As the UK enters another summer heatwave, we took a trip to Redcar to see whether the much-lauded, post-Covid staycation spirit is still alive and well in the North-East.
The North Sea glitters like the Med, bright white sunshine bounces off glass-fronted amusement arcades and the smell of fish and chips floats along the breeze.
A bright hook-a-duck stall is a hub of children’s laughter and bags of sugar-pink candy floss attract crowds of the sweet-toothed to seafront stalls.
There’s something so evocative about the sights and smells of a British seaside resort on a summer’s day it’s easy to see why there was such a wave of positivity about the offer on our doorstep when Covid grounded flights to more exotic locations.
And with its seaside donkeys, wide sandy beaches and, of course, lemontops, Redcar has been pulling in the summer crowds for decades.
But despite the hordes that flocked to the beach today, there’s a feeling among some seafront traders that the buzz after Covid forced sun-seekers to holiday in the UK is starting to wane.
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Russell Newsome, of Russell’s Fish and Chips on Redcar seafront, said the first two weeks of the school summer holidays were ‘non-existent’ in terms of trade for his shop as dull weather failed to entice families to the beach.
And he firmly believes that there needs to be far more public events staged in Redcar to attract the crowds to the town, whatever the weather.
“My family goes back here to the funfairs on the beach in 1905,” says Russell, who has owned his fish and chip shop for 38-years.
“My father reflects on when there was horseracing, motor racing and other activities on the beach all the time.
“They put it down to health and safety as to why things like that don’t happen now, but we have an absolutely fantastic beach and we just don’t use it enough anymore.
“We have things like the Redcar half-marathon and the triathlon but they are niche things that might attract the sportspeople but not the families so it’s not much good for the town’s traders.
“We don’t have the quirky appeal of places like Saltburn or Seaton Carew and for us as traders there isn’t enough going on to attract people.
“30-years-ago there was the Redcar Carnival which was fantastic and we had fishing events and all sorts to bring people here, but it went backwards with the end of British Steel unfortunately.”
Despite this, Russell is hopeful that the current heatwave will continue to bring the crowds into the town.
“When it’s sunny, we do well, it’s as simple as that,” he said.
“But so far we’ve not been nearly as busy as we were that first year after Covid, business was tremendous back then but this year it has been hit and miss.
“Maybe its people’s spending habits changing, or what we are thinking is that they are going abroad and going away on holiday again now.”
He added: “Business is good when the weather is good and when the weather breaks we struggle again.
“It is all about the weather in Redcar, that’s when they want to come to the beach and it’s a fantastic beach, but we don’t do enough with it.”
Nicola Miller has been running the Truly Scrumptious sweet stall on the seafront in Redcar for the last three years and says she has noticed a dip in customers since the surge of visitors post-Covid.
She said: “I would say this has been the quietest year, possibly people are going abroad again.
“During Covid the first year after was definitely busier than now, but there is still a lovely atmosphere and I am still happy to be here.”
Luckily for traders like Russell and Nicola there’s plenty of sunshine forecast for the rest of the week to entice the crowds onto the beach.
Temperatures in the North East are expected to climb into the high twenties and an amber weather warning for extreme heat is in place in parts of central and southern England from Thursday to Sunday.
So whilst some might complain about the sticky discomfort and parched lawns the heatwaves bring, for the stalwart traders of our seaside towns, they can’t last long enough.
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