Long summer days spent on the Merseyside coastline are treasured memories for many.

But as children we often pestered our parents to take us to places a little further afield from our sandy beaches.

And some of those family adventures no longer exist for us to take our own kids to.

We have had a look back at some of the most popular childhood haunts that have now fallen into disrepair, or have been demolished completely along with the chance of them making more happy memories for families across Merseyside.

Pleasure Island

Video Loading

For some, Pleasure Island will bring back memories of badly grazed knees, cold chips and straighteners with the hardest kid from the neighbouring school.

For others, it was a childhood oasis, a sprawling maze of wonderment with bowling, Quasar and roller skating under one roof. Not to mention the death slide - and the many cowards who bottled it at its top.

The Festival Gardens- where Pleasure Island would be created - were opened in 1984, forming the site of Liverpool’s International Garden Festival (an initiative supported by Lord Heseltine to revitalise tourism in the city).

Situated at Otterspool promenade, the amusement complex was all things to all kids. A dome-shaped compendium of games, entertainment and activity.

Video Loading

At the time, ‘The Works’ was the world’s largest indoor adventure play structure. Charlie Chalk's on steroids. Giant ball ponds, aerial glides and countless obstacles for you to rip your brand new easter clothes on.

Across from the ’The Works’ was the ‘Roller Dome’, a roller-skating facility that pumped out surprisingly good house tunes, music probably lifted from a Cream set the previous weekend.

Open 9am until midnight, seven days a week, with two-thousand parking spaces, Pleasure Island was a tireless city resource. A 90-acre open space, its scale was quite remarkable, like Jurassic Park without the dinosaurs.

Saturday afternoon the place would really come into its own with revellers heading-in from all corners of the city. LA Trainers left, right and centre.

Hardly anyone paid to get in, which probably had a fair bit to do with the site’s eventual closure. Kids would bunk-in at the back of the garden sporting wristbands from the previous week.

Pleasure Island in its heyday
Pleasure Island in its heyday

In the summertime, the same kids would dip their feet in the lake or the ‘Jam River’, which was essentially a stream with bits of plastic fruit in. When lads were finished terrorising staff they could throw their sister in Mega Tots for half an hour and enjoy a game of Quasar. Halcyon days.

Pleasure Island in its heyday
Pleasure Island in its heyday

There were some beautiful features on the site’s grounds, however. The Japanese Pagoda and Yellow Submarine were the most memorable landmarks. The views of the Mersey were quite spectacular too.

Pleasure Island was an emblem of 90s Liverpool - a decade where Liverpool moved progressively out of the tough times of the 1980s without being entirely certain of its new direction.

A mecca for lads in Firebirds and girls in Bon Bleu, it has a place in the heart of all that visited. It closed in 1997.

Rhyl Sun Centre

The once thriving baths fell out of favour
The once thriving baths fell out of favour

After 34 years it was announced that the Rhyl Sun Centre would be demolished as part of the plan to revamp the waterfront.

The news broke the hearts of anyone who holidayed there in the 1980s and ‘90s.

The Sun Centre put Rhyl on the map for thousands of kids in Merseyside and many can still hear the cry of other kids shouting "waves in the lagoon pool!".

When it opened in 1980 you could enjoy a sunbed, drink at the bar and even a cigarette in between taking the kids down one of the four slides.

The elephant slide doesn't look quite as much fun anymore
The elephant slide doesn't look quite as much fun anymore

It was the largest indoor pool in Europe at the time. But years of neglect saw visitor numbers decline.

It had over 4,000 visitors a day in its heyday and was eventually passed over to Denbighshire County Council's non-profit trust Clwyd Leisure in 2001.

The trust when in to liquidation 2014 and the funding for the centre that had brought joy to so many was cut.

In 2015 the council proposed to demolish the building in the first of many schemes to regenerate Rhyl.

Video Loading

Developers Neptune revealed plans for the resort which included a new aquatic centre, family-friendly restaurants and an adventure sports area.

The new aquatic centre could be open by August 2018 and the front of the Sun Centre will be replaced by a landscaped area to provide public green space.

A far cry from its glory days
A far cry from its glory days

The news prompted our readers to reminisce about their time spent in the flumes or on the octopus slide.

Tracey Lee said: “Loved going Sun Centre for a day out while we were on holiday at Pontins...

“Those were the days. Which slide to go on next followed by how late you could manage to stay up after goodnight children had played in the ballroom were all you had to worry about.”

The Sun Centre once attracted kids from all over the North West

Emma Newell-Roberts said: “Really miss this place, used to have a season pass when I was a teenager.

“Just glad my little ones got to go once before it closed its doors - they had the same look of amazement as I did at the age of six when it first opened!

“So sad that it could not have been refurbished. Was a fantastic place and well ahead of its time back in the day.”

Camelot

Video Loading

Thousands of Merseyside families would travel up the M58 to Camelot in Chorley, Lancashire to visit the attraction every year to enjoy the iconic Excalibur II or Pendragon's Plunge.

It was opened in 1983 and operated seasonally until the shock announcement in 2012 that the theme park would close for good.

When the park closed 150 people lost their jobs with owners Knights Leisure blaming low visitor numbers, bad weather and events such as The 2012 Olympics and The Queen’s Jubilee for the untimely end.

Knightmare at Camelot

Aimed at families with younger children, the theme park was like a training ground for mini-thrillseekers before they moved onto the bigger rides at Blackpool Pleasurebeach or Alton Towers.

If you were the oldest of your siblings you’d spend the day trying to goad your younger brothers and sisters into trying to bunk the queue for Excalibur, the famous ‘pirate ship’ style attraction that went upside down - even if they were slightly under the height limit.

The Whirlwind ride at Camelot theme park

Disappointed riders who didn’t quite meet the limits would even go to the back of the queue and hope that if they stood in a different way or just wore their hair in a high ponytail they could maybe just get in.

As well as family days out, coaches full of youth groups and hyped up school children would pull up into the car park clutching pack lunches (90% of which would later be spewed up after a ride on the corkscrew) before heading through the iconic castle-shaped entrance.

Pendragons plunge at Camelot

The best part of the day though was always the famous jousting tournaments staged in the ‘Avalon Arena’ where staff (mostly students on their summer break from uni) would encourage the crowd to cheer for the ‘goodies’ and boo the ‘baddies.’

Rather than watching the show, you’d spend the whole time mithering your parents into spending a fiver on one of the inflatable hammer (did they have hammers in medieval times?) or a mace before they’d eventually relent.

Less than ten minutes later, after you’d either been poked in the eye with one of the spikes or poked someone else’s eye with it, they’d be confiscated by an angry parent who regretted their decision.

Some years later, an urban explorer has visited the park and documented it with a series of creepy looking pictures which captured the imagination of ECHO readers.

In the photographs, there are the remains of the medieval themed attraction such as mannequins littering the floor and abandoned ride carts lined up.

‘Noodle,’ the explorer who posted the photos online says the park felt like everyone else had become extinct.

They said: “It was exhilarating to feel like I was on another planet, one where humanity was extinct