A controversial decision to charge people to visit the annual Eastbourne Airbourne show for the first time kept large numbers of people away, it is claimed.

Thousands of people flocked to the Eastbourne between Thursday and Sunday for the spectacular annual event but many avoided a specially enclosed area where they would have had to pay £5 to get in.

Visitors opted for other parts of the seafront such as Eastbourne Pier instead, where they could see the aerial displays for free.

Traders and residents said numbers for the event, which has attracted up to 750,000 people over the four days in previous years and brings millions in revenue for the town, were not as good this year.

At one stage some of the traders who had come to Eastbourne specially for the event were threatening to leave.

On Sunday organisers were letting people get in for free to help boost numbers.

Eastbourne Borough Council has not yet calculated how many people attended this year or how much they have made from the event.

The council set up an enclosed area on Western Lawns and near the Wish Tower and charged £5 per person to get in.

The idea was to help it turn around a £70,000 loss from last year’s show but the council will have to raise £450,000 from ticket sales this year to hit a projected profit of £191,000.

Council Conservative opposition leader David Elkin said although the planes themselves were spectacular, overall the event was not the same.

He said: “The numbers on Thursday were quite dreadful although things did pick up. Sunday seemed to be the busiest day but that was the one when they were letting people in for free.

“The traders were really not happy. They pay to come here and they were not happy with how things were developing.

“The problem was that families were having to pay to get in and used up their money and then the traders would be trying to sell things like ice- creams, hot dogs and other attractions and supplies.

“I have a feeling some of the stallholders will not be back next year.

“There was also a lot of resentment from visitors and the security staff on the barriers came in for a lot of abuse which was a pity as it was not their fault this was happening.

“It just did not feel as nice and relaxed as it was before.

“It is too soon to say whether it was a success or not but we will have to scrutinise everything in the coming weeks to see whether the decision to charge has worked.”

Ice cream seller Mark Andreas, from Eastbourne, said a friend of his had come down from Surrey to set up a food stall.

He said: “He was really disappointed. Things were better on the Saturday and Sunday but the first two days were really not as good as he’d hoped for.”

Members of the online Facebook campaign, I’m not Paying to Stand On My Own Seafront said the event had been a “shambles”.

Shirley Moth from Eastbourne, who set up the campaign, said: “It is such as shame. We are all supporters of airbourne and usually enjoy it very much.

“It gives us no pleasure when we hear about people not coming along or traders being unhappy. We spoke to one man on Thursday who had paid £1,000 to have a pitch and he only made six sales.

“Normally there is a real buzzing atmosphere over all four days but it wasn’t the same.

“I’m sure the people who paid to get in on the first three days won’t be happy that people were getting in for free on the Sunday.

“There has been talk about it ’only’ costing £5 to get in but that is still a fair amount of money for a lot people, especially if they are a large family.

“On top of that there’s the snacks and drinks. It all adds up They really need to look at this again.”

The council were unavailable for comment.