VISITORS heading for the seaside had better keep their legs crossed if they want to spend a penny, and send their postcards before they arrive.

By RICHARD CORNWELL

Felixstowe editor

richard.cornwell@eveningstar.co.uk>

VISITORS heading for the seaside had better keep their legs crossed if they want to spend a penny, and send their postcards before they arrive.

For they are being warned not to believe a map on a colourful new leaflet designed to bring people to Felixstowe – because it identifies places which just don't exist any more.

Despite being produced by Felixstowe Town Council in conjunction with Suffolk Coastal - the very people who should know the town - some of the photos are eight years out of date.

Traders are unhappy with the giveaway, which also features out of date photos, and have branded it unprofessional and disappointing.

The leaflet – "Felixstowe: resort, fort and port" – is being sent to 60,000 homes across the region and all over the country as part of a campaign to entice people to Suffolk Coastal for their holidays.

But the map of the resort has a number of errors.

These include toilets opposite Family Amusements in Sea Road demolished several years, and a post office in Beach Station Road, which closed a year ago.

The main post office in the town centre is placed in the middle of streets behind Hamilton Road, and The Forum arcade is closer to Langer Road than its home in Sea Road.

In addition, there is a photo of the kiosks in Sea Road which is eight years out of date – modern food outlets and The Forum have replaced them – and an old picture which implies the Spa Gardens Long Shelter, now closed by high metal steel fencing, is open for use. A photo showing the inside of the leisure centre has also been reversed!

Barber Jim Adams, of Jim and Donna's Hairdressers, Hamilton Road, said the leaflet was diabolical.

He said: "If I produced a leaflet like this I would be castigated – it is unprofessional and does not give a good impression of Felixstowe at all.

"We should not be using out of date pictures and the map has far too many errors.

"We need to give a true picture of what Felixstowe has to offer if we want visitors to come here, enjoy themselves and come back again."

A seafront businessman, who asked not to be named, said: "I cannot believe it – I would be so ashamed if this was my leaflet. What sort of impression does it give people?

"The kiosks where The Forum stands have not been there for eight years! The toilets are now a paved square and there is no post office down here at all.

"When visitors cannot find what they want they will wonder what else is wrong and what on earth we are up to."

Felixstowe town clerk Susan Robinson accepted the proof reading had missed the errors on the map.

However, the photos were not designed to publicise certain businesses and were meant to illustrate the variety of seaside activities at the resort.

"The aim of the photos is to indicate some of the very excellent activities which people can enjoy at the resort – to show people the sort of thing they can expect to find along the seafront, the promenade, the sea and at the fort," she said.