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Town and civil parish in Suffolk, England

Lowestoft ('/l//əʊ//(//ɪ//)//s//t//ɒ//f//t//, /'/l//əʊ//s//t//ə//f/ LOH(ih)stoft, LOHstəf) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. As the most easterly UK settlement, it is 110 mile (177 km) north east of London, 38 mile (61 km) north east of Ipswich and 22 mile (35 km) south east of Norwich, and the main town in its district. The estimated population in the built up area exceeds 70,000. Habitation occurred in the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron ages and in the Roman and Saxon times. Several finds have been made at a Saxon cemetery at Bloodmoor Hill in south Lowestoft. The place name derives from a Norse personal name, Hlothver, and toft, an Old Norse word for homestead. It has been spelt historically as Lothnwistoft, Lothuwistoft, Lestoffe, Laistoe, Loystoft and Laystoft. The 1086 Domesday Book gives Lothuwistoft village some 16 households in three families, with ten smallholders and three slaves. The manor formed part of the king's holding in the Hundred of Lothingland, worth about four geld in tax income. Roger Bigod was the tenant in chief. In the Middle Ages, Lowestoft became an important fishing town that came to challenge its neighbour, Great Yarmouth. The trade, particularly for herring, continued as the town's main identity into the 20th century. The naval Battle of Lowestoft in June 1665 was the first in the Second Anglo Dutch War. Held 40 mile (64 km) off the coast, it was a victory for the English. Lowestoft Porcelain Factory, in 1757–1802, was in production for longer than any English soft paste porcelain manufacturer other than Royal Worcester and Royal Crown Derby, producing domestic pots, teapots and jugs. It stood on the site of an existing pottery or brick kiln, and used later as a brewery and malt kiln. Most of its remaining buildings were demolished in 1955. Sir Samuel Morton Peto's arrival in 19th century Lowestoft brought a change in the town's fortunes, including its fishing industry. This had a profound impact on the town's industrial development – its fishing fleets could sell to markets further inland, and other industries such as engineering gained from increased trade with the continent. It is sometimes placed among the UK's most heavily bombed towns per head of population.

Lowestoft is the major settlement in the East Suffolk district. It lost its status as a municipal borough in 1974, but retained a ceremonial mayor elected annually by its district councillors and acting as charter trustees until 2017. Suffolk County Council is the county authority. A civil parish of Lowestoft was created on 1 April 2017, governed by Lowestoft Town Council, which elects a town mayor annually. The town is part of the Waveney parliamentary constituency, represented at Westminster by the Conservative Peter Aldous. Former MPs include Bob Blizzard, David Porter and Jim Prior, a cabinet minister and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the Thatcher governments. Prior also represented the earlier constituency of Lowestoft. For European Union elections, Lowestoft lay in the East of England constituency. Before 1 April 2019, Lowestoft as part of Waveney District Council was divided into ten electoral wards, with Carlton Colville treated as a separate electoral area. Harbour, Kirkley, Normanston, Pakefield, St Margarets and Whitton wards elected three councillors each, and Carlton, Gunton and Corton, Oulton and Oulton Broad wards two. Of the 48 council seats in the district, 26 represented wards within Lowestoft and 3 Carlton Colville. In 2010 the council changed to a system of all seats being elected every four years. On 1 April 2019, governance arrangements for Lowestoft changed with the merger of Waveney and Suffolk Coastal District Councils to form a new district council of East Suffolk. Elections were held on 2 May 2019 for the six new Lowestoft wards. The seats, 14 in all, are allocated to Carlton and Whitton (2), Gunton and St. Margarets (2), Harbour and Normanston (3), Kirkley and Pakefield (3), Lothingland (1), and Oulton Broad (3). There are also changes to wards adjacent to Lowestoft. After the inaugural 2019 East Suffolk District Council election of 2 May, eight of the 14 Lowestoft seats over the six new wards went to the Conservatives and six to Labour. On Suffolk County Council, Lowestoft and its district are represented by eight councillors, split equally between four divisions: Gunton, Lowestoft South, Oulton and Pakefield. For county council elections, held every four years, Pakefield division includes Carlton Colville. After the 2017 election, seven of Lowestoft's county councillors represented the Conservatives and one Labour. In 2018, one Conservative councillor left the party and became an Independent.

