Southend-on-Sea City Council is calling on residents to take pride in their city - quirks and all - and help make it an even better place to live, work and visit.
The new "Our Southend - Live here. Love here." campaign champions the humour and spirit that locals know best - from tongue-in-cheek comparisons with the Maldives to jokes about the city's famously territorial seagulls. It's about celebrating what makes Southend unique, while showing how far we've come.
A new Civic Pride web hub has also gone live, giving Southenders a simple way to discover volunteering opportunities and take part in community activity across the city.
A city with plenty to celebrate
Southend continues to attract national attention and community pride, with recent highlights including:
- over 110,000 poppies placed on Southend Pier
- 1,500 volunteer hours delivered in culture services between April and June 2025
- 200,000 visitors attending Southend City Jam
- thousands backing the Shrimpers at Wembley and welcoming the Lionesses home as European Champions through Southend Airport
- recognition as Best Seaside Resort in the UK and continuing improvements to the city centre
- Pride of Southend City Day confirmed for Saturday 7 March 2026
A call to volunteer
Residents are invited to get involved in volunteering opportunities - there's something for all ages, interests and abilities, and every contribution makes the city stronger:
- community clean-ups
- gardening clubs and green volunteering
- becoming Tree or Street Wardens
- supporting events and festivals, including City Day
- volunteering at libraries and museums
- joining guided walks at Belfairs and other community-led activities
Tara Poore, Chair of the Southend City Partnership and CEO of City Family, said: "It is great to see us taking such a creative approach to capturing what we all know and love about our great City. This year's inaugural City Day, with around 65,000 visitors, showed the strength of local pride and the diversity of engagement we saw during the City Vision development. This campaign further highlights our collective ambition for a safe, thriving, inclusive and sustainable city."
Anthony Quinn, Chief Executive, SAVS, said: "In Southend, the people know the city better than anyone. Its quirks, its beauty, its tides, its treasures. Our green and blue spaces, our volunteers, our neighbours, our community groups… they're what make us proud to call this place home.
"It's this pride that created our City Vision, a collective statement from residents, workers, businesses and tourists about what's important to them. We might make a joke here and there about ourselves, but if anyone's earned the right to poke fun at Southend, it's the people who help keep it shining."
Cllr Daniel Cowan, Leader of the Council, said: "Local people are fiercely proud of Southend's city and heritage - but in a very British way where only we get to joke about it. We may laugh about our rough edges or the seagulls, but we fiercely defend our city when outsiders do the same.
"This campaign reminds us that there is so much to celebrate. Over the last six months alone we've had thousands cheering on the Lionesses and Shrimpers, record event attendance, and volunteers turning out in droves.
"There is more work to do before City Day 2026, but the progress so far shows the dedication of our residents, partners and frontline teams. I'd also want to encourage as many residents as possible to take advantage of what we have to offer here in Southend during the off-season - whether that is on the seafront, on our high street or from Thorpe Bay to Leigh on Sea. And by spring next year, we hope to be celebrating with our very own Southend Monopoly board too."
Visit the Southend Civic Pride webpage to find out how you can get involved.
In January we are launching the Our Southend enewsletter, a monthly round up of news, events and opportunities for residents to get involved across the Southend-on-Sea community. Sign up to Our Southend.