West Bay traders are braced for several weeks of disruption as urgent repairs to the harbour wall will force them to close.
'Six weeks of urgent works' are required to prevent the wall collapsing.
The work will force the adjacent food and drink kiosks to temporarily close whilst the works take place - but they will reopen in time for the Easter holidays providing the area is deemed safe, according to Dorset Council.
While there will be some disruption, there is some relief that the initial work scheduled will only take a matter of weeks rather than months - alleviating any concerns businesses had about a potential closure over the summer.
Further works next year could have a bigger impact however.
Brooke Luxton from the Snack Shack said of the forthcoming work: "It was meant to be six months, so it is a lot better than we expected.
"It will affect the locals who come down every day - for a lot of people who live in West Bay we are the only people they will speak to that day.
"Us and the other people they sit with, that is their daily outing - it will affect a lot of people like that."
For traders such as the Snack Shack, there will be a financial impact as they would normally be open at this time year.
Whilst Dorset Council is understood to have done as much as possible to limit the impact to traders, there is hope that some sort of compensation will be given.
Lucy Little, also from Snack Shack, added: "We will have to close for five weeks.
"We would normally be open; the council have done everything they can to ensure that we open.
"It's very pleasing to hear we will be open in the summer, that is when all of us make money.
"If they had closed us for six months now, it would be pretty much over. This way is so much better.
"It will impact finances but we will get compensation, we hope."
Dorset Council says the initial emergency repairs should take around six weeks to complete, meaning traders could be reopen by Easter, however, this is as long as it is safe to do so.
Lucy added: "We have told our regulars, we explained it does need to be done this is the best situation that could have arisen.
"At least now we will be able to open for Easter and the summer provided the wall doesn't come down, which it could."
The emergency repairs will involve installing 35 metres of steel sheet piling to the 'toe' of Wall B and filling in any holes that have opened up.
The footpath and toilets adjacent to the kiosks will also remain closed, with the closest toilets situated at the other side of the harbour at East Beach.
Dorset Council says that access to the Esplanade, Jurassic Pier, Windy Corner café and Helmet City shop will be largely unaffected, and the Harbour Master office will remain open.
A longer and more significant programme of works is being planned for the end of 2024 or early 2025 in order to construct a new wall which could take up to six months to complete.
Cllr Ray Bryan, Dorset Council’s portfolio holder for highways, travel and environment, said: “We’ve been keeping an eye on this wall for many years now, balancing the need to maintain the harbour with the potential effect of works on West Bay’s businesses and tourist trade.
"But the time has come to take action to prevent further damage to the wall in the future and keep the area safe.
“Given the disruption to the kiosks in the area, it’s been vital to keep business owners up to date with our plans and I want to thank them for their input and understanding.
"Everyone involved appreciates the challenges of maintaining an historic asset such as the harbour, and I’ve every confidence our team will work efficiently and considerately to keep disruption to a minimum."
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