBC|access-date=20 March 2010|archive-date=4 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604163652/http://www.bbc.co.uk/songsofpraise/factsheets/20081123.html|url-status=live}}

File:Odeon Weston super Mare.jpg

The Odeon Cinema was opened in 1935 and is a building in the modernist style designed by Thomas Cecil Howitt. It houses the only Compton theatre pipe organ in an Odeon cinema outside London and is one of only two working theatre organs left in the country still performing in their original location in commercially operating cinemas. This Compton organ was installed in 1935 and is the only one left in the West Country, the next nearest being the Odeon Leicester Square, London. All other models have been either restored and moved elsewhere, or destroyed.{{cite web|url=http://cinematreasures.org/theater/13851/|title=Odeon Weston-super-Mare|publisher=Cinema Treasures|access-date=1 April 2010|archive-date=23 February 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223044509/http://cinematreasures.org/theater/13851/|url-status=live}} Occasional organ concerts continue to be held at the venue. The building has Grade II Listed status.{{NHLE|num=1311970|desc=Odeon Cinema|access-date=23 January 2010}} The cinema was sold to Merlin Cinemas in 2023 and renamed Plaza Cinema, Weston-super-Mare.{{cite web|url=https://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/23710471.merlin-cinemas-announce-purchase-westons-odeon/ |title=Merlin Cinemas announce purchase of Weston's ODEON |date=9 August 2023 |publisher=The Weston & Somerset Mercury |accessdate=5 Oct 2023}}{{cite web |title=Plaza Weston|url=https://wsm.merlincinemas.co.uk/film/29480-despicable-me-3?forcechoice=true|website=Merlin Cinemas |access-date=5 Oct 2023}}

File:Weston-super-Mare carnival 2022 - Jubilation (3).JPG Parade in London and built by local Carnival Clubs.]]

Weston-super-Mare has a small number of live music venues of note. The Electric Banana hosts more established touring rock bands, while the Brit Bar and Legends Bar attract a wide array of local musicians, as well as artists from further afield.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} The T4 on the Beach concert had been hosted annually since 2006, up until 2012,T4 on the Beach#T4 on the Beach 2012 by Channel 4 youth programme T4. Well known bands and singers perform four or fewer of their hits. However, artists would have to organise a lip sync performance (in which the vocals are mimed) in case they were unable to sing live as the event is being produced for live TV broadcast.{{cite web | url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a32254/bands-threaten-to-pull-out-of-t4-event.html | title=Bands threaten to pull out of T4 event | work=digital spy | date=29 April 2006 | access-date=29 November 2009 | archive-date=16 October 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016051519/http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a32254/bands-threaten-to-pull-out-of-t4-event.html | url-status=live }} Each summer the beach is also used as the venue for the Weston-super-Mare Sand Sculpture Festival.{{cite web|title=Weston super Mare sand sculpture festival|url=http://westonsandsculpture.co.uk/|publisher=Weston super Mare sand sculpture festival|access-date=5 May 2014|archive-date=5 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505235354/http://westonsandsculpture.co.uk/|url-status=live}}

The town was the subject of a song "Sunny Weston-super-Mare" performed by local band The Wurzels.{{cite web|url=http://www.somersetmade.co.uk/wurzelmania/songsP-S.php|title=Wurzelmania|publisher=Somerset Made|access-date=20 March 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120910135608/http://www.somersetmade.co.uk/wurzelmania/songsP-S.php|archive-date=10 September 2012|df=dmy-all}} The last scenes of The Remains of the Day, a James Ivory film of 1993, were shot at locations in the town including the Grand Pier and the Winter Gardens.{{cite web|url=http://movie-locations.com/movies///r/remainsof.html|title=The Remains of the Day film locations|publisher=The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations|access-date=1 April 2010|archive-date=3 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100103200904/http://movie-locations.com/movies/r/remainsof.html|url-status=live}}

The Weston Arts Festival takes place each year during September and October using local venues including the Blakehay Theatre, Playhouse, All Saints, and galleries and offering a wide range of cultural events.{{cite web|url=http://www.westonartsfestival.org.uk/|title=Weston super Mare Arts Festival|publisher=Weston super Mare Arts Festival|access-date=20 March 2010|archive-date=9 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109135049/http://www.westonartsfestival.org.uk/|url-status=live}}

Weston is also the 3rd Carnival in the November West Country Carnival circuit, when a large number of brightly illuminated floats called "carts" parade through the streets.

