TRADITIONAL Southend seafront trades have been hit hard by a glum summer.

Essex has suffered its wettest summer for nearly 20 years, with 75mm of rainfall lashing the county.

Deck chair hire has been down by nearly 60 per cent. Ice cream sales have also plumetted as holiday makers and day trippers turned off by a lack of sunshine have stayed away.

Gary Simmons's Top Deck company hires out deck chairs on the three-mile shoreline stretch between Chalkwell and Southend.

The 45-year-old said: "My business has been down by nearly 60 per cent this summer.

"The Southend sun is like a magnet.

"I'd expect to hire out as many as 1,000 deck chairs on some days during the six-week school holiday period, between July and August.

"I've never seen so much rain as this summer and I've been lucky to fill 400 chairs a day.

"We only charge £2 for a whole day's hire.

"If I didn't have another job I'd be out of pocket."

Ice cream has been another victim of the summer no-show.

Kevin Speck, manager of Rossi, said: "Sales are down nationally by 38 per cent.

"Ice cream is sold all over the country, not just on the beach, and the weather, plus severe flooding, has definitely taken its toll."

But it's not all bad news for the ice cream makers, based in Lucy Road, Southend.

Mr Speck added: "We have a lot of wholesale business to fall back on, with restaurants, bars and casinos all buying our ice cream.

"The weather has been rubbish recently, but unlike deck chairs, we don't need it to be scorching hot for business to pick up.

"We are still busy.

"Any glimpse of the sun attracts people along Southend seafront for a walk and when they get there, they like to enjoy the taste of an ice cream."

Things don't look set to get any better with the Met Office predicting rain for the rest of the week.

A spokesman said: "The weather is very unsettled and we could be in for more heavy rain.

"It is very unpredictable, but we hope things will settle down next week."