A former seaside restaurant owned by Wirral Council has been shut for over a year with no sign it will be reopening anytime soon.

The Sail Loft next to Turner's Ice Cream on South Parade in West Kirby closed on October 31, 2023.

The restaurant had suffered huge losses and a drop in business due to the pandemic and the construction of the West Kirby flood defence. Despite seeing an improvement, it was still £120,000 short of making a profit when the council shut it down.

Other businesses in the town reported a drop in footfall during the construction of the sea wall as parking was lost along the sea front. This led to heavy criticism from local Conservative councillors who called it a disaster.

In September 2023, councillors agreed the local authority should look for someone to take it over and look to bring in a new tenant as soon as possible with priority given to local businesses.

Council officers at the time said: "Whilst the wider environment remains so uncertain it is one of those small scale provisions we probably aren't best placed to operate and probably divert the resources we have got into some of the bigger challenges that we face."

One year after the Sail Loft closed, Hoylake and central West Kirby councillor Andrew Gardner told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "This is an example of the council trying to be commercial but not meeting the grade.

"The area at South Parade has some of the most beautiful views and most stunning sunsets in the world and that’s not an exaggeration.

"The right real estate would attract world class operators. Sadly the Sail Loft doesn’t cut it, for instance the small balcony faces the beach and not the sea.

"With the devastating impact of the wall construction and the looming lunacy of car parking changes it increasingly looks like it’s back to the drawing board for what is to become of this very expensive facility."

Wirral Council was approached for an update on what is happening with the closed building including interest from potential new tenants, an update on progress with negotiations, and whether the council was considering reopening it themselves. It did not respond.