A seafront cafe owner today hit out at vandals who caused £1,500 worth of damage just days before he was due to open for the new season.

New signs, which had only been finished days before, were kicked from the fixings and left hanging down.

Gary Grainge, who runs the cafe on the lower promenade, just to the right of Clacton Pier, said he could not understand the mentality behind it.

"They have gone up on the roof and done as much damage as they possibly could to brand new signs," he said.

"It is beyond belief and it makes you wonder who would do something like that."

Mr Grainge hit the headlines last year when he gave away ice creams from a building on Frinton's lower promenade to people paying £1 for a beach flag.

The signs were paid for by Nestle and put up by a firm from Doncaster.

"I will now have to contact the guys to come back down here to put new ones up," he said.

Mr Grainge said while the company paid for the first set of signs, he expected to cough up £1,500 for new ones.

He said he reported the damage to the police on Saturday morning.

His best hope is that those who were responsible have been caught on closed-circuit television cameras on the seafront. "As I look around, there is a camera on the pier itself and another two or three in the area," he added.

Anyone who saw anything in the area between 5pm on Friday and 9am on Saturdayshould contact Clacton police on 01255 221312.

Published Monday, March 4, 2002