BOSSES at Southend seafront attractions have shown their faith in Southend bouncing back from Covid with 900 jobs since the easing of lockdown.

Stockvale, which owns Adventure Island, Sealife Adventure, Feelgoods diner and Sands by the Sea, has employed hundreds in a bid to see the town’s seafront thriving again.

The move has been praised with business and council bosses thrilled to see the first steps of leisure industry recovery.

Philip Miller, Stockvale Group executive chairman, said: “As a company we realise how important our role is in the revival of Southend post pandemic. However we are part of ‘Team Southend’ and appreciate the support we receive from local residents at all of our businesses.

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“We have been heavily discounting our annual passes which local folks have snapped up in their thousands here at Adventure Island and Sealife Zooquarium.

“Our core team are so pleased and relieved to be back in action and have welcomed the newbies with enthusiasm.”

Mr Miller added that prices have been reduced for annual passes to Adventure Island to encourage visitors to return.

Suzanne Gloyne, manager of Southend Business Improvement District - which supports companies in the town centre and seafront - said: “This is a really positive bit of news for our town and community after a long period of restrictions which has caused many to struggle due to closures, furlough and job losses.

“Seeing one of our towns iconic businesses employing nearly 900 local people is a great boost to both morale and our economy after such a time.”

Tony Cox, leader of Southend Conservatives, said was pleasing to see so many people in employment. He said:

“It’s also good to see these businesses are back open and can welcome back their customers due to having all these extra staff and it’s good to see so many people being back in work too.

“It also helps other businesses in the sector that have been hit so badly too as these top attractions are open.”