THE INDEPENDENT: 27 JUNE 2007

Don't miss the boat

Three years since he bought a restaurant here, Ilfracombe is feeling the 'Damien Hirst effect'. Adharanand Finn reports

When Damien Hirst opened a bar and restaurant on the quayside in Ilfracombe, a peeling Victorian seaside town tucked away on the north Devon coast, a few eyebrows were raised. But the Hirst-effect, as the locals call it, is now beginning to bite, and suddenly Ilfracombe feels like a place whose luck has begun to change.

While the paths to many parts of Devon, particularly the south, are well trodden, Ilfracombe still feels rather hidden away, possibly due to the paucity of fast road and rail links to the area. This isolation may be about to change, with plans in the pipeline for a new ferry service to Wales and Ireland, but for now it means house prices are lower than the rest of Devon, particularly when compared to the county’s other more frequented costal areas.

The town itself has an unconscious retro charm, full of kitsch curiosity shops, once-grand Victorian hotels, stripy deck chairs and sunburnt holidaymakers. The big chain stores seem to have passed Ilfracombe by and the main street is full of unpretentious independent shops selling fishing tackle and gentlemen’s suits.

The signs of regeneration, which began with a £2.5m redevelopment of the harbour area in 2002, can be seen dotted around the town. Further development of the harbour is planned, and the council has, after years of resistance, decided to allow some of the old Victorian hotels to be converted into apartments.

Evidence of this can be clearly seen on the cliff between the two main beaches, where the Granville Hotel, which dominates the skyline, is currently being converted into luxury flats. Along the waterfront, a number of other establishments can be seen clad in telltale scaffolding.

Elsewhere in the town, the redeveloped tunnel beaches have just been awarded a Quality Coast Award by the environmental charity Encams for being one of the “best beaches in the UK for taking a dip”.

For a small fee, the secluded beaches are accessed through tunnels cut into the cliff. Although the sand there is not golden, but rather a blackish-grey, the beaches’ selling point is the rock wall that retains the sea when the tide goes out creating a natural swimming pool.

Although dominated by tourism in the summer, the town is not all ice cream and kiss-me-quick hats. The eye-catching Landmark Theatre with its award-winning conical-roofed design, hosts national acts, from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to comedian Bill Bailey, as well as seaside favourites such as Freddie Starr. For rock music fans, the Marlboro Club hosts live music every Friday. While mainly featuring local bands, when Blur’s Damon Albarn started his new group, The Good, The Bad and The Queen, he chose the Marlboro Club as the venue for one of the band’s first ever gigs. The town’s main cinema has also just reopened after years of neglect.

Locals say the town is beginning to change, but slowly. As the "Hirst-effect" picks up steam, that change may be about to take off.

YOUR KIND OF PEOPLE?

Ilfracombe has yet to be gentrified in the same way as some of Devon’s more gentile resorts and the town has a reputation for being a bit rough around the edges. This combined with the sheer number of pubs means it can get quite rowdy after dark.

However, it’s not all shell-suits and boy-racers. While the town has a large population of retired people, it is also becoming popular with younger people and first time buyers from outside the area looking for somewhere affordable, and attracted by the area’s natural beauty and proximity to great surfing beaches.

CAN YOU SHOP TILL YOU DROP?

Although the main shopping street is lined from end to end with independent shops, most of them seem to have been bypassed by the modern world. There are a couple of trendy boutiques such as Caine on the Fore Street, and a surf shop, Genesis, by the quay. Aside from Damian Hirst’s 11 The Quay restaurant and bar, La Gendarmerie is another fashionable restaurant which opened recently in a converted police station just off the waterfront. It serves French, Italian and English cuisine all made from local ingredients.

Ilfracombe also has two excellent health food shops, The Healthy Way, complete with its own peanut butter-making machine, and Nana Sue’s Sun Foods, complete with a comfy sofa in the window for sitting and chomping on healthy snacks.

If it’s something a little less healthy you’re after, then head over to Walkers Chocolate Emporium where you can watch chocolate being made.

GREEN AND PLEASANT?

Apart from the sea and the surrounding countryside, the town’s promenade is surprisingly green with landscaped gardens and cliff walks mixing it with the crazy golf. The tunnels beaches have been awarded the Blue Flag eco-label.

Away from the seafront, the Green Flag Award winning Bicclescombe Park on the edge of the town has all the usual park activities such as a children’s playground, tennis courts and a duck pond, as well as Victorian flower beds, a restored corn mill and a sensory garden.

DO THE SCHOOLS MAKE THE GRADE?

In Ilfracombe there are three schools. Ilfracombe Infant and Nursery School caters for children up to the age of seven. Children from seven to 11 are serviced by the Ilfracombe Church of England Junior School, which scores above average in national tests for English and Maths.

Ilfracombe College, the town’s only secondary school, is a nationally recognised centre for Media Studies and in 2004 it was awarded specialist Media Arts Status - one of only three in the UK.

The nearest independent school, St Michael’s, is 8 miles away in Barnstaple and has a strong sporting tradition. It is a co-educational school from nursery age to 13.

WHAT'S NEARBY?

Ilfracombe may be a tad inaccessible to the rest of the country, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing of interest nearby. To one side lies the Exmoor national park, with all its walking potential and wild horses, while a short trip to the west you will find Devon’s best surfing beaches, most notably Croyde, which hosts the Gold Coast Oceanfest music and surfing festival every June.