More than 50 years after she began working there, a seaside kiosk trader is calling it a day.

Janet Deadman is looking forward to having summers off after making the difficult decision to walk away from the business in Beachfields, Sheerness.

The 71-year-old took over selling ice creams, burgers and buckets and spades when her parents Ron and Lil died in 1994 and 1995 respectively.

The family moved to the town from east London in 1959 alongside their friends at Holland’s Travelling Fair.

‘Hot Dog Ron’ worked in the market as a food vendor but also had other businesses in the town including the open-air swimming pool and the Jetty Cafe.

In 1971 the council-owned kiosk came up for rent and Ron snapped it up with the trio working there from March to Septembers with no summer holidays.

Janet, who was 18 at the time, remembers Beachfields booming with the Island then a popular destination with holidaymakers, especially Londoners.

She said: “It was very very busy when we first started with people being packed in shoulder to shoulder during the nice weather.

“I remember when we cooked too many chips at the end of the day, I would shout out to all the boys who would be skating that they were 50p. About 20 of them would all come running over.

“Most of those boys now have their children and have started to bring them here and I am going to miss watching all the children grow up.”

However, the Island’s tourism industry has declined Janet has seen her footfall decrease.

The grandmother of one also pointed to the opening of the nearby McDonald’s which took away potential customers.

She only sold 200 burgers a year after the arrival of the company, compared to when her dad would order 300 burger rolls a day in the 1970s.

Nevertheless, every summer Halfway resident Janet has opened the shutters which face the Beachfields play area with her £1.50 Mr Whippy ice creams keeping the business alive.

But with the kiosk’s lease ending, Janet says now is the right time to retire.

She added: “I’ve been here for 30 years on my own and now’s the time to go.

“I’ve said for 20 years that it would be my last summer but it is the people that I have got to know over the years that have kept me here.

“Everyone who knows me says they will only believe I am going when they turn up and I am not here.

“I want to live a little as every summer I am locked away in the hut so I will buy myself a campervan to go and visit other parts of the Island like Leysdown and Minster as well as sit up on the Shingle Bank.”

Swale council has not decided what it will do with the building as it is waiting for further progress on the £20 million Sheerness Revival project.

The authority submitted plans for a new cafe, adventure golf and expansion of Sheppey Leisure Complex in June.

Janet announced her retirement on social media on Saturday, November 9, and that she had 200 lollies which she was selling for 50p each.

More than 70 people commented on the post wishing her a happy retirement.

“They were really lovely comments saying I am a ‘lovely lady’… but they don’t know me very well,” Janet joked.

“Some were really touching and moving. It’s sad but a happy time so I have mixed emotions.”