Despite claims the property market is on the brink of a crash, one niche seems recession-proof: beach huts, barely bigger than Wendy Houses, have never been more in demand. Rightmove has reported that the average asking price for these glorified sheds has more than doubled since 2019, so on average a beach hut costs an astonishing £50,000. Last year, the UK’s most expensive beach hut sold in Dorset for £500,000.
This news is especially galling for me. I bought a beach hut in Clacton-on-Sea for £2,500 in 2011. If I hadn’t sold it, it’d probably be worth ten times that now.
The popularity of beach huts comes from the English obsession with prudishness. During the rise of the mid-18th-century wellness industry, as doctors began promoting fresh air and salt water, people came to the beaches to swim, only to find themselves in need of a way to protect their modesty.
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