A rotten summer

Summer should be their busiest time of year but for some it has been disastrous.

Patrick Meyer of Hosers watersports on the Marina said: "I know some people have been hit hard.

"It has affected a lot of people. We have suffered, but we have managed to keep ahead...But I can see at the end of this summer a lot of places will be closing down, not just in Bexhill, but around the country. It has hit everybody hard. Let's just hope next year is better."

Meanwhile Sarah Reed, manager at Marina News, has seen a fall in sales of beach paraphernalia such as the cheery inflatable dolphins propped up outside and the seaside essentials such buckets and spades and sunglasses inside the shop.

"It has been terrible," she said.

"Sales are right down at the moment. But then when we have a nice day we do really well."

Anyone strolling along the seafront this week might have been forgiven for thinking it was October rather than mid-August, with just a handful of hardy souls scattered across the deserted shingle.

On the promenade at West Parade is Buxton's Kiosk, owned for the past eight years by Perry and Kay Atwood. They stock everything anyone could need for a day on the beach, with a colourful range of flip-flops, goggles, lilos, flags, towels and sunhats. They also sell refreshments, such as sandwiches and lollies, as well as their excellent whippy icecream.

Perry described the summer as "shocking" while his wife agreed it was "grim", and that their family-run business had been affected by a lack of customers along the seafront.

He said: "It hasn't been a very good summer - and last year wasn't good either, because the weather was awful in August.

"This year was quite good in April, but since then we have had three and a half months of not very nice weather."

He added: "We are a small outfit so we don't have to employ lots of people."

Kay said: "We rely on holidaymakers. Hopefully we are going to have good weather coming up this week. All the bank holidays this year have been bad, which isn't a help, so we are hoping for a good one this time."

Part of the business is hiring out their 40 beach huts, either for the summer season or for a week.

She said: "Some people have paid their money in advance and actually used it just once during the whole week. But you get those that sit out in their deckchairs with the rain coming down around them, behind their windbreaks, because they have come down here, and want to enjoy it anyway.

"We have got lots of regulars and people that come down in all weather."

Further up West Parade the Sovereign Light Cafe does a cracking line in home-made fresh food which is popular with locals as well as holidaymakers.

Manager Leslie Turner said: "It has affected us a lot with our icecream sales, but it is affecting everyone. The weather is what our business thrives on. We are still doing as well on the food side but not on the ice cream sales. Normally I would have extra staff but I haven't had to take on any extra. We are still getting quite a few coming in, but not so much people with children...there is no-one on the beach is there? It is terrible."

Frank Edgar is new to Sackville Road where he opened a cafe two months ago; he is finding his feet but remaining optimistic about the future.

"It has been very quiet - we have had quite a few quiet weeks. The last week of July and the first week of August was better, but it seems to have died off again...whether it is because a lot of people have gone away on holiday I don't know.

"We have had a lot come over from Eastbourne, but we have had many people saying they are cutting their holidays short because of the weather.

"The weather has made one helluva difference - it really has."

Nick Wells, of the long established shoe shop in Sackville Road, said he had also been affected by bad weather.

"The shoe side has been OK but obviously the sandal side has been down because of the weather - it is as simple as that. It is all down to the weather and it has been so lousy. It has been one of the worse summers we have ever had, with continual rain through May, June and July, and so people haven't bought the sandals they normally would have bought."

Bexhill Chamber of Commerce and Tourism spokesman Sue Spice said: "The weather is all against us - throughout the country, not just Bexhill. Everybody is hurting everywhere in this climate that we have at the moment.

But I would say that certainly at weekends the guest houses are nice and busy. It is just a great pity for all of England, including Bexhill, that we have had such a terrible summer."

Dave Dickens Smith, chairman of the Rother District Taxi Association, reckoned business was down by as much as 25 per cent but felt this was often the case during school holidays.