West Wight beaches are open for business

There has been good news on West Wight beaches – Colwell Bay, Freshwater Bay and Totland Bay this week.

The IW Observer can reveal that The Bay Café, at the end of Totland Pier, is to open on Tuesday (June 4). This follows the IW Council’s announcement that the popular sea wall footpath between Totland Bay and Colwell, has partially reopened after tons of rock and debris have been cleared by contractors from the promenade.

And the ongoing work, at Albion Hotel, Freshwater Bay, is progressing ‘hunky-dory’ and will open in a few weeks’ time.

Owner of Totland Pier, Charlie Wooldridge, said: “We’re all set for to open for June 4. Everything is in place with a chef, manager and a team which is ready to go and we’re very positive.

“It’s also brilliant news that the walk has reopened. We had hoped to open a bit sooner, but the landslide pushed us back, now we can move on as planned.

“The café will be upmarket and based on our restaurant menu from The Glass House by Seasons in Surrey.”

The Albion Hotel’s general manager, Mark Craven, was also upbeat, saying: “Everything is hunky-dory and we will be absolutely opening shortly as planned. We are on schedule but can’t commit to an opening date just yet, but we’re nearly there.”

Following the landslip, the connecting path has been restored to public access along the seafront from the Totland pier gates up to the existing landslip section.

Work is due to start later this month to repair voiding discovered underneath the sea wall on the Colwell side of the landslip. The council’s aim is to fully reopen the footpath — which was closed for public safety in February — at the earliest opportunity in June.

Elsewhere on the Island, repairs to the damaged sea wall at Shanklin are due to start as repairs are essential to extend the life of the sea defences ahead the major scheme being undertaken by the council in conjunction with the Environment Agency over the next five years in The Bay area.

Meanwhile, at Monks Bay near Ventnor, council contractors have just completed this year’s beach replenishment works, protecting the coastal slopes and reducing the risk of cliff movement.