The town is steeped in history and has earned its living from the sea for centuries. For many years, this traditional holiday resort with its beautiful gardens, golden sands and superb views which are second to none, has attracted many visitors who return time after time.

Filey Bay offers opportunities for sailing and sea angling and there is a thriving private sailing club located just to the north of the town with easy access from the beach. In addition to this, Filey offers the sub aqua enthusiast opportunities for undertaking some challenging dives off the Brigg and from boats launched from the shore.

For the less active, attractive gardens are on hand to the South of the town and the spacious Country Park to the North overlooks the Bay. At the Country Park there is an opportunity to sit in the sunshine and take in the spectacular views and for the more adventurous, there are country walks around the locality.

Filey is protected to the north by a low lying ridge of rocks called Filey Brigg and from the Brigg, the sands sweep to the south, terminated by the spectacular chalk cliffs of Speeton and Bempton. Apart from being an attractive feature and "trademark" of Filey , the Brigg offers an interesting natural environment that supports a wide range of maritime life and is a favourite of families who indulge the rock pools.

There is a rich maritime history associated with the town with its fishing cobbles whose design harks back to the Viking period and the Lifeboat station that has been in place since 1804. The famous battle between the American John Paul Jones and the Royal Navy took place within the Bay in 1779 and Filey is the centre of the Filey Bay John Paul Jones Heritage Coast and is the official southern end of the Cleveland Way.

Filey's coast offers a diverse variety of static and migratory bird life and marine life and is regularly visited by Naturalists and Ornithologists at all times of the year, a landscape rich in geological and archaeological features, it even has its own dinosaur coast as skeletons of plesiosaurs have been found in the rich deposits of the Speeton clay to the south of the Bay. A picturesque 12th century Norman Church is located to the north of the town and a compact museum is situated in Queen Street, which at one time was the centre of the local fishing community.

Served by good rail links and access to all major trunk roads, Filey is easily accessible and is a short ride away from the equally spectacular North York Moors National Park. With the highest concentration of available bed spaces in the area, the town is well situated on the spectacular rugged Yorkshire Coast for the visitor to provide an ideal base for exploration of the Minster and Cathedrals of the historic cities of Beverly and York and the fishing picturesque communities of Whitby, Staithes and Robin Hoods Bay.

Filey History

It is believed that there has been a community here for over 1200 years and that for a thousand years it was a remote small fishing and farming village. That community was in and around the area of what is today called Queen Street. Before 1850 the present Queen Street was the only major street in Filey with a fishing village extending on a series of terraces down the side of the ravine to the seashore. The fishing village dates from the 9th or 10th century. The NW end of Queen Street and the area around the site of the present museum appears to have developed away from the sea with an agricultural village dating from around the 12th century. In 1835 a "New Plan for New Filey" was created, which led to Filey changing from a fishing and farming village into a town. The railways reached Filey in 1846/1847. The Seamer to Filey line opened in 1846, with the first train running on 5th October 1846. The Filey to Bridlington line opened in 1847, making a through route to Hull, and the first trains ran on 20th October 1847. The ¾ mile spur off the Scarborough to Hull line to the Butlins Holiday Camp opened on 10th May 1947 and closed on 17th September 1977.

Much rapid development in the early and mid 19th century took place to the south with the creation of what became known as New Filey, with the building of The Crescent, the growth of a residential area with the subsequent opening of many shops. There were two separate communities of Old and New Filey served with its own series of shops. Although today the community is one with the two areas being joined by the aptly named Union Street, signs of the past can clearly be seen, especially the old fishermen's cottages on Church Hill.

Holiday Resort

Filey has enjoyed a reputation of being a seaside resort since Victorian days.It set about being a holiday resort in the 1850s, the railways had arrived in 1846. By the 1890s it had a fashionable reputation and gaining in popularity during the Edwardian period up to the Second World War. After the war it continued its popularity and prospered with visitors from the nearby Butlins holiday camp. It suffered to some extent with the closure of the camp in 1983 and to the general decline in the UK holiday market from the early 1980s. Today it still has a fine reputation as a holiday resort and to its credit has remained unscarred by any commercialism on its foreshore.