It's the middle of June and the weather is good. But, while other UK seaside towns and their piers bustle with visitors, one sits silent.
Ice cream parlours are bolted shut and arcade machines sit unused. There are still decorations from Christmas on the counter behind the bar in the café.
Half-used stock sits in boxed on the floor and the only sound is of seagulls overhead and the waves below. This is Merseyside, where the Southport Pier Pavilion has been abandoned since December, when the council shut it down on health and safety grounds.
Half a year later, it's still not clear when life will return to what is the country's second-oldest pier. Saffron Otter from the Mirror went to visit and below is what she found.
I meet with Colin Jamieson, who has run two businesses on the iconic structure for 20 years.
One is the railway train that usually travels the length of the pier, running for 1km, and the other is the café business - which hasn't been able to operate since they had to shut up shop two weeks before Christmas due to 'ice damage'.
The 67-year-old is distraught, as he employs almost all of his family on the pier, and says it is like being in lockdown but without the financial support from the Government that he previously received during Covid.
"Any company that isn't trading for six months, it's going to go bust and the staff are going to leave. It's terrifying, we have no income," he tells the Mirror. "The longer it goes on, it's going to kill our company.
"I'm using what is left in the bank to keep things afloat. I have two daughters, one is 42 and the other 35. They have homes and kids to look after and they aren't earning any money.
"Everyone works for me, my son-in-law works for me, the whole family works for me. They're all suffering. No one wants to be seen as unethical and immoral. To do this to a company, to anyone, it's not right."
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Shaking his head as he struggles to comprehend what is happening, the dad-of-two adds: "I can't even find the words to describe it."
According to Colin, Sefton Council told him to remove the train last June so they could repair some damaged timber. Workmen set out replacing boards and completed a 50ft stretch at one end.
He says that by November the work had stopped and the following month the council ordered a full closure, citing weather damage. As per his tenancy agreement, he has to obey when it comes to health and safety.
"We were closed without any warning whatsoever," he recalls. "This pier has been here 160 years now and it’s been rebuilt a few times along the way.
"It's had ice damage every year and this timber on it now has been down for 20 years. It has never caused any problems and it never will."
He understands the council’s need to ensure the utmost safety, but Colin argues that it is safe and wishes to work with them to see new decking laid down in stages - like the work being done on neighbouring Blackpool pier, which can be spotted in the distance. Joining Colin for a walk along the pier, you can vividly see the toll it's taking on the businessman.
He shows me the locked-up cafés, ice cream van, inside his recently refurbished café and bar, and turns on the arcade machines for me after opening up the shutters. As we're there, countless visitors walk up to the pier to only have to turn back around when they're confronted with the gates.
When I point out that it's even making me feel sad to be alone on a usually bustling monument, which was visited by steamliners in its heyday and where Charlie Chaplin performed in the early 20th century, Colin admits that he finds it depressing to come and see his life’s work currently vacant.
"I've been in business for over 40 years and I’ve dealt with that much pressure in my life, it never bothers me," he says. "But since this has happened, I've had palpitations. I didn't like to admit it, but it's medically put me in a bad way. I'm waiting for a call to discuss a heart monitor with my GP. There is no plan for the future anymore. I'm being held off the end of the pier on a rope."
The council say they are still awaiting survey results before any action can be taken with it being a complex job, but Colin argues it has taken far too long. They offered up another spot in town for him to operate, but he says it wouldn't have been a profitable move. At the end of his tether, Colin has submitted a compensation claim.
If the pier remains shut over its busiest period during the summer season, he estimates to lose out on roughly £600,000 turnover. But it's not just the Jamieson family that is impacted, it's the whole town, he says, as 400,000 visitors would usually flock there for a walk in the coming months.
"It's everything about the town for the people that come here," he says. "Every shop there at the end of the pier is losing out. Business owners are going mad about it. They're putting the town to death."
Max Wright, the manager of Wright’s Diner, located on Nevill Street, says he has been affected by the ongoing situation.
"It's just a shame, isn't it?" the 28-year-old says. "It diverts people, they can't really get it to us, so it is affecting us. You can't get to the beach easily anymore."
A few stores down is Kim Paskin, of Southport Rock Shop. The 63 year old says he has been met with disgruntled customers who share their aggravation when they discover the pier's closure.
"We have people come from all over, coach-trippers, and when they arrive they’re disappointed to see it's not open," he says. "The pier is massively important, it's one of the biggest attractions and it's better for everyone if it's open."
One of those visitors is Dan, who wished not to disclose his surname, who is staying in the nearby Pontins for four nights.
From Doncaster, South Yorkshire, the 38-year-old has fond memories of visiting Southport as a child, with the pier a big part of it.
"It looks strange being empty. We were gutted," Dan says. "I've been coming since I was a kid. I've always loved the pier. It was going to be the first thing we did when we arrived but realised it was closed. What's going on?"
Aside from debate about the grand pier, which has taken over Facebook pages, another talking point of the seaside town is its sea, or lack of.
A string of TripAdvisor comments from dissatisfied visitors complain that they couldn't find it, with one writing: "Does the tide ever come in? I can't find one picture of it even over the net."
Another shared: "Beach is clean but where is the sea ?? We went to the end of the pier and still no sea."
While I could barely make it out when I first arrived late morning, local Terry O’Toole says I've got lucky, as it glides to the shore behind us. The 72-year-old walks along the strip, and usually the pier, three or four times a week.
"It [the sea] is in now, but you might not see it again for three weeks," he laughs.
Like others I've heard from today, he echoes the importance of the pier and its place at the centre of the town's identity.
"It's the main thing in the town," Terry says. "It's the first place people head to and always have done. It looks like we're still in the pandemic now."
The pier was refurbished in 2002 at a cost of £7million and a year later it won the National Piers Society's prestigious "Pier of the Year" award. Ten years later, Sefton Council outlined £3m plans to replace the wooden beams - which added to a total distance of 63 miles.
But in December 2022 damage was caused by freezing weather, which reportedly exposed the dire state of the historic structure, turning the renovation into what looks to be a much bigger project than they set out for it to be. Engineers advised the council to close it down, with structural surveys now taking place.
A spokesperson for Sefton Council said: "As previously stated, the survey being carried out on Southport Pier involves a thorough and intrusive assessment of the 3,600ft structure. Due to the detailed nature of this assessment and the complexity of Southport Pier's structure, the survey takes time to complete.
"However we will update both business owners directly and the public through our official communication channels as soon as possible. We appreciate this is a frustrating time for everyone but health and safety remains our priority."