The town's weekly newspaper is The Weston & Somerset Mercury, which has been serving the population since 1843. It is now owned by publishing company Archant.{{cite web|url=http://www.britishpapers.co.uk/england-sw/weston-somerset-mercury/|title=Weston & Somerset Mercury|publisher=British Newspapers Online|access-date=2 April 2009|archive-date=28 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090428162445/http://www.britishpapers.co.uk/england-sw/weston-somerset-mercury/|url-status=live}} There are also two online publications The Weston Echo, and Weston super Mare People.

Local television news programmes are BBC Points West and ITV News West Country.

Weston Super Television was an on-line community television channel set up in 2011.{{cite news|last=Henzell|first=Beth|title=TV station for Town|url=http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/tv_station_for_town_1_803009|access-date=15 November 2011|newspaper=Weston, Worle & Somerset Mercury|date=17 February 2011|archive-date=2 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402044957/http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/tv_station_for_town_1_803009|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Have you heard about Weston Super Television?|url=http://www.westonecho.co.uk/index.php/have-you-heard-about-weston-super-television/2158|access-date=15 November 2011|newspaper=Western and North Somerset Echo|date=31 October 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112170225/http://www.westonecho.co.uk/index.php/have-you-heard-about-weston-super-television/2158|archive-date=12 November 2011|df=dmy-all}}

Its volunteers make and present studio programmes, including interviews with local councillors, musicians and community leaders, as well as filming local events in and around the town.{{cite web |title=Weston Super Television |url=http://www.westonsupertelevision.com |publisher=Weston Super Television |access-date=15 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111115031855/http://www.westonsupertelevision.com/ |archive-date=15 November 2011 |df=dmy-all }}

File:See Monster (07).JPG

The 2011–2013 Sky1 television comedy series The Café was co-written by Michelle Terry who was born in the town and the series was filmed in Weston-super-Mare.{{cite web|url=http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Somerset-seafront-sitcom-Cafe-ready-airing-Sky/story-13820516-detail/story.html|title=Somerset seafront sitcom The Cafe ready for airing on Sky One|publisher=This is Somerset|access-date=26 December 2011|archive-date=30 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131130082102/http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Somerset-seafront-sitcom-Cafe-ready-airing-Sky/story-13820516-detail/story.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web | url=http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/michelle_is_right_at_home_for_new_sky_comedy_show_1_947419 | title=Michelle is right at home for new Sky comedy show | publisher=Weston Mercury | access-date=26 December 2011 | archive-date=2 April 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402044929/http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/michelle_is_right_at_home_for_new_sky_comedy_show_1_947419 | url-status=live }}

In August 2015, the artist Banksy opened the temporary art installation Dismaland at the derelict Tropicana venue.{{cite web|url=http://www.dismaland.co.uk/location/ |title=Location | Dismaland |access-date=20 August 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150822215831/http://www.dismaland.co.uk/location/ |archive-date=22 August 2015 }}

The town is served by county-wide radio stations, BBC Radio Bristol, Heart West and Greatest Hits Radio South West.

In late 2019, a new community radio station WaveWSM was also opened with studios in the centre of the town, bringing local internet radio to the town, with presenters and shows local to Weston as well as shows syndicated in from around the UK. The plan Is for a local breakfast show to start in January 2020.

