Image-conscious Clacton looks beyond the shellsuit brigade

Scorching summer relieves seaside town's fear of terminal decline

LOUISE JURY

The man on the end of the pier is set to quit. No one wants to have a shot at scoring less than 21 with three darts any more. Not even for only 50p.

"It's pounds 1 at the other end of the pier," he said, declining to give his name. "But they've spent their money by the time they get here.'' He thinks he'll get a market stall instead.

His is the old face of Clacton-On-Sea in Essex. He talks nostalgically of the days a decade gone when the Butlin's camp brought people and prosperity.

Only the good weather has saved him this summer, but he does not expect that again, and seven days a week is a tough way of making a living. When it is stormy, it is unbearable, he said. "It's like you're cut off from the world here."

Yet just around the corner is a sign hinting at a different kind of town. "The new owners of Clacton pier, who took over in October 1994, wish it to be known that although many parts of the pier have been allowed to get into disrepair, it is our intention in phase two to restore it to its former glory."

Glory is a relative term, of course. If your idea of heaven is a quaint Cornish port or a Castillian courtyard, the barrage of whirring, whizzing, pinging slot machines and fairground rides would be hell.

The first impression of the town is of a seaside long lost, of candy floss, fish and chips, jellied eels and deckchairs. The only rocket in Clacton is in the space-age pavilion simulators, certainly not in the restaurant salad. The Punch and Judy man entertains children on the beach for 30p a session.

But after years of apparent terminal decline, Clacton-On-Sea considers itself on the up. It may not be at the crest of the wave that has filled B&Bs from Bournemouth to Blackpool as the Mediterranean sun hits Britain, but Clacton is getting smarter. Along with the pier, the pavilion is being renovated, and the local traders in the tourist business are touting for business with a nationwide advertising campaign.

Clacton has had an image problem, concedes Kevin Hook, Royal Hotel manager and spokesman for the town's tourist industry. "People think it's a little bit downmarket, but really it compares very well with other resorts," he said yesterday. "It's a bit unfair. The whole town is very clean and we've almost got a blue flag beach."

So they are working at this tourism business in Clacton. Now there is an air show, a classic car show and a folk festival to draw the visitors in. There were double-ticket deals for Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen, and George Melly at the Princes Theatre at the weekend. Ageing trumpet players jam-med on the seafront yesterday as part of a jazz festival.

The policy appears to be succeeding. David and Margaret Wyllie, both 49, have come from Waltham Abbey for the weekend after a foreign break in Majorca. They have a caravan on the coast. Mrs Wyllie said: "We just potter around, walk along the beach and get a sight of the water."

The hotels were full. The Royal has been fully booked for the last 10 days, even with a standard double at pounds 45 a night. There was one double at The Chantry, but that was unusual. They were normally busy, Maria Velhadj the owner, said: "I think the weather helped this year. There have been more people just coming through the door and asking."

Clacton is a daytripper's town, according to Caroline Gray in the pavillion's American-style burger bar. They come in shellsuits and sensible anoraks against the breeze, determined to confirm the image of the sartorially challenged Brit on holiday. Only the Asian women in their saris, walking along the seafront, look elegant.

Clacton embraces them all, with the traders ever worried that it is going to be the year the tourist trade finally collapses. This summer, the weather did them proud and the majority will survive.