Lowestoft is Suffolk's second largest town after Ipswich, with an estimated population of 58,560 in 2010. The wider urban area, brought the estimated population of the built up area to 73,755 in 2018 from 68,850 at the 2001 census. The towns wider urban area includes the suburbs and villages of Carlton Colville, Gunton, Pakefield, Oulton, Oulton Broad and Kirkley. Other outlying villages in the urban area include Blundeston, Corton, Gisleham, Kessingland and Somerleyton. About 10 per cent of the area population at the 2001 census was aged 75 or over and 20 per cent under 16. At the 2001 census there were 27,777 households, giving an average household size of 2.40. Although the tourism sector has grown, the major employers in the town are the wholesale and retail sector, with 18 per cent of employment. Service industries, including health, social care and education are significant employers, while manufacturing employs about 10 per cent of the workforce. Employment can vary seasonally due to the importance of tourism to the economy. In early 2011, around 10 per cent of the working population of the town claimed Jobseekers Allowance.

Until the mid 1960s, fishing was seen as Lowestoft's main industry, and although 100 boats remained by the 1980s, there are now only a few small boats operating out of Lowestoft, with no large trawlers. By 2011 just three traders remained at the town's fish market, which is under threat of closure due to redevelopment of the port. The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), a large fisheries research centre that is a part of Defra, is still located in Lowestoft. Some shipbuilding and repair still goes on at the harbour.

Major local employers include Birds Eye frozen foods, with 700 workers. This has been located in the town for over 60 years. The food processing company Wessex Foods closed its Lowestoft plant in 2010 after a fire destroyed the factory and it failed to find alternative premises. Several other employers have shed labour in recent years. The Sanyo plant in the town closed down in 2009 with a loss of 60 jobs, having once employed 800. The timber company Jeld Wen closed its factory in the town in 2010. For many years the Shell Southern Operations base on the north shore of Lowestoft Harbour was town's largest employer. Oil and gas is still a major industry. The town has made efforts to develop as a centre for renewable energy in the east of England. The non profit Orbis Energy centre has been set up to draw business in the green energy sector and features solar thermal heating. In April 2009, Associated British Ports announced that the harbour is to become the operations centre for the 500 MW Greater Gabbard wind farm, which when completed will be the world's largest offshore windfarm. The turbines will be located 15 mile (24 km) off the Suffolk coast and the Outer Harbour will be used to house the necessary operational support facilities. Other developments in the renewable energy sector include a prototype tidal energy generator being produced by local company 4NRG and wave power systems developed by Trident Energy. Hoseasons (now part of Awaze), a specialist in self catering UK holidays, is also a large employment provider.

The town centre is the main shopping area in Waveney district. The retail chain Marks & Spencer has a store. Chadds independent department store was founded in 1907, and after nearly 100 years trading in the High Street, was taken over in 2004 by the Great Yarmouth based Palmers group. Specialist shopping areas, branded as The Historic High Street and the Triangle Market Place, have been developed on the northern edge of the centre. Several retail parks have appeared, the largest being North Quay Retail Park in Peto Way.

Lowestoft is a traditional seaside resort, first developed as a bathing site in the 1760s. The beach south of the Claremont Pier is a Blue Flag beach. Lifeguard facilities are provided during the summer and water sports take place along the coast. while the second is the Africa Alive! wildlife park, situated in the south at Kessingland. The town maintains a holiday park at Pakefield, operated by Pontins, From 2004, it was run by Lowestoft Seafront Air Festival Ltd, a non profit company, but suffered financial difficulties. In 2010, the event made a loss of £40,000 and raised concerns over its sustainability, whereupon further financial difficulties coupled with bad weather and low visitor numbers made the 2012 airshow the last before it was discontinued. Near the town centre is Lowestoft Maritime Museum, open from late April to late October, which has exhibits of maritime artefacts, an extensive collection of ship models and medals, marine art, fishing and the fishing industry, activities with the Royal Navy in WWII, and shipwrights' and coopers' tools.

