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Amble is a well known holiday resort, with its many Bed and Breakfasts and Guest Houses as well as a very popular caravan site. In years gone by many famous people have visited Amble including Ant (McPartlin) and his sister when they were younger, as mentioned in Ant and Dec's book "Ooh! What A Lovely Pair".
Amble grew in the nineteenth century as collieries were opened, and its then newly built railway links to the Northumberland coalfields, made it an ideal centre for the transport and export of coal. Other industries, such as ship building and repair on an area known as the Braid, now a greenfield site with a modern marina, and sea fishing, expanded with the growth of the town, although traditional Northumbrian fishing vessels such as cobles have sheltered in the natural harbour for centuries previously. A part of the harbour wall suffered a partial collapse in the late summer of 2008 due to massive flooding. The nearby village of Warkworth, a mile up the river Coquet (pronounced coe kit) also saw major flooding, as did other communities up the Coquet valley.
Today, the collieries in Northumberland are all closed (the last, Ellington, closed in 2005), and the railway no longer serves Amble. However, the fishing industry survives, albeit with a somewhat reduced numbers of vessels, as does a small marine industry, mainly concentrated around the construction and repair of yachts and other pleasure craft. A small industrial estate is located to the southwest of the town, whose clients include food processing plants, vehicle repairs and telecommunications companies.
Tourism forms an important sector of the town's economy - part of the harbour has been redeveloped into a marina, and caravan park, guest houses and B&Bs exist to serve visitors to the Northumberland coast.
Saint Cuthbert lived on Coquet Island just offshore from the town, which retains its strong Christian identity. Amble's four churches are often quite busy. Nearby Warkworth is noted for its castle.
Amble is also the home of the Division 3 Basketball Team, the Northumberland Knightflyers, who are based at Coquet High School.
Amble holds the title 'Friendliest Port'. This derives from the 1930s when the RMS Mauretania was heading on her last voyage to the breaker's yard at Rosyth and the Amble town council (Amble Urban District Council) sent a telegram to the ship saying "still the finest ship on the seas". The Mauretania replied with greetings "to the last and friendliest port in England".
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