Southend-on-Sea is a popular seaside resort in the County of Essex, within the South East of England. Southend-on-Sea has a population of around 165,000 people and is situated just 40 miles East of London, with easy access to the capital via road and rail links.
The Southend Pier was built in 1830 at Southend-on-Sea and is the longest pleasure pier in the World, at over 1.3 miles long. There is more than seven miles of seafront, which is enjoyed by over 6 million tourists each year. Seaside attractions in Bournemouth include The Sealife Centre, an amusement park with more than 50 rides and over 300 places to eat in and around the town.
Tourism has created a large number of employment opportunities within Southend-On-Sea. The town has a strong commercial centre and big employers within the town include HM Revenue and Customs and travel insurance company InsureandGo.
Southend-On-Sea's retail industry also provides many jobs in the town as it has a varied mix of boutique and high street retailers as well as two large indoor shopping centres.
Four departments of the University of Essex run their programmes from its Southend Campus. These are: Essex Business School, the School of Health and Human Sciences, the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies and the East 15 Acting School. The campus has state of the art facilities for each of these branches of the University and also has its own Business Hub, which aims to promote economic sustainability to businesses within the area.