RESIDENTS say their picturesque seaside town has been ruined after an iconic beach cafe was torn down by the National Trust.
All that now remains of the hut at Middle Beach, Studland, in Dorset that has been there for more than a century is just a pile of rubble.
The historic timber building was torn down by the National Trust as part of its “managed retreat” coastal erosion drive.
It’s said to have been visited by Enid Blyton, the author of the Famous Five books, who often stayed in a nearby hotel while on holiday.
The café was also a popular spot for thousands of hikers and dog walkers who would stop off for a reviving tea or coffee and a bite to eat.
It was pulled down earlier this year after the National Trust said it was at risk due to the coastal erosion.
Instead of propping up the sea defences to save the café, the conservation charity took the decision to lose it entire.
Locals are up in arms about the demolition and claim there was no need to pull down the café as it was 100ft back and 20ft above the shoreline.
Studland Parish Council tried to have the building listed but was unsuccessful.
The site is in the middle of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and has been fenced off.
A temporary mobile catering van has been operating in a car park further back from Middle Beach.
A local landowner left the area to the National Trust in 1982.
Studland resident Andrew Parsons, who is also a former parish councillor and campaigned to save the café, said: “It’s just senseless exercise in vandalism. The terrace is still there but they have torn a historic building down.
“The National Trust is meant to conserve buildings of merit, that is what people pay their subscriptions for.
“Instead they have destroyed one and there is no geological or environmental justification for it.
“It’s nonsense and it would have cost a lot of money, to produce a very negative result.
“What are they going to demolish next in the guise of returning things to nature? The whole thing is outrageous.”
The National Trust formed its policy on coastal erosion in 2004 with the plan being to “work with rather than against” rising sea levels which included moving buildings out of harm’s way.
In a plan is in place to put up a permanent café further inland at Middle Beach although the exact details about when or where this will be have not yet been revealed.
A National Trust spokesperson said: “We don’t believe that building new sea defences is the right thing to do. Our policy is to work with nature, not against it, by moving facilities out of harm’s way.
“It is a really active stretch of coastline and our policy recognises the reality of a changing coastline and sets out a response.
“The best opportunity to secure a vibrant future for Middle Beach is to act by removing buildings and infrastructure on a phased basis as they become vulnerable and replace them in a location that is out of harm’s way.”
