End of the ride for Margate's donkeys
Last updated at 09:37 06 August 2008
Margate was the first beach in Britain to offer donkey rides
Britain's longest-running donkey rides have stopped after more than 200 years.
Hundreds of children who turned up on the sands at Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs found the famous £2 trots ended this week.
Nick Gunn said he had reluctantly had to give up the business he plied on the beaches of Kent.
He explained: 'It's really sad I've had to close after 15 years but my mother is extremely ill and I've had to give up to look after her. I am concentrating on that and I've rehomed the donkeys.'
He said the decision had not been forced on him by the credit crunch, adding: 'It was the opposite - we were getting more and more people taking holidays here because of it.'
In 1790, Margate was the first beach in Britain to have the rides.
David Vickers, 38, visited Broadstairs with his wife and three children from Norbury, South London.
He said: 'It's a massive disappointment. It's part of our culture.'
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