Santa’s Grotto has returned to Clacton pier for the first time in five years.

The massive grotto has been created outside the Discovery Bay soft play area at a cost of £15,000 and will be open to the public until December 23.

The fun gets underway at the weekend with a host of ‘Breakfast with Santa’ events. After school events begin on Monday.

Nigel Brown, the pier’s communications manager, said: “We decided that if we are going to offer these Christmas activities again for the first time in five years, we needed to have a grotto that matches the standards of our other facilities.

“People travelling along the seafront from Holland-on-Sea direction towards Clacton an get a glimpse of the grotto on the eastern side of the pier.”

Breakfast with Santa runs from 9am to 10.30am each Saturday and Sunday up to Christmas.

For full details of the pier’s Christmas events and to book tickets see www.clactonpier.co.uk