Scarborough Spa Cliff Lift: Oldest cliff lift in Britain closed with immediate effect as explanation issued

Scarborough Spa Cliff Lift has been closed with immediate effect, it has been announced.

North Yorkshire Council has taken the difficult decision to close the Scarborough Spa Cliff Lift with immediate effect.

The decision follows an independent engineering assessment which identified a number of issues affecting the lift's aging infrastructure.

The council will continue to assess the findings and provide further updates in due course, it was reported.

The lift, built in 1875, is also the country’s oldest funicular railway - and it precedes arguably the more well known Central Tramway at the Grand Hotel by some six years.

It was then built by the Crossley brothers of Manchester, with the two cars on the funicular system able to carry some 20 passengers at a time.

Originally pumped by gas and water, the hydraulic system was replaced in 1879 by steam pumps - again replaced by electric winding motors in the 1930s which are still similar to those used today.

In its heyday in the 1940s, some 1.2m people travelled on the cliff lift each year.

The lift was fully automated in 1997, having been purchased by Scarborough Borough Council in 1993.

Some 1400 people travelled on the lift on its first day of operation - July 6 1875 - paying the fee of one old penny.