Whitby tourist information website with live news feed   by Alan Davidson

in Travel / Destinations    (submitted 2009-09-05)

If you are interested in Whitby, why don't you pop in and read some of the original articles and hopefully you might join the forum and tell us what you think?
There are a number of Whitby guides on the Internet already and, without wanting to sound too derogatory, they are often quite formal with their setup of tourist information and so lacking, to some degree, character and fun.
The new Whitby website will be more Magazine based, with original articles and tourist information.
Currently we are putting together various articles about the history of Whitby, but then we will bring you more up to date with stories, such as Whitby and its association with the Yorkshire television programme Heartbeat.
Heartbeat was filmed extensively around Whitby and surrounding villages like Goathland but, unfortunately, in 2009 Yorkshire television announced that they would not be filming any more series, due to financial cuts caused by the recession. The reaction to the announcement was quite a tidal wave of disapproval in Whitby and Goathland village. This was mainly because many of the local businesses were thriving due to be high levels of tourism; a by-product of the series. Heartbeat has been on our television screens every year, at prime time television spots, from the very first episode which was broadcast on 26 October 1991. You couldn't ask for better free tourist advertising for Whitby. In a local post office in Goathland village, and also in the Grapevine cafe in Whitby, people can sign the petitions to vote their disapproval at the termination of the series. In fact there was an online petition which has so far been signed by more than 10,000 people.
I experienced firsthand just how much the series was loved by people in the area, when my partner and I were in Whitby on 8 August 2009, to enjoy the celebrations for the hundredth centenary of the swing bridge. I have a holiday cottage in the centre of Whitby but, fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, we usually have to stay in alternative accommodation because the cottage is booked out with holidaymakers. We therefore booked into the Dolphin Hotel, which has an excellent view of the swing bridge and so also on this occasion the forthcoming ceremony.
The day after the Whitby Bridge Centenary Celebrations, early in the morning, we went for breakfast to a local cafeteria in the centre of town called the Grapevine. I was bowled over by the sheer amount of memorabilia connected to Heartbeat. The majority of the cafeteria walls were literally covered in pictures from the programme, policemen's helmets, truncheons and much more. There were even pictures of the actors who had visited the cafe whilst filming.
For we are currently arranging to interview some of the actors who have appeared in Heartbeat, asking them to give recollections of their time spent filming around the Whitby area over the last 17 years.
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Tourist information, articles and news for Whitby
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