Heavy rain and showers have gripped the town for most of the month with 2.73in (69.4mm) of rainfall so far.

Many holidaymakers have avoided the beach during the bleak weather, heading indoors for shelter and to the town centre.

The Sea Life Centre has had an upturn in visitor numbers with people queuing in the car park on some days, while the Brunswick shopping centre has been busy, according to centre manager Jim Hughes.

He said: "It's on a par with last August which was high because of the very poor weather then." August is usually the wettest month in Scarborough with an average of 3.41in (86.69mm) of rain recorded between 1997 to 2006.

March is the driest month with an average of 1.9in (48.2mm). The wettest August during that period was in 2002 with 6.26in (159mm) of rain and Jack Stephenson, owner of Shoreline Suncruisers, remembers that August 2004 was "horrendous" with 19 days of rain.

Mr Stephenson said: "This August is very comparable, with 13 days of either heavy rain or showers. Considering what the weather has been like, trade has been remarkably buoyant.

"We're down, but we expect to be down, because the weather has been so bad. Being optimistic, it isn't a bad forecast for Friday, Saturday and Sunday."

Showers are forecast until Friday and Saturday when there will be sunny spells with dry weather predicted for Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday.

Donkey owner Guy Smith said: "It has been a difficult year in general and I don't think it's going to get any better now we're in the latter part of the six weeks' holiday.

"The wet weather has had an effect. This year there's no sort of pattern to the seasons. It either seems to be very cold or windy and you can only maybe enjoy an hour on the beach. It's difficult trying to keep the children entertained when it's cold."

Kath Duffy, landlady of the Newcastle Packet, on the seafront, and president of Scarborough Licensed Victuallers' Association, added: "It has been terrible. Weekends aren't bad but through the week it's disgusting. "You can't expect people to come in this weather."

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