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Coast erosion calls time on pub
Tavern threatened by the waves to be rebuilt inland
Simon Bristow
LAST orders are about to be called at an East Coast public house in danger of slipping into the sea.
For years, regulars at The Tavern in Withernsea were able to take their drinks while enjoying spectacular views of the North Sea.
But now the sea is getting too close for comfort and the pub, along with part of the holiday park to which it belongs, is to be moved further inland to escape the effects of coastal erosion.
The pub is part of the Golden Sands Holiday Park in Holmpton Road, which opened in 1959 and has been run by the Fincham family for the last 12 years.
The Finchams say that work carried out to boost sea defences further north at Withernsea Promenade, completed last year at a cost of 3.5m, had led to a rapid increase in erosion at the site.
They estimate 60 yards of land has fallen away in the last three years.
"You can hear rocks and rubble falling away all the time," said joint park owner Matthew Fincham, 34.
"The work on the promenade has definitely speeded up the erosion. At its worst we've been moving the fence back every day."
Mr Fincham said the site had lost 77 chalets and at least 10 caravan berths during the sea's inexorable progress.
The Finchams have been granted planning permission to build a new public house and provide spaces for 52 caravans on agricultural land which borders the existing site.
They are negotiating purchase of the land, but hope there is still enough time to raise the estimated 1m cost of the development before the sea puts the business at further risk.
Mr Fincham said: "It's been a struggle because we'd obviously planned on getting the income from the chalets we've lost.
"We've got to buy the land now and then fund the development. The last thing you expect is to see part of your business fall into the sea."
Golden Sands is the latest in a series of homes and businesses to be threatened by or lost to the waves along the coastline.
In 1993, the famous Holbeck Hall Hotel in Scarborough crashed into the sea and Spurn Point is also gradually being reduced, some experts predicting it will be cut off by the sea in the next few years.
A spokesman for East Riding Council, which part-funded the work on Withernsea Promenade with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), said suggestions that the work had increased erosion further down the coast were incorrect.
The council developed a shoreline management plan with Defra in 1998 in response to coastal erosion, but the spokesman declined to reveal future predictions for erosion.
He said: "The plan is up for renewal in this financial year and it would be wrong to pre-empt the outcome of that."
Withernsea councillor Richard Stead said some loss of land was inevitable.
He said: "The defences are never enough. The ideal situation would be to have concrete all the way down to Spurn Point, but we are never going to get the money from the Government to do that.
"It's a question of monitoring the erosion as we go along."
He added: "I'm delighted the Finchams have got planning permission because Golden Sands is a very important business for Withernsea and the town's economy.
"The Finchams have run it very well for the last few years and made it successful and they have just been unlucky that coastal erosion has speeded up in recent years."
simon.bristow@ypn.co.uk
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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