Lowestoft is among the more socially deprived areas in Suffolk, with Kirkley the county's most deprived ward, ranking 173rd most deprived in England out of 32,486. Regeneration company 1st East, which focused on the Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth areas, closed in 2011. Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft Enterprise Zone was announced in 2011 and launched in April 2012. The zone, developed by New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, has six redevelopment sites across Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth. The bid for the zone in 2011 envisaged creating 13,500 jobs by 2036. It involved the Norfolk and Suffolk Energy Alliance and focused on developing the energy sector initially using tax incentives, simplified planning regulations and the provision of improved broadband internet services. The harbour is a focus of redevelopment proposals for Lowestoft through the Lake Lothing and Outer Harbour Area Action Plan, submitted in February 2011. The plan focuses on the redevelopment of brownfield sites in and around the harbour area to create jobs, particularly in the renewable energy and retailing sectors.

The town has three theatres: the Marina, the Players (Lowestoft) and The Seagull. The 800 seat Marina, operated as a charitable trust, was restored and refurbished in 2012 and its cinema upgraded to digital in 2013. A small four screen cinema, the independently owned East Coast Cinema, underwent modest refurbishment in late 2011 to upgrade facilities and allow 3D films to be shown. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has played regularly at the Marina Theatre since 2005. Lowestoft Museum, which holds a collection of Lowestoft Porcelain and artifacts describing the town's history, is in Nicholas Everett Park in Oulton Broad. The Mincarlo, the last surviving sidewinder trawler of the Lowestoft fishing fleet, can be visited at Lowestoft Harbour. The East Anglia Transport Museum holds a collection of buses, trams and trolleybuses in Carlton Colville. Lowestoft retains several narrow lanes with steps running steeply seawards, known locally as "scores". They were used by fishermen and smugglers and now feature in an annual charity race. The borough church, dedicated to St Margaret, is a Grade I listed building. In the town centre is Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, a Grade II listed building in the Arts and Crafts style and the most easterly Catholic church in the British Isles. Lowestoft's town centre library contains a local history section and a branch of the Suffolk Record Office. Lowestoft Hospital closed in 2016. Services are now provided by the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston. The main burial grounds for the town are Lowestoft Cemetery and Kirkley Cemetery. The town is twinned with the town of Plaisir in the Yvelines department in the Île de France to the west of Paris.

Ness Point, the most easterly location in the United Kingdom, is located in the town close to a 126 metre wind turbine, known locally as Gulliver. At the time it was completed it was the country's tallest. At the most easterly point is a large compass rose, the Euroscope, set in the ground to give the direction and distance to various cities in Europe.

Belle Vue Park (Sparrows Nest) is the site of the Royal Naval Patrol Service memorial. The central depot for the service was in Lowestoft when it was mobilised in August 1939, on a site known as Sparrow's Nest, adjacent to the memorial. The memorial has the names of the 2,385 members of the service who died in World War II.

Lowestoft Lighthouse, built in 1874 to the north of the town centre, stands 16 metres high at 37 metres above sea level, with a range of It was automated in 1975. It is the United Kingdom's most easterly lighthouse. The first two lighthouses in Lowestoft were built in 1609 on the foreshore and candlelit, to warn of the dangerous sandbanks around the coast. These were the first constructed by Trinity House. The Low Light was discontinued in 1706 after sea encroachment, but re established in 1730 in a form that could be easily moved in response to further changes to the Stamford Channel and shoreline. It was discontinued in August 1923. The High Light tower was rebuilt as the present lighthouse in 1874

Lowestoft Lifeboat Station, at the mouth of the outer harbour at the South Pier, is one of Britain's oldest, founded in 1801 and open to visitors throughout the year. The lifeboat is Patsy Knight, a Shannon class lifeboat which replaced the Tyne class boat Spirit of Lowestoft in 2014. A former Lowestoft lifeboat was used during the Dunkirk evacuation of British forces from France in 1940.

