Adventure Island owner: East London gang war 'killed Southend'

Business leaders say they have had to hire extra security and let staff go as a result of reduced profits, with other businesses having shut down completely.

“It has killed Southend,” said Marc Miller, managing director of Adventure Island, Sealife Adventure and other Southend seafront attractions.

“It has seriously damaged local businesses, especially at our key time of year… Their behaviour has tainted Southend, which has always been a family place for people to come and enjoy the summer and make memories.”

He made the claims in a statement read to Judge Samantha Cohen as she prepared to sentence ten London gang members who have admitted their involvement in the violent disorder, which erupted during last year’s school summer holidays.

Nick Singer, a director of 18 Southend businesses including amusement arcades, ice cream parlours, chip shops and bowling alleys, echoed Mr Miller’s sentiments.

“It was a ghost town,” he wrote. “No one came. It was like tumbleweed. The impact this has had on our businesses was phenomenal.

“After this incident, the city lost millions and millions of pounds in revenue… Some businesses went bust.

“The people involved in this incident have no idea of the impact of their actions. It makes me angry…. It upsets me that people lost their businesses and staff couldn’t pay their bills.”

Prosecutor Gregory Wedge also advanced information on behalf of Essex Police, saying the investigation had cost £620,000 “from the public purse”.

Mr Miller said he wasn’t working on July 30, 2024, when two Newham gangs began fighting with knives and machetes right outside his theme park.

This “frightening and disgusting behaviour” was filmed by the public and put online, he wrote, and “can be seen happening right in front of Adventure Island".

His business “became part of a huge media frenzy and appeared in the spotlight in a negative way”.

“The impact this then had on us was severely damaging,” he wrote.

The “majority” of group bookings were cancelled, with customers saying they were cancelling because they “did not feel it was safe”.

The park offered seasonal work to lots of students, he added, and the day after the incident “lots of staff didn’t turn up because their parents were fearful about them working here.”

Overall, his business suffered a 60 per cent downturn in admissions which continued for weeks, and “even today” it has not fully recovered.

There has been “a huge reduction in school groups”, with teachers saying “they don’t feel it is safe to come here”.

The business had to cut park staff and “change the way we operate”, said Mr Miller.

“We now always have security on the entrances,” he said, meaning costs on staff and equipment, such as knife arches, have risen amid a downturn in trade.

Southend’s reputation has been so badly damaged, Mr Miller told the court, that when he recently told a taxi driver in London that he lived in Southend, “He told me he had seen the videos and that based on this, his perception of Southend was that Southend was not a safe place to go.”

Before the gang war, said Mr Singer, most of his businesses were on track to meet their targets and some were ahead of schedule.

But afterwards, there was a 55pc reduction in trade, with people cancelling bookings and telling his staff “they didn’t feel it was safe to come”.

“We have had security staff who feared for their safety and didn’t want to work here,” wrote Mr Singer. “We had staff who feared working for us.”

The day after the violence, he said, his ten-year-old daughter saw the video and “came to me that morning, crying, begging me not to go to work because she thought something would happen to me.

“This was very upsetting and made me angry.”

The statements were read at Basildon Crown Court on Monday, July 14.

Ten gang members are due to receive their sentences on Tuesday, July 15.

Mr Wedge has asked that each is ordered to pay £1,800 towards prosecution costs as part of their punishment.