SOUTHEND seafront will be be flooded with hundreds of bikers on Monday, as part of an “unofficial” Shakedown event.

Earlier this year organisers of the legendary Southend Shakedown confirmed they would not be running an event in 2023 following “safety concerns”.

The 2022 event, organised by the Southend Shakedown Association, was the first one staged since the Covid pandemic struck.

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Ian Maggs, 58, has attended the Southend Shakedown for a number of years, and was left gutted when he found out the official event was cancelled.

He created an event page on Facebook to see if anyone would attend Southend on the day for an “unofficial shakedown” - with 250 confirmed as attending and 1,000 more “interested”. 

Ian said: “So many bikers were gutted when we heard the official event was cancelled. So, I just created an events page for a ride down anyway and it has since got a lot of interest.

“Bikers always go to the coast on a bank holiday, whether it is official or not. We did a similar thing for the Margate Meltdown when the official event was cancelled there, and thousands turned up still.

“Southend Shakedown is very important to the bikers and is on most bikers’ diaries. I originally created the event for myself and friends in my biker scene, but it has since been shared far and wide.”

Southend Shakedown usually sees thousands of bikers head to the city and is hugely popular among the community.

Adam Ball, the chairman of the Southend Shakedown Association, added: “Southend does welcome all visitors to the city so that would include bikers and there is no reason why the event shouldn’t go ahead officially. You will always have bikers and people come down on the bank holiday.

“Last year, we had the only organised event going, with the Margate and Hastings events not officially going ahead. But are lot of people still went. So, I can’t see no reason personally why bikers can’t go ahead in a positive fashion.

“We would like to see a good positive day from everybody from the bikers community to act in in appreciate way, respect the road and the city.”