A CURIOUS combination of sun, sea and woolly Olympic athletes has provided a huge tourism boost for a North- East seaside resort.

The creator of the imaginative 50 metre-long scarf knitted onto Saltburn pier remains unknown, but whoever is responsible has brought more money into the resort than many town business people could have imagined so early in the tourist season.

The scarf, which is adorned with colourful characters taking part in a variety of events, has become a sensation in the town, with people travelling from far and wide to inspect it, especially over the weekend, taking advantage of the warm and sunny weather.

The ringing of the cash registers has been welcomed by businesses near the pier.

Susan Cowley, manager of The Seaview Restaurant, said: “The knitting on the pier has certainly got something to do with the amount of people we have seen over the past few days, but the weather has also been a massive factor.

“All the staff have been rushed off their feet and people have been queuing up all day, which has been great for business.”

Avril England, who runs the Surf’s Up coffee shop, said: “The weekend was absolutely incredible. To have that many people coming into Saltburn to see the knitting has been fantastic. No one seems to know who created the scarf, but it has certainly created a massive amount of interest in the town.”

The glorious weather certainly played its part in encouraging thousands of people to visit the town and Michala Rookes, who runs The Little Big Shop, said: “It has been really good for business, the amount of people visiting and the hot weather means we have been selling more cold drinks and ice cream than we thought we would – it’s been like a bank holiday weekend.”

Councillor George Dunning, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said he hopes the knitted attraction will continue to bring thousands of people to the resort as the mild weather looks likely to continue across the region until the end of the week.

He said: “Saltburn is an absolute jewel in the crown of the North-East and attracts 1.6 million day visitors a year anyway, but this mystery scarf really has had people flocking to the pier.

“The town was packed over the weekend and the local farmers’ market did a fantastic trade off the back of it.

“As the warm weather continues this week, we hope more people take the chance to see this unusual attraction and check the rest of the town.”

Temperatures in North Yorkshire and Teesside reached 14C (57.2F) yesterday.

Aisling Creevy, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: “Temperatures are above average in most places. It’s going to be pleasantly mild over the coming days.”