STRUCTURAL assessments on a sunken boat restaurant will take place in the new year, bosses of the steak eatery chain say.

Miller and Carter at Lakeside Shopping Centre has been partly underwater since last week, with images now showing half of the boat in the lake in West Thurrock.

Customers faced last minute cancellations for Christmas as the restaurant was forced to shut last week.

A spokesman for the business said: “Our initial priority has been to update guests who had bookings to dine with us and an assessment of the structure will then follow in the new year.

“As you can imagine at this time of the year it is difficult to get the specialist help which may be required, so the picture will be clearer in the new year when normal business operations resume.”

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 Andrew Baggott, Tory leader of Basildon Council, hope the business can make a return following the incident.

He said: “It is obviously disappointing for people who were looking forward to meals there and I think people are still looking forward to things as the Covid recovery continues.

“My heart goes out to these people and I has been there a while and is popular too. The images are shocking and my first thought was about whether people were hurt, I then wondered about the missed bookings and then you think about the cost.

“I think things like this are always shocking and it is more poignant at this time of year.” He said it could have been worse and he hopes those who missed bookings get some satisfaction back.

The restaurant at Lakeside had to be evacuated after it started sinking into the water “like the Titanic”.

Customers were left stunned when the Miller and Carter restaurant at Lakeside Shopping Centre started to submerge into the lake.

One onlooker described it as “going down like the Titanic”. Essex County Fire and Rescue Service was alerted to the incident and said there were no life risks and therefore it was not required to attend.

The paddle steamer has been a fixture at Lakeside for years, but was bought up by Miller and Carter, who refurbished it and opened it in 2019. It has been there since at least 2007 and was previously an Old Orleans.