Can my dog come today?
A clear yes or no for every beach, checked against the council's own rules. Plus the cafés, pubs and walks nearby that welcome dogs too.
- 950 beaches
- 423 dog-friendly places
- 18 areas
Where can my dog come for coffee or lunch?
Every beach page also lists the dog-friendly cafés, pubs, restaurants and walks within 2 miles. We only include a place when its own website says dogs are welcome, and we link to that page so you can see for yourself. 423 places so far, near 290 beaches, with more added area by area.
These are suggestions, not a full list, and we haven't visited or vetted them. Rules can change, so check with the venue before you go.
Pick an area
Tap a blue area on the map, or choose from the cards below. Every beach is grouped by town, with today's answer.
18 areas, from the Channel Islands to the top of Scotland.
UK outline and county lines: Office for National Statistics, Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2023. Ireland and islands: Natural Earth.
Dorset49 beaches · 26 allow dogs all year
Devon79 beaches · 42 allow dogs all year
Cornwall109 beaches · 52 allow dogs all year
Somerset14 beaches · 5 allow dogs all year
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight51 beaches · 31 allow dogs all year
Sussex54 beaches · 32 allow dogs all year
Kent55 beaches · 26 allow dogs all year
Wales110 beaches · 27 allow dogs all year
Essex23 beaches · 6 allow dogs all year
Suffolk20 beaches · 12 allow dogs all year
Norfolk34 beaches · 19 allow dogs all year
Lincolnshire13 beaches · 7 allow dogs all year
Yorkshire26 beaches · 16 allow dogs all year
North East England48 beaches · 33 allow dogs all year
North West England53 beaches · 41 allow dogs all year
Northern Ireland28 beaches · 7 allow dogs all year
Scotland109 beaches · 103 allow dogs all year
Channel Islands75 beaches · 24 allow dogs all year
Dogs allowed all year
Beaches where dogs are welcome every day, summer included.
How beach dog bans work
Each council decides
There is no national rule. Each council chooses which of its beaches close to dogs and sets it out in a legal order.
Usually in summer
Most bans run from 1 May to 30 September, or in Cornwall 1 July to 31 August, 10am to 6pm. Some beaches only ask for leads, and some close one stretch and leave the rest open.
We link to the source
Every beach page links to the council's own rules and shows the date we last checked them.
Common questions
How do I know if my dog is allowed today?
Every beach page shows a clear answer for today, worked out from today's date in UK time and that beach's rules. It also shows the rules month by month, so you can plan ahead.
When do beach dog bans start and end?
Most beach bans in England and Wales run from 1 May to 30 September. Some start earlier: on 1 April in Gwynedd, in Hastings, at Southwold and in Teignbridge in Devon, and on Good Friday at Cleethorpes. Hunstanton's runs to 31 October. Most Cornish bans run from 10am to 6pm, 1 July to 31 August, and on the Causeway Coast in Northern Ireland they run from 1 June to 15 September. In the Channel Islands, Guernsey and Herm close named beaches from 1 May to 30 September and Alderney from 1 June to 15 September, while Jersey asks for leads from 10:30am to 6pm, 1 May to 30 September. A few beaches use different dates or times, so check the beach's own page. Outside those dates most beaches are open to dogs again.
Where do the rules come from?
Councils set beach dog rules in legal orders, usually called Public Spaces Protection Orders. Some councils, especially in Wales, use older byelaws. In Northern Ireland the orders are called Dog Control Orders. In Scotland most beaches have no council order at all, and the Scottish Outdoor Access Code applies instead. In the Channel Islands each island sets the rules in its own law. Each beach page links to the council's own rules and shows the date we last checked them. Landowners such as the National Trust sometimes add their own requests, and we say so where they do.