Brits have stormed a beachfront closed by its French owners in 2008 as they look for a way to spend the day in the sun. Frustrated locals in Newhaven, East Sussex smashed through the locked gates preventing access to West Beach after being deprived of access to the area since 2008.

French owners had resisted pleas to reopen the beach which had once been a staple of summer holidays for families in the area. Locals have since explained their reasoning for using the beach again after an unnamed person sawed the lock off of the gate. The locked gates had prevented people from accessing what is one of the few sandy beaches in the area.

Local man Jamie Turner said: "We got used to the stones, but it would be nice for kids adn families to have the sand back. The beach used to be a big part of summer. It's to do with the French and politics. It's really sad, there used to be cafes and everything down there. Especially on a summer's day like this when it's 30 degrees.

"Breaking the law is never on, but it would be nice if it could be open legally and properly." Pensioner Jean Bacon has since described the scene of locals finally accessing the beach that had been blocked off by the French owners back in 2008.

She said: "Somebody sawed the lock off and everybody went down there. We need our beach, we need it open. It’s disgusting.
We used to go down there when I was a kid. That beach used robe packed with children. They don’t realise what a beautiful thing they’ve got there. I posted a message saying I would give somebody £20 if they would saw the lock off.

"Now, I’m stuck at home sweating. These French b******s. All the MPs have probably got swimming pools in their gardens, so they don’t care. I would saw the lock off myself if I had something to do it with."

French company Newhaven Port and Properties owns the beach and has so far refused requests to reopen the front. Locals politicians have been campaigning to reopen the beach. James MacCleary, local Liberal Democrat MP, has campaigned to reopen the beach.

He said: "West Beach is not just a strip of sand, it is part of Newhaven’s history, its identity and its community life. For 17 years, local families – including my own – have been denied access to a beach where generations once swam, played and made memories. That cannot be right.

"My West Beach Bill is about fairness. It is about standing up for a community that has been shut out of its own seafront for far too long. Of course safety and harbour operations matter. But they cannot be used forever as a blanket excuse to keep people away from a much-loved public amenity.

"This is the first parliamentary bill that attempts to put the right of access to West Beach into law. It sends a clear message: Newhaven deserves its beach back. The Government must now adopt this Bill and make it Law."

Newhaven Port and Properties has been contacted for comment.