Lowestoft Town Hall stands in the High Street. Various forms of local government have met or been based on this site since its establishment as a Town House and Chapel in 1570. In 1698 a new Town House was built, incorporating a 'corn cross' on the ground floor with the meeting chamber and chapel above. This in turn was replaced by the present building, designed by architect J. L. Clemence in 1857. The building houses the town clock and the curfew bell, which dates from 1644 and is rung each evening at 8 p. m. The building is a Grade II listed building. In 2012, Waveney District Council announced that it planned to leave the town hall and share Suffolk County Council's offices in Riverside Road. This occurred in 2015. Both lines were originally part of the Great Eastern Railway and are operated by Greater Anglia. The suburb of Oulton Broad has two stations: Oulton Broad North station lies on the line to Norwich, while Oulton Broad South is on the line to Ipswich. Lowestoft North railway station, originally operated by the Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway, closed in 1970 with the Lowestoft to Great Yarmouth line. The site is now taken by the residential Beeching Drive. Buses in Lowestoft are mainly operated by First Eastern Counties, with Lowestoft bus station as the hub. They link the town with Norwich and Great Yarmouth and provide services within the town and to surrounding villages. The Excel X1 route runs a link to Peterborough. National Express Coaches stop in Lowestoft on the London–Great Yarmouth route. The main A12 road to London passes through Carlton Colville, Pakefield and Kirkley in the southern area of Lowestoft, ending at the town's harbour Bascule Bridge. It connects there to the A47 road, which runs around the centre of town, before exiting along Great Yarmouth Road, crossing the county border into Norfolk. A second road from the town centre, the A1044, links the town to Oulton Broad, via its second road crossing over Lake Lothing, and connects with the A146 that runs between Lowestoft, Beccles and Norwich. as of 2021 a third crossing of Lowestoft Harbour is under construction. A southern relief road was built to divert traffic from the seafront, while a proposed pedestrian and cycle bridge is planned as an alternative crossing alongside the Bascule Bridge. Lowestoft's cycle network has routes that link areas to the town centre. About 12 per cent of residents cycle to work. The town is seen as "ideally suited" to cycling due to its relatively small size and flat landscape. After reorganisation, all eight middle schools in the town closed in 2011 and Pakefield High School opened. Post 16 education is provided at Lowestoft Sixth Form College, which opened in September 2011 as part of the reorganisation, and at East Coast College (Lowestoft Campus), which offers a range of academic and vocational courses. East Coast College (Lowestoft Campus) provides some higher education courses through an affiliation to the University of Suffolk. Degrees were initially validated by the University of East Anglia and the University of Essex but are now validated by the University of Suffolk. The college also has courses in boat building and some to support the offshore and maritime industries that are major employers in the town. Other adult education courses are run by the County Council from a base at the town library.

Lowestoft's sport clubs and facilities include Lowestoft Town Football Club at Crown Meadow and Kirkley & Pakefield Football Club at Walmer Road. Lowestoft Cricket Club plays at the Denes Oval sport ground. Other sport clubs include Waveney Gymnastics club and Rookery Park Golf Club. Lowestoft and Yarmouth rugby football club also has its Gunton Park home based in Lowestoft. Founded in 1879, it is one of the oldest rugby union clubs in England. East Coast Hockey Club is the town's field hockey side formed in 2019 as a result of a merger between Lowestoft Railway Hockey Club and Lowestoft Ladies Hockey Club. They play their home matches at East Point Academy. The town's main leisure centre, the Waterlane Leisure Centre, was redeveloped at a cost of £8 million in 2010–2011. Facilities include a gym and climbing wall as well as a 25 metre swimming pool with a movable floor. Lowestoft has a number of parks and recreation grounds. The Broads national park extends to Lowestoft on Oulton Broad. Water activities and boat tours can be taken here. Powerboat racing takes place throughout the summer, mainly on Thursday evenings. Fixtures are organised by the Lowestoft and Oulton Broad Motor Boat Club and can attract up to 1500 spectators. The Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club has its club house in Lowestoft harbour.

The following individuals, military units, organisations and groups have received the Freedom of the Town of Lowestoft.

The Excelsior: 25 June 2021.