Beach bar owners along the Dutch North Sea coast are facing financial troubles and need a continual spell of sunshine in order to ensure a profitable season, news agency ANP reports on Tuesday.

The cold spring means all beach bars are currently loss-making, Paul Zonneveld, chairman of the beach bar association NVSN told ANP. Zonneveld has had a summer beach bar for 35 years but says this is the worst early season he can remember.

Some 10% of the 350 NVSN members have a licence to operate all year round. The rest are built up on the shoreline in March and taken down again at the end of the season in September – depending on the weather.

According to the KNMI weather bureau, the current good weather is expected to stretch into the weekend.