November 19, 2018

Christmas festivities on Clacton Pier have been expanded to meet the needs of customers.

Final preparations are under way for activities which begin on December 1 and run through until December 23.

Bookings are going well for the attraction’s first ever Breakfast with Santa event which has now been extended with a similar experience on weekdays over the same period.

The move comes following requests from families who wanted to attend Santa’s Grotto but felt they could not make the weekends.

The new initiative will operate from Monday to Friday from 3.30pm to 6.30pm from December 3 and will involve the normal entry price to Discovery Bay soft play (£6.99 for four to 12 years and £5.49 for those one to three years) and will include free entry to Santa’s Grotto as well as a free meal from the children’s menu.

Nigel Brown, the Pier’s Communications Manager, said the aim is to ensure that everyone who wants to visit Santa’s grotto has the opportunity to do so.

“We set up Breakfast with Santa for Saturday and Sunday mornings at 9am throughout December and once it was announced we had some people say that time would not work for them,” he said.

“They asked us for some sort of weekday event, so we have gone for after school with the free grotto visit and meal thrown in with the normal price for entry to soft play.

“Hopefully this way no one will be left disappointed and miss out on this special Christmas experience.”

Festive decorations are going up, a new Santa’s Grotto has been commissioned and is on its way - and there will also be a snow machine, so it will be snowing every day at the Pier over the festive period.

Santa will be at the Pier every December weekend and a visit to him will be free with every paid entry to Discovery Bay after 10.30am.

With the summer seating having been removed from in front of the Boardwalk Bar there are also now parking spaces available for those attending the events.

Bookings are still being taken for Breakfast with Santa at a cost of £11.99 which includes entry to Discovery Bay soft play; breakfast with Santa and a visit to his grotto. There will also be walkabout entertainers, a Christmas Show and an appearance from the Pier’s mascot, Sidney the Seagull.

Full details are available on the Pier’s website www.clactonpier.co.uk (where bookings can be made) and its Facebook page.