It's the middle of June and the weather is good. But, while other UK seaside towns and their piers bustle with visitors, one sits silent.
Ice cream parlours are bolted shut and arcade machines sit unused. There are still decorations from Christmas on the counter behind the bar in the café.
Half-used stock sits in boxed on the floor and the only sound is of seagulls overhead and the waves below. This is Merseyside, where the Southport Pier Pavilion has been abandoned since December, when the council shut it down on health and safety grounds.
