Irene Martin is trying to think what has changed in the seaside resort of Southwold since she and her husband bought their beach hut 43 years ago.

She pauses, surveying the sunny stretch of Suffolk coast from the comfort of her deckchair.

“Those railings never used to be there,” she decides, finally. The rest, she says, is pretty much the same.

Southwold, population 1,100, is a place that exists for — and because of — nostalgia. Its resistance to all things modern, and its refusal to follow the routes of reinvention that have transformed — and, some could argue, ruined — the original character of other classic destinations such as Great Yarmouth and Southend, have won it the title of Britain’s most quintessential holiday resort in a survey by Teletext.

The crowds that descended upon the town yesterday afternoon to enjoy a brief appearance of summer during the last Bank Holiday of the season, proved that the promise of Punch and Judy shows and an ice-cream on the pier still has as much pulling power as ever.

“We still love the place,” explains Mrs Martin, a glamorous 81-year-old from nearby Yoxford, and former telephonist, or “Hello Girl”, as she puts it. “I remember coming here when I was 14 and we used to spend all day collecting jellyfish. You don’t get them here now, but I see my children playing on the beach and enjoying it as much as we did.”

One thing that has certainly changed, apart from the railings, is the price of one of Southwold’s signature beach huts. A pastel-coloured hut, such as the one that cost Mr and Mrs Martin only £75 to build in the 1960s, now sells for £35,000. Those at Gun Hill, the “posh” end where the beach climbs up into dunes with a lookout point marked with six Tudor cannon, are reputed to cost more than £75,000.

The beach is enlivened by bright windbreakers, cricket stumps and intense bucket and spade activity. Kites crisscross the sky. Shivering children run in and out of the row of huts, to be wrapped in towels. Even the names of the huts conform to the image of postwar Britain, ranging from Goosebumps and The Great Escape, to Seezruff and Kippers in a Box. The air, naturally, smells of fish and chips.

A few candy doors farther along the promenade, Karen Sharpe is relaxing with her family. Her husband is preparing the foundations for a lighthouse sand sculpture with their 14-year-old son, George; their daughter, Lily, gives an enthusiastic wave before plunging into the sea, happy and begoggled.

Mrs Sharpe, from Romford, Essex, says: “This year, we had decided to go to France for a couple of weeks. But as soon as we got here this weekend I said to my husband that I would miss here too much. He said he had been thinking the exact same thing. For me, it’s perfect.” Those who look down on holidays at the British seaside are missing out, she adds.

For many visitors, the best thing about Southwold is its simplicity, particularly the low profile of electronic amusement. With the exception of a small arcade, the entertainment remains stubbornly old-fashioned. Despite the prominence of the Adnams brewery, which until recently used heavy draft horses to deliver barrels of beer to the local pubs, there is only one bar with a late licence and a single 60-seat cinema.

“It hasn’t been corrupted in any way, shape or form, like the other coastal towns,” Mrs Sharpe says. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this kind of holiday. It’s cheap, it’s only two hours away, and we haven’t even increased our carbon footprints.”

Her children’s grandmother, Ruth Horrocks, agrees. “It’s the best kind of family holiday,” she said. “I just hope being named the best resort doesn’t ruin the place.”

Bruce, the local car park attendant, who doesn’t give his surname, says that the good publicity in the past week has brought an exceptional number of visitors over the weekend. “It’s amazing. You wouldn’t believe how far people come, from Birmingham and beyond. This year, it seems to have gone mad.”

What makes Southwold so special? “It is simple,” he says. “It’s old fashioned. It hasn’t got the cr*p \.” The brewery also helps, he adds.

The heart and soul of the town is the pier. Once only a stump that would embarrass any self-respecting seaside resort, it now boasts a newly renovated £1.5 million boardwalk with the obligatory eccentric amusements and some cheerful cafés.

It was once named Pier of the Year, one local assured The Times proudly, although she couldn’t remember in which exact pier competition the landmark had triumphed. (The National Piers Society Pier of the Year award, 2001, for those who need to know.)

Other attractions include the 100ft (30 metre) lighthouse, which rises above a jumble of fisherman’s cottages and Georgian houses. If you look down the coast, you can make out the dome of Sizewell nuclear power station.

George Orwell was a former resident, and, reportedly, King George V used to come here when royal duties became too much. And don’t let it be said that there is no glamour at the British seaside. Southwold was used as principal location for the 1960s version of David Copperfield and Peter Greenaway’s 1988 film Drowning by Numbers; more recently Joe Annis, a lifeguard, says that he once spotted Geri Halliwell and Chris Evans near the ice-cream parlour.

Southwold is a reminder of what the British seaside used to be. Once dubbed Hampstead-on-Sea because of its high proportion of second homes, it appears to be experiencing a renaissance. “We don’t need any more people knowing about it,” said Jack Storer, 90, a retired soldier who first visited in 1919 and now supervises the local lifeboat museum.

“We’ve always known this is a lovely place.”

Hampstead-on-Sea

— Southwold was once a bustling market town. It received its town charter from Henry VII in 1489

— In 1659 a fire destroyed much of the town. The vast open spaces or “Southwold Greens” were created as fire breaks during renovations

— The pier was built in 1900. It was devastated by a gale and again during the Second World War

— Southwold Lighthouse, built in 1890, stands 101ft above the town

— About a third of the town’s 1,250 properties are second homes. Those with three bedrooms or more in the North Parade area fetch about £700,000

— Although one of the most important criteria for the “quintessential British holiday resort” in the Teletext Holidays survey was many fish and chip shops, Southwold has only two

Source: Times Database

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