Southend’s Adventure Island bans topless men

One of Southend’s most popular tourist attractions, Adventure Island, has introduced a new rule asking male customers not to remove their shirts during warm weather.

If you’re the sort of chap who likes to whip your t-shirt off on a sunny day and display your chest to an admiring public, you’ll draw less than admiring glances at Adventure Island.

Bosses at the Southend seafront fun park have followed in the footsteps of other theme parks and introduced a ‘Wear Your Shirt’ rule in a bid to further enhance the family-friendly nature of the attraction.

Marc Miller, Managing Director of Adventure Island, said: “We don’t have a strict dress code as such, but would like our male customers to show some decorum. In recent years, we’ve seen increasing numbers of lads whipping their tops off, eager to make the most of the sun – which is understandable of course, as Southend is the warmest and driest part of the UK! That’s absolutely fine in the right environment, but we try very hard to be a family-focused business and not everybody is a fan of bare chests!”

Signs are now being put up around the park informing customers of the new rule and security staff will politely challenge anyone who has removed their top to ask them to put it back on again. Those who refuse will be invited to leave the fun park.

Mr Miller added: “Of course, we don’t want people to think that we’re introducing a nightclub-style policy of no jeans or trainers – we’ll simply point out that if you want to pose semi-naked, Southend has miles of glorious beaches on which to do that.”