Thousands descend of Bournemouth beach on the hottest day yet

Visitors and locals all soaked up the sun on the beach as temperatures soared nearly 30C, with Bournemouth beach easily being the busiest it has been all year round. 

People were seen splashing in the sea and sunbathing on the sand after the Met Office issued a Level 2 heat alert for the whole of the southwest region. 

Mudeford Sandbank beach on Friday, June 17

Salah, visiting from London, came down here for a fun day on the beach away from the capital. He said: “It’s even hotter in London but it’s much better to be by the sea. 

“Bournemouth is a much better place to be than London in the summer.” 

Student Austin Ferrari, along with his girlfriend Mia Barrow, were down by the beach not only enjoying the sun, sea and sand – but some delicious food. Austin said: “I’m having a great time. The sun is shining and this sausage is amazing!” 

Not everybody was enjoying the clear blue skies, though. Jack Carson revealed he and the sun do not get along, saying: “I’m ginger – my face is as red as my hair!” 

A couple are seen enjoying the shade on the hottest day of the year

Nicola Matthews, along with her boyfriend Ben, had driven all the way from the West Midlands to spend a day at the beach. She said: “We both had a day off work so we thought: ‘why not?’ 

“We got up early so we could get here before lunchtime and make a day of it but the traffic was still bad.” 

Car parks along the coast quickly filled up by 11am, with queues of cars waiting to park along the seafront car parks.  

Bournemouth beach was fun of life

Elsewhere, hundreds of people also descended on Mudeford Sandbank beach to soak up the rays.

Queues of people were seen waiting for ice cream and chips - with one little girl being kept occupied by her grandmother blowing bubbles.

The weather tomorrow will see highs of 27C in Bournemouth and cloud cover. The Met Office say there will be temperatures of 18C on Sunday.