Garth Pier closure: Bangor tea room owners 'destitute'

The couple's business is on the Grade-II listed Victorian Garth Pier

A couple who own a tea room said they have been left "destitute" after repair work on a pier forced them to close their business.

Nick Davies and Ceinwen Pughe had to shut Tea Room Pavilion in June after Garth Pier in Bangor was closed for £1m worth of structural repairs.

The pair said they had been left without income and were missing out on up to £900 a day in revenue.

Bangor City Council said the pierhead was closed for public safety.

Mr Davies and Ms Pughe said they were told in October that work on the pier would not affect them and would be completed by February.

Now it will not reopen until February 2019 as the restoration work on the Grade II-listed structure will take nine months to finish.

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Tea Room Pavilion had to close in June so the pier could be repaired

"They have left us destitute," said Mr Davies. "We would have had the best summer ever.

"We have had such a dreadful winter it nearly finished us. We only started making money from the end of May."

The couple estimated they could have made £900 a day at weekends and £500 during the week due to the recent hot weather, but have instead been left with £600 of unused stock.

They now intend to take legal action in a bid to get compensation.

The council said the pier was closed to prevent injury or death as some structures, such as Colwyn Bay, have collapsed in the recent past.

It added it had "no choice" in the decision to close the pier.

The pierhead part of the pier is shut until February