Take a trip to Port Soderick today and it is a very different place to what it was even 20 years ago.

Reporter James Campbell takes a look back at the bay’s vibrant past and what exactly did happen to the tourist hot spot.

Port Soderick is a curious place in many respects because we all have different memories of the place.

Most people in the island will have visited the beach at some point. Few will be alive now who remember the funicular trams.

But the older generation will certainly remember the bustling 1950s, 60s and 70s when the hotel was heaving, the paddling pool was full of kids splashing about and the walkways to the caves were intact.

Even into the 90s we had the Anchor pub which was a hugely popular place with the quiz nights legendary.

Port Soderick remains a well-visited area for dog walkers and families to kill an hour our two and the brilliant charity Heroes on the Water provides therapeutic help for former armed forces personnel through water-based activities. But it is no longer a destination spot.

I took a visit there this week on a bleak autumn day to take a look the once-popular attraction to see what state it is in.

It was in the mid-19th century that Port Soderick was placed on the tourism map. There are records of a hotel on there from 1855 called St Helena but it was in the late 1800s when the small beach really came to the fore.

The Forrester brothers, who were involved with other island tourist attractions, acquired the funicular trams from the Falcon Cliff and created an inclined railway linking the beach to the Marine Drive Tramway.

There was also a farm restaurant, a busy hotel, a concert hall and even a camera obscura at one point.

In time, walkways were created at both ends. There was a lovely coastal walkway heading north to Douglas. The other walkway went for a quarter of a mile towards the old smugglers’ caves and oyster beds where visitors could be served the fresh shellfish.

At that time Port Soderick could be accessed by train, tram and from the sea. The hotel and resort continued to thrive right through much of the 20th century and the government bought the gradual ruinous site in 1956 which revived its fortunes with a popular bar and amusement arcade.

However, when it sold the hotel and buildings to private owners in 1984, it sparked the beginning of the end.

The hotel and pub continued to thrive for a while but in the 1990s the site was bought by Pacini Ltd and leased out to Andrew Evans who planned to operate water sports from it.

It was at this point the Anchor pub was established in 1993. But it was what seemed like an innocuous oversight at the time which led to the demise of the pub and ultimately Port Soderick as a go-to place beyond a Sunday afternoon walk.

Site owners Pacini inadvertently leased the small wooden cafe on the site to a separate party who enforced their contract to be the sole supplier of food to the area.

Ironically, the Anchor was run by celebrity chef Kevin Woodford but the venue could not serve food, robbing it of the chance for much-needed extra income.

Pacini decided to pull all future funding so the lease was given up and control handed to the café proprietor. They ran the pub for a short while before closing its doors for good in 2002.

That brings us to now and as I watch the waves lash the beach on a stormy autumn day, I think back to my own memories.

To be honest, they are sketchy but I seem to remember splashing about in the paddling pool in the 70s. I certainly remember heading to the Anchor in the mid-90s on the steam train for a stag do.

I recall the pub was pretty quiet as we played pool and perhaps its heyday was already over at that point.

I also remember still being able to use the walkway to the north although it was dilapidated with rusted railings and you couldn’t get far.

Port Soderick remains a popular place for a little amble. The provides a lovely little walk and the steam train station remains. There is still a coastal path with rather precarious steps following the line of the former funicular railway.

The beach is still quite a picturesque spot but you cannot divorce yourself from a degree of melancholy over what it used to be.

There is nothing now where the Anchor used to be while to paddling pool is just a pebble-filled shadow of its former self.

The odd bit of twisted and rusted metal and concrete section are all that remain of the walkways from the early 20th century.

As mentioned, there is the Heroes on the Water facility which forms part of Ballacregga Estates plans which also include permission for five homes where the pub used to be.

There is no indication if and when work will start on this scheme – and there have been previously plans which have not seen the light of day – but it seems to draw a line under any further tourist attraction in the future.

We will have to just enjoy what nature has offered us with a lovely pebble beach and a luscious glen. It is a little sad but that will do for me.