RESIDENTS in Minehead who paid for annual passes to use facilities in the town's Butlins family entertainment resort were angered this week to discover the centre would be closed for much of the winter.

Butlins will move to part-time opening for three-and-a-half months from the end of October with only weekend breaks on offer to customers.

Staff at the centre who have seen their pay cut to as little as £3.10 an hour - 50p below the National Minimum Wage - feared their hours would be reduced to around 21 per week.

Butlins spokesman Mary Stewart told the Free Press the centre's facilities would not be available to residents mid-week.

Miss Stewart said the Odeon Cinema would open for an evening performance on Saturdays and Sundays and also for a screening on either a Tuesday or a Wednesday night.

She said: "When holidaymakers are not on the resort the facilities will not be open and therefore there will not be anything for day visitors to come into."

Miss Stewart said any staff worries about their working hours could only be speculation.

"All staff currently know what hours they are working at the moment," she said. "I cannot speculate on what they will be working in two months' time.

"Hours go up and down based on the needs of the business. This is nothing new and they will be informed at the right time if their hours change."

Miss Stewart said the mid-week closure of Butlins in November, December, January, and part of February was in accordance with the company's published brochure.

She said the company was keeping to its promise to remain open for 48 weeks of the year because three-day weekend holidays were still available.

West Somerset Watchdogs vice-chairman Chris Dyer said yesterday (Thursday) it was a slap in the face for people who paid £45 earlier this year to join a residents scheme giving them year-round access to Butlins facilities.

The scheme, which will rise to £60 in January, was introduced after a public furore over closure to townsfolk of the Odeon and other attractions due to the company's ban on single sex groups of visitors and unaccompanied under-21s.

Mr Dyer said: "It is the old story that whatever promises are made, when the chips are down Butlins or Rank will do whatever is best for them, and the needs and wishes of the local residents would not be entertained.

"We have had 30 years of this, so we are well used to it. We should not fall for their promises because they are seldom kept for long."

Mr Dyer said Butlins was a commercial business and had to make decisions in its best interests, which meant local need was a low priority.

He said the watchdogs and other pressure groups had warned for years Minehead should start to provide facilities which were independent of Butlins.

"We must prepare ourselves for any eventuality," he said. "This town is so dependent on Butlins and so many things exist for one sole purpose. It is unwise to have all your eggs in one basket."