Once-thriving UK seaside village suffers ‘actual blow’ after Pontins closes down | UK | News | EUROtoday

Tourism makes up for about 40 p.c of Southport’s financial system and the announcement of the everlasting closure of Pontins Holiday Park in the beginning of 2024 has nervous native residents who wish to see a use for the positioning that can profit companies, locals and vacationers.

Speculating on which enterprise might take the spot, Becci Fairhurst, 38, who works in Ainsdale village on the Mecycle Café & Bike Workshop stated: “If it’s going to be touristy, it would be good if it was something that local people could use as well, appealing to spend an afternoon down there.”

Ainsdale Village is house to unbiased retailers, retailers, plus a lot of bars and eating places, and is located three miles south of the centre of Southport.

Station Road is house to a cluster of hospitality shops and native businessman, Mr Pittounikos, who runs the takeaway Fish Loves Chips is anxious a couple of drop in commerce.

He informed the Liverpool Echo: “I think Pontins is going to hit us. Our trade always goes up by around 30 percent to 40 percent in the summer, so that’s a big blow really.

“It might have gone downhill however while you’ve obtained hundreds of individuals there, a lot of them coming into the village. Even if it is 300 folks each week for 3 months of the yr, it is important.”

The businessman further highlighted his concerns: “It’s a thriving village however it is a actual blow to us. You discover the inflow in the summertime, we used to employees up for the summer season from April, however that received’t be wanted if there’s nothing down there.”

Conservative MP for Southport, Damien Moore, said the replacement for Pontins in Southport, owned by Britannia Hotels, would have to be hospitality.

Mr Moore said: “The lease says it must be hospitality. I’d encourage it to stay to that lease, I feel it’s necessary we now have that tourism attract Southport.”

He added: “Ainsdale has a incredible village centre. It’s a chief location for hospitality, so I’d encourage folks to have a look at the broader website – the Sands and Toad Hall. As a enterprise mannequin, an even bigger space would assist them, giving them more room.”

However, Patrick Hurley, who hopes to become Southport’s first Labour MP, explained a “precedence” was serving to employees into new jobs. He highlighted how the newest enterprise closure was yet one more instance of the way it has change into troublesome for companies to cowl their prices.

He defined: “Sky high inflation, outdated tax systems and not enough money in people’s payslips have all combined to mean that when external shocks hit, there’s nothing put aside for inevitable downturns. I just hope this will be the last bit of bad economic news to hit Southport this year.”

The closure of Pontins, Southport, follows two different resorts – Camber Sands and Prestatyn, which shut in 2022.

Staff primarily based on the resort, claimed they discovered their jobs have been misplaced by textual content messages, simply hours earlier than the announcement was made on January 3.

In a press release on-line, Pontins Southport stated that after assessing the “future viability of the park, we have come to the difficult decision to close our doors.”