“WE NEED to stop complaining about the situation, understand that this is the situation for the summer and come up with a way of dealing with it.”

These are the words of Andy Lennox, founder of Bournemouth hospitality group Wonky Table, who is appealing for BCP Council and Dorset Police to sort out crowd issues at Bournemouth beach before pubs and restaurants open on Saturday.

Last week saw thousands of visitors crammed around hot sports on the beach near Bournemouth Pier and Sandbanks during a mini heatwave which saw temperatures reach 31 degrees.

Bournemouth Echo:

Mr Lennox, who has founded Koh Thai and Zim Braai, has said that if warm temperatures are to return this summer, the council need to be prepared in order to cope with an increase in visitor numbers.

He said: “I know the council are working very hard to provide what they can to help businesses open next week but they have got to get the seafront sorted first.

"We are going to be busy, there is no escaping that. It will help when our industry is able to reopen as people will being going there and taking some of the strain of the seafront, but we can’t be seen to be reactionary. It is not good enough.

“As a top tourist destination, we should be able to soak this up.”

Pubs, restaurants and hairdressers will be able to reopen, providing they adhere to Covid-secure guidelines.

In a bid to assist those businesses reopening, the safe social distance will become “one metre” plus some form of infection mitigation - for example on public transport it will be one metre plus a face covering.

BCP Council announced a major incident after hundreds of thousands of visitors travelling to Dorset beaches caused overcrowding during the spell of warm weather on Wednesday June 24 and Thursday June 25.

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood was among those saying that “wider national assets” were required to Dorset to help manage crowds visiting the beach.

Andy Lennox said: “It doesn’t particularly bode well for Saturday July 4, but we need to be in a situation by then where we are able to cope with crowds.

“We would usually be busy at this time of year but because there are no flights to other countries, no hotels and B&Bs open, and campsites are also closed, we are going to be very very very busy.

“We need wardens and staff on the beach like there would be at the Air Show and schemes like emergency park and rides to drive people to different chines along the beach which will help to disperse crowds.

“That may mean that every single police officer needs to be in town then at least, if things do kick off, they are there to deal with it.”