In 2022, See Monster, a retired gas platform repurposed as an art installation, opened at the Tropicana as part of the national art festival Unboxed: Creativity in the UK.{{cite news |title=Weston-super-Mare See Monster opens to public |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-63004739 |access-date=12 October 2022 |work=BBC News |date=23 September 2022}} The installation was purported to be the first of its kind in the world. Its opening was preceded by three drone light shows by SkyMagic.{{cite news |title='Amazing' drone laser show lights up Weston-super-Mare's See Monster |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-62714063 |access-date=12 October 2022 |work=BBC News |date=30 August 2022}}

Weston has been twinned with Hildesheim in Germany since 1983.{{cite news | url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/7562521.stm | title= Special service on burnt-out pier | date= 16 August 2008 | work= BBC News | access-date=1 April 2010}}{{cite web | url= http://www.westonsupermarepeople.co.uk/news/Weston-Hildesheim-Exchange/article-1311107-detail/article.html | work= Weston-super-Mare People | date= 4 September 2009 | title= Weston Hildesheim Exchange | access-date= 1 April 2010 | url-status= dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090906004646/http://www.westonsupermarepeople.co.uk/news/Weston-Hildesheim-Exchange/article-1311107-detail/article.html | archive-date= 6 September 2009 | df= dmy-all }}

File:Weston Grand Pier building.jpg

The Grand Pier is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the town. It houses funfair style attractions, a go-kart track, cafes, a fudge factory, and a host of arcade games, and underwent a £34 million re-development after a fire in 2008 destroyed the main pavilion.{{cite news | url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/7684080.stm | title= Pier blaze 'probably electrical' | work= BBC News | date= 22 October 2008 | access-date= 23 October 2008 | archive-date= 25 October 2008 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081025070713/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/7684080.stm | url-status= live }} After a harsh winter which delayed progress, the new pier pavilion reopened on 23 October 2010.{{cite news | url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-11612399 | title= Weston-super-Mare pier reopens two years after fire | date= 23 October 2010 | work= BBC News | access-date= 23 October 2010 | archive-date= 24 October 2010 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101024050210/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-11612399 | url-status= live }}

Weston's first pier, Birnbeck Pier, standing on a small island to the north of the bay is currently closed to the public. The current owners, Manchester-based company Urban Splash purchased the pier in 2006. A competition was held as a means to encourage redevelopment of the site for commercial use. To date, no firm plans are in place, and the future of Birnbeck Pier is uncertain.{{cite news|url=http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/content/twm/news/story.aspx?brand=Westonmercury&category=news&tBrand=westonmercury&tCategory=znews&itemid=WeED01%20Sep%202010%2016%3A02%3A00%3A607|title=In the dark over pier future|date=3 September 2010|publisher=The Weston Mercury|access-date=6 September 2010}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The pier houses Weston-super-Mare Lifeboat Station.

File:Weston super mare - panoramio (18).jpg

Knightstone Island housed a theatre, swimming pool and sauna,{{cite web|url=http://www.mendip.gov.uk/Documents/Regeneration/Heritage%20Conservation/Heritage%20Matters/Iss10.pdf|title=Heritage Matters|date=19 November 2008|publisher=Mendip District Council|access-date=20 September 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611130329/http://www.mendip.gov.uk/Documents/Regeneration/Heritage%20Conservation/Heritage%20Matters/Iss10.pdf|archive-date=11 June 2011|df=dmy-all}} after having been purchased by the physician Edward Long Fox in 1830 to create a therapeutic spa with range of hot, cold and chemical baths.{{cite journal|last=Smith|first=Leonard|date=June 2008|title=A Gentleman's mad-doctor in Georgian England: Edward Long Fox and Brislington House|journal=History of Psychiatry|volume=19|issue=74 Pt 2|pages=163–84|location=England|issn=0957-154X|pmid=19127837|doi=10.1177/0957154X07081136|s2cid=28304699|url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00570907/file/PEER_stage2_10.1177%252F0957154X07081136.pdf|access-date=30 September 2020|archive-date=3 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503234416/https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00570907/file/PEER_stage2_10.1177%2F0957154X07081136.pdf|url-status=live}} After years of disrepair and dereliction, the area has been redeveloped by Redrow. During 2006/2007, luxury apartments and commercial outlets have been built on the site. Consideration has been taken due to the listed building status of much of the site.{{NHLE|num=1129727|desc=Sauna and Solarium|access-date=20 March 2010}} Boat trips from here include the Waverley and Balmoral and trips to Steep Holm and Flat Holm islands as well as short trips around Weston Bay.

