Britain is a country where more and more old men choose not to retire by the sea

An article in 'The Daily Mail' today was entitled :

Why we no longer dream of retiring by the seaside: Britain's elderly are moving inland 'because they are fitter than 20 years ago'

British seaside towns, with sunshine and a relaxed atmosphere have traditionally been hotspots for the retired but not any more. Apparently, Britain's old men are increasingly shunning the bingo parlours and bungalows of our coast and moving inland. Demographic data suggests that they prefer to live in land-locked locations such as Lichfield rather than by the beaches of Bournemouth.

 Analysis by Professor Shepherd of the University of London, found that the retired populations of several seaside settlements are growing only slowly and others, including Bournemouth in Dorset, Salcombe in Devon and Southwold in Suffolk are even losing old people. In Lichfield, Staffordshire, the number of over-65's has risen from 14,500 to 19,600 since 2001.

The change was due to the fact that :

*  there are changing perceptions of what constitutes a 'nice' place to live.

* old people today are fitter and more active than a generation ago and no longer, for example, want to have a sedentary existence in Bexhill-on-Sea and prefer a leisure centre and more activities.

*  there are better services in some of these small inland towns.

So Britain's fit old men say : " Hello Lichfield"

and " No thanks Bournemouth"

P.S. The American Bill Bryson extolling the virtues of the British seaside :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BrqzRrMSCk