For buckets and spades, candy floss, kiss-me-quick hats, inflatable toys, windmills, fudge, novelty rock, lollipops, and other traditional seaside treats, head to the shops on the promenade. You’ll also find stalls there selling fish and chips, seafood and shellfish, pie and mash, jellied eels, and freshly-made doughnuts.

Leysdown is famous for its numerous amusement arcades next to the beach. Jimmy G’s is the largest in Kent and as well as arcade machines such as coin pushers, claw crane grabs, fruit machines, pinball, and video games, it also has a soft-play area, shooting gallery, bowling, prize bingo, and a funfair with dodgems, swing boats, and carousels.

On the promenade you’ll also find a children’s playground, trampolines, crazy golf, a bandstand, and plenty of benches and tables.

Off the coast are the Red Sand Towers, seven huge iron forts, constructed in WWII to provide anti-aircraft support for London, and often visible on a clear day. They were one of three sets of Maunsell forts, named after their designer Guy Mansell, that were built in the Thames Estuary to fend off attacks by the Nazis.

After they were decommissioned, Red Sand Towers were used for pirate radio broadcasting in the 1960s. Radio Invicta, K-I-N-G Radio, and the easy-listening Radio 390 all used the fort until legal challenges in 1966 finally shut them down.

Behind a small row of beach huts is Leysdown Coastal Park, an area of green space ideal for a gentle walk. At the eastern end of the park, by a Grade II listed Manor House dating back to 1540 is a statue of Eustace and Oswald Short, who set up the first company in the world to produce production aeroplanes. The brothers constructed their first factory on nearby land and obtained the rights from Wilbur and Orville Wright to build their aircrafts in the UK.