File:Grove Park War Memorial2.jpg

The Tropicana outdoor swimming pool that is located on the southern section of the sea front has not been occupied since 2000.{{cite news|url=http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Weston-super-Mare-Tropicana-demolition/story-11314112-detail/story.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130421113303/http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Weston-super-Mare-Tropicana-demolition/story-11314112-detail/story.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 April 2013|title=Weston-super-Mare Tropicana demolition|date=8 June 2012|work=Bristol Evening Post|publisher=This is Bristol|access-date=8 June 2012}} A private developer, Henry Boot, was selected to redevelop the site with a new Life Station leisure complex, which was planned to include a six lane, {{convert|25|m|yd|0|adj=on}} swimming pool, water park, 96-bed hotel, restaurant, eight-screen cinema, 14 retail units, and a 20-lane bowling alley. The redevelopment was beset by delays and controversy.{{cite news | title=Council seeks Tropicana partner | work=BBC News | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4328925.stm | access-date=8 January 2007 | date=8 March 2005 | archive-date=24 November 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124230835/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/4328925.stm | url-status=live }} A group of local residents challenged the council over its decision to appoint Henry Boot, asking to put forward their own proposals for the site.{{cite news | title=Group wants to buy derelict pool | work=BBC News | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/6036173.stm | access-date=8 January 2007 | date=10 October 2006 | archive-date=24 November 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124230836/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/6036173.stm | url-status=live }} In November 2009, the plans were finally abandoned,{{cite news | url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/8359769.stm | title= Cash crisis ends Tropicana plans | date= 13 November 2009 | access-date= 19 November 2009 | work= BBC News | archive-date= 24 November 2021 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211124230835/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/8359769.stm | url-status= live }} leaving the future of the site uncertain. In 2010 the council invited submissions from developers for a new, less ambitious, scheme to redevelop the site with a swimming pool at its heart. A decision on a new scheme was expected towards the end of 2010.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-11141031|title=New plans for Weston-super-Mare's Tropicana site|publisher=BBC|access-date=7 November 2010|date=31 August 2010|archive-date=23 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123022103/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-11141031|url-status=live}} The local authority announced on 23 August 2011 that it was giving developers six months to propose plans for a smaller development otherwise they will arrange to demolish the Tropicana.{{cite news | title=Weston Tropicana could be demolished by spring |publisher=ITV The West Tonight|date=23 August 2011}}

In February 2013, North Somerset Council granted planning permission to a consortium of local businesses who intend to build a new swimming pool complex on the site.{{cite news | url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-21542547 | newspaper= BBC News | title= Plans for Tropicana in Weston-super-Mare given green light | date= 21 February 2013 | access-date= 23 February 2012 | archive-date= 25 February 2013 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130225052229/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-21542547 | url-status= live }}{{cite news | url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-21463474 | newspaper= BBC News | title= Plans for Tropicana in Weston recommended for approval | date= 14 February 2013 | access-date= 23 February 2012 | archive-date= 18 February 2013 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130218072206/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-21463474 | url-status= live }} The Tropicana is occupied by an amusement park called Funland during summer months, featuring a wild mouse roller coaster and several thrill rides.{{cite web |url=https://www.visit-westonsupermare.com/whats-on/funland-at-the-tropicana-p2096453 |title=Funland at the Tropicana |access-date=12 August 2020 |archive-date=15 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715091629/https://www.visit-westonsupermare.com/whats-on/funland-at-the-tropicana-p2096453 |url-status=live }}

The First World War memorial in Grove Park, containing a sculpture by Alfred Drury, was unveiled in 1922, with additions by Walter Cave for the Second World War. It contains the names of 402 men from the area who fell in the First World War. It consists of a winged allegorical figure of Victory holding an olive branch, which stands on an octagonal column. The memorial is a grade II listed building.{{National Heritage List for England |num=1430882 |desc=Gov Park War Memorial|access-date=9 October 2017}}

File:St John's church, Weston-super-Mare.jpg

Most of the town's churches and chapels are neo-Gothic 19th century structures. The Medieval village church of St John the Baptist was completely demolished in 1824 to make way for a new and larger place of worship. The Catholic St Joseph's Church was built in 1858 by Charles F. Hansom and extended in 1893 by Alexander Scoles.Historic England, [https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/weston-super-mare-st-joseph/ Weston-super-Mare], Taking Stock, retrieved 3 June 2022

All Saints Church was built between 1898 and 1902 to a design by George Frederick Bodley and completed by his pupil F. C. Eden in the 14th century style so favoured by Bodley. It is a Grade II* listed building.{{NHLE|num=1129717|desc= Church of All Saints|access-date=20 March 2010}} Holy Trinity Church, designed by H Lloyd and opened in 1861, is also Grade II*.{{NHLE|desc=Holy Trinity Church|num=1137827|access-date=16 September 2018}}

There is a Greek Orthodox Church of St Andrew the Apostle in Grove Road, Milton.{{cite web|url=http://www.hellenicbookservice.com/Theology/orthodox%20churches.htm|title=Orthodox churches in the UK|publisher=The Hellenic Book Service|access-date=20 March 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100127094457/http://www.hellenicbookservice.com/Theology/orthodox%20churches.htm|archive-date=27 January 2010|df=dmy-all}} Victoria Methodist Church was built in 1935–36 to replace an earlier church of 1899–1900, which was destroyed by fire in 1934.{{cite news |title=Up-to-date Methodist church at Weston |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000513/19360103/110/0008 |newspaper=The Western Daily Press |date=3 January 1936 |access-date=24 October 2019 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}

Football team Weston-super-Mare A.F.C. play in the National League South at the purpose-built Woodspring Stadium, which opened in August 2004.{{cite web|url=https://www.westonsmareafc.co.uk/woodspring-stadium/|title=History|publisher=Weston super Mare AFC|access-date=4 July 2009|archive-date=3 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150803123320/http://www.westonsmareafc.co.uk/woodspring-stadium/|url-status=live}} Weston-super-Mare A.F.C. are the current holders of the 2022-2023 Southern League Premier South.

There are two rugby clubs in the town; Weston-super-Mare RFC, formed in 1875,{{cite web|url=https://www.westonrugby.co.uk/a/history-7279.html|title=Weston RFC History|website=www.westonrugby.co.uk|access-date=2019-10-18|archive-date=18 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191018085209/https://www.westonrugby.co.uk/a/history-7279.html|url-status=live}} and Hornets RFC, formed in 1962.{{cite web|url=https://www.hornetsrfc.co.uk/a/history-8510.html|title=Hornets History|publisher=Hornets RFC|access-date=18 October 2019|archive-date=18 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191018082128/https://www.hornetsrfc.co.uk/a/history-8510.html|url-status=live}} Weston play in South West Premier league, whilst Hornets play in the Tribute South West 1 West league. These are national level 5 and level 6 respectively in the English rugby union system.

Somerset County Cricket Club played first class and one-day matches for one week a season on a pitch prepared at Clarence Park, near the sea front. This began in 1914 and continued until the last "festival" in 1996.{{cite news|url=http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/content/twm/news/story.aspx?brand=Westonmercury&category=news&tBrand=westonmercury&tCategory=znews&itemid=WeED18%20Mar%202010%2015%3A22%3A23%3A467|title=Campaign to bring back cricket festival|date=19 March 2010|publisher=Weston & Somerset Mercury|access-date=20 March 2010}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Weston-super-Mare Cricket Club play at Devonshire Park Ground.{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Grounds/11/833.html |title=Devonshire Park Ground, Weston-super-Mare |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=13 July 2010 |archive-date=4 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100604045812/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Grounds/11/833.html |url-status=live }}

The town is well known amongst motocross enthusiasts for staging the Weston beach race every autumn. In addition, races are also held for youth riders, sidecarcross riders and quad bike competitors.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/motorcycling/6301510/Weston-Beach-race-cancelled-after-pile-up-injures-21-riders.html|title=Weston Beach race cancelled after pile-up injures 21 riders|date=11 October 2009|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=24 January 2010|location=London|archive-date=15 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091015014649/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/motorcycling/6301510/Weston-Beach-race-cancelled-after-pile-up-injures-21-riders.html|url-status=live}}

{{see also|Category:People from Weston-super-Mare}}

Notable current and former residents of the town include:

File:Alexander Blue Plaque.jpg

• Aaron Allard-Morgan: winner of Big Brother 2011 (UK){{cite web | url=http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/business/big_brother_winner_s_new_bar_venture_1_1368645 | title=Big Brother winner's new bar venture | publisher=Weston, Worle & Somerset Mercury | access-date=15 January 2013 | archive-date=30 December 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230032340/http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/business/big_brother_winner_s_new_bar_venture_1_1368645 | url-status=live }}
• A. V. Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Hillsborough: Minister of Defence in the Attlee government, raised in Weston-super-Mare{{cite web|url=http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FAVAR|title=The Papers of A V Alexander|publisher=Cambridge University|access-date=24 January 2010|archive-date=8 December 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091208055138/http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FAVAR|url-status=live}}
• Jeffrey Archer: author, politician and convicted perjurer{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/6749604/Jeffrey-Archer-lands-record-18 m-deal-for-modern-Forsyte-Saga.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120630102024/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/6749604/Jeffrey-Archer-lands-record-18 m-deal-for-modern-Forsyte-Saga.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=30 June 2012|title=Jeffrey Archer lands 'record £18 m deal for modern Forsyte Saga'|last=Hough|first=Andrew|date=7 December 2009|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=24 January 2010 | location=London}}
• Jhonn Balance: musician, founding member of Psychic TV and founder of Coil (band){{cite web|url=http://www.factmag.com/2010/11/25/throbbing-gristles-peter-sleazy-christopherson-dies-aged-55/|title=Obituary for Peter Christopherson|date=25 November 2010 |publisher=The Vinyl Factory|access-date=11 August 2011|archive-date=17 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117224251/http://www.factmag.com/2010/11/25/throbbing-gristles-peter-sleazy-christopherson-dies-aged-55/|url-status=live}}
• Ritchie Blackmore: guitarist and founding member of Deep Purple, Rainbow and Blackmore's Night{{cite web|url=http://www.ritchie-blackmore.com/|title=Ritchie Blackmore|publisher=Ritchie Blackmore.com|access-date=24 January 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120204829/http://www.ritchie-blackmore.com/|archive-date=20 November 2008|df=dmy-all}}
• Peter Christopherson: musician, founding member of Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV and Coil (band){{cite web|title=Interview in 'The Wire'|publisher=The Wire|url=http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/2859/|access-date=11 August 2011|archive-date=10 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710164914/http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/2859/|url-status=live}}
• John Cleese: actor and member of Monty Python{{cite book |last1=Poole |first1=Sharon |title=History & Guide: Weston-super-Mare |date=2002 |publisher=Tempus Publishing |location=Stroud |isbn=0-7524-2631-1 |page=78}}
• Roald Dahl: Welsh children's author, attended St Peter's School from 1925 to 1929{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-43485281 |title=Roald Dahl plaque for 'seedy' Weston-super-Mare - BBC News |publisher=Bbc.com |date= 21 March 2018|access-date=2021-11-24 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308212706/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-43485281 |url-status=live }}
• Jill Dando: murdered broadcaster and journalist, after whom the sixth form centre at Weston College and a garden in Grove Park are named{{cite news | title= Jill Dando Obituary | last= Barker | first= Dennis | work= The Guardian | url= https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,296482,00.html | date= 27 April 1999 | access-date= 23 June 2007 | location= London | archive-date= 24 November 2021 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211124230836/https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/apr/27/guardianobituaries.jilldando | url-status= live }}
• Arthur Stanley Eddington: one of the foremost astrophysicists of the early 20th century, grew up in the town{{cite book | title= The Historical Development of Quantum Theory: Pt. 1, the Fundamental Equations of Quantum Mechanics, 1925–1926, Jagdish Mehra | first1= Jagdish | last1= Mehra | author-link1 = Jagdish Mehra | first2= Helmut | last2= Rechenberg | author-link2 = Helmut Rechenberg | publisher= Springer | year= 2000 | page= 38 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=c9ZmLmVFSYQC&pg=PA38 | isbn= 978-0-387-95178-2 | access-date= 4 June 2020 | archive-date= 24 November 2021 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211124230836/https://books.google.com/books?id=c9ZmLmVFSYQC&pg=PA38 | url-status= live }}
• Henry Edwards, film actor, director and producer{{cite web |title=Edwards, Henry (1883-1952) |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/732157/ |website=BFI Screen Online |publisher=BFI |access-date=2022-07-21}}
• Daphne Fowler: game show champion{{cite web|url=http://www.quizplayers.com/w/QP:Daphne_Fowler |title=Daphne Fowler – Quiz Players |access-date=30 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417054450/http://www.quizplayers.com/w/QP%3ADaphne_Fowler |archive-date=17 April 2009 }}
• William Tatem, 1st Baron Glanely, ship- and racehorse-owner, died during an air raid at 16 Malvern Road in June 1942{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/3148176/TATEM,%20WILLIAM%20JAMES |work=Casualty Details |title=Tatem, William James |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=7 November 2012 |archive-date=13 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813220136/http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/3148176/TATEM,%20WILLIAM%20JAMES |url-status=live }}
• Rupert Graves: actor, born and educated in the town 30 June 1963{{cite web | url= http://www.rupert-graves.com/biog.html | work= Rupert Graves Online | title= Biography | access-date= 24 January 2010 | url-status= dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120729030459/http://www.rupert-graves.com/biog.html | archive-date= 29 July 2012 | df= dmy-all }}
• Bob Hope: comedian and actor, lived there as a child{{cite web|url=http://celebrities.adoption.com/famous/bob-hope.html|title=Bob (and Dolores) Hope|publisher=adoption.com|access-date=1 April 2010|archive-date=7 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707084324/http://celebrities.adoption.com/famous/bob-hope.html|url-status=live}}
• Sean Martin: writer and film director{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1459398/|title=Sean Martin|publisher=Internet Movie Database|access-date=24 January 2010|archive-date=16 January 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060116201458/http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1459398/|url-status=live}}
• Con O'Neill: actor{{cite web|url=http://www.whatsonstage.com/interviews/theatre/london/E8821174066251/20+Questions+With...+Con+O%27Neill.html|title=20 Questions With ... Con O'Neill|date=19 March 2007|publisher=Whats on Stage|access-date=1 April 2010|archive-date=11 September 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100911084519/http://www.whatsonstage.com/interviews/theatre/london/E8821174066251/20+Questions+With...+Con+O%27Neill.html|url-status=live}}
• John Oldmixon (1673–1742): historian; born in Oldmixon{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Oldmixon, John | volume= 20 | page = 74 |short= 1}}
• John Polkinghorne: particle physicist and theologian{{cite web|url=http://www.giffordlectures.org/Author.asp?AuthorID=227|title=John Polkinghorne|publisher=Gifford Lectures|access-date=24 January 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100428032919/http://www.giffordlectures.org/Author.asp?AuthorID=227|archive-date=28 April 2010|df=dmy-all}}
• Hans Price: (1835–1912) architect;{{cite web|url=http://www.weston-super-maretowncouncil.gov.uk/the-blakehay-theatre/history-of-the-blakehay.aspx |title=The History of the Blakehay |publisher=Weston super Mare Town Council |access-date=20 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040509055303/http://www.weston-super-maretowncouncil.gov.uk/the-blakehay-theatre/history-of-the-blakehay.aspx |archive-date=9 May 2004 |url-status=dead }} responsible for much of the Victorian architecture which gives the town its distinctive character
• Paulo Radmilovic: Olympic gold medal athlete{{cite web|title=Paul Radmilovic|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ra/paul-radmilovic-1.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417171828/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ra/paul-radmilovic-1.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 April 2020|publisher=Sports Reference|access-date=10 February 2018}}
• Gareth Taylor: footballer; born 25 February 1972 in the town{{cite web | url= https://www.fastscore.com/people/gareth-taylor | publisher= FastScore.com | title= Gareth Taylor Profile and Career | access-date=12 October 2010}}{{cite news|url=http://www.skysports.com/football/player/0,19754,11775_11999,00.html|title=Gareth Taylor|publisher=Sky Sports|access-date=24 January 2010|date=7 May 2009|archive-date=11 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090911035133/http://www.skysports.com/football/player/0,19754,11775_11999,00.html|url-status=live}}
• Michelle Terry: actress and writer{{cite news|title=The Cafe: Hoping for a big splash|url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/2011/11/the-cafe-hoping-for-a-big-splash/|access-date=11 July 2013|newspaper=The Stage|date=18 November 2011|archive-date=14 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714154324/http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/2011/11/the-cafe-hoping-for-a-big-splash/|url-status=live}}
• Peter Trego: cricketer{{cite web|url=http://www.cricinfo.com/fantasy/content/player/21577.html|title=Peter Trego|publisher=Cricinfo|access-date=24 January 2010|archive-date=3 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100103045711/http://www.cricinfo.com/fantasy/content/player/21577.html|url-status=live}}

{{reflist|group=Note}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

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• Bateman, Emily La Trobe (1999). Avon Extensive Urban Survey, Archaeological Assessment Report: Weston-super-Mare. Avon County Council/North Somerset Council.
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• Brodie, Allan, Roethe, Johanna and Hudson-McAulay, Kate (2019). [https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/weston-super-mare-town-and-seaside-heritage/weston-super-mare/ Weston-super-Mare: the town and its seaside heritage] (Swindon: Historic England) {{ISBN|978-1-84802-479-3}}
• Brodie, Allan and Johanna Roethe (2020) [https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/reports/1-2020 Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset: historical and architectural development] (Historic England Research Report Series 1/2020), 2 volumes. ISSN 2059-4453 (Online)
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• {{cite book|last=Shorney|first=Jonathan|title=Knightstone: The Story of Weston-super-Mare's 'Island' Theatre|year=2015|publisher=Redcliffe Press|isbn=978-1-908326-72-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Rosie & Howard|title=Weston-super-Mare in Watercolours an alternative guide|year=2001|publisher=Garret Press|isbn=978-0-9541546-1-5}}
• {{cite book|last=Strange|first=Peter|title=The Weston-Clevedon & Portishead Railway|year=1989|publisher=Twelveheads Press|isbn=978-0-906294-19-2}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Thorn |first=Frank |date=2011 |title=Defining 'Winterstoke' Hundred, Somerset |journal=Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society |volume=154 |pages=119–164}}

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