Turn back the clock a few decades and the town was once accessible on the London Underground
Matt Lee Senior Multimedia Journalist
14:00, 15 Feb 2026
East Beach in Shoeburyness (Image: Essex Chronicle)
A small Essex town with a ‘little gem’ beach was once part of the London Underground network. Essex has always had a strong link to London, with various roads providing easy access to the capital, while Greater Anglia and c2c now run services from across Essex to and from the city.
Southend is one of Essex’s most popular tourist destinations, with huge crowds flocking to the city in the summer months to soak up the sun. Nearby Shoeburyness is also well-visited, although it doesn’t attract as vast numbers as its noisier neighbour. The town used
In the early 1900s, Transport for London didn’t exist, and London’s train companies competed for customers, some eventually running services as far as Shoeburyness on Essex’s coast. The service ran on a line almost identical to today’s c2c Rail line and would take tourists to Southend-on-Sea in the days when the seaside town was a booming hotspot.
When the underground first opened in 1863, the Metropolitan Line could only take passengers so far east into Essex before they would have to alight and take a connection. By 1910, new contenders such as the District Line were hoping to extend their services further into Essex. Instead of leaving customers to hop off the tube and onto a different train, they wanted to take the underground as far as Southend-on-Sea.
Coming to an agreement with the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LTSR), they were eventually given the green light to run their own trains on the Southend-bound lines, the Express reports. In return, the LTSR was able to use the District’s own lines in the east of London betwee n Whitechapel and Bow, rather than terminating at the more restrictive London Fenchurch Street. This then allowed the District Railway to run tube trains — along what is today known as the District line — all the way to the seaside gem of Shoeburyness.
Shoeburyness is a popular town for people wanting to grab some summer sun whilst avoiding huge crowds. It’s home to two beaches, Shoebury Common and East Beach, which lots of people enjoy. Visit Southend describe East Beach as a long sandy beach “that is crowned with a magnificent grassy hinterland making it a superb location to enjoy a picnic” while the Blue Flagged Shoebury Common beach “is home to Uncle Tom’s Cabin which offers a large selection of ice creams, light refreshments, and everything you need for a traditional fun family day beside the seaside”.
Peter K wrote on TripAdvisor about Shoebury East Beach in August 2025: “This is my local beach. When I come back from holidays abroad, it’s so nice to have this nearby, I love it. When the sun shines (and it mostly does in this part of the UK) and the tide is in, down the north end in the sand dunes is the perfect place to snooze on a towel or read a book after a swim! Great for paddle-boarding too, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get the reggae boat playing reggae music to give it the full holiday feeling.”
He added: “A little gem here are the steps down into the water at high tide next to the rocks (and a large paddling/rock pool area at low tide), and there are times when the water can be very clear too depending on calmness, wind and weather, I have actually snorkelled over the rock pool at high tide and seen fish and crabs at the bottom. It does get busier up this end now due to the cafes, but as long as we all keep it tidy and relax in each other’s company, it’s a great place for families to spend the day.”
Nowadays, Shoeburyness is still accessible from London, but not directly on an Underground line. The town’s railway station is on the c2c network and accessible from London Fenchurch Street in a little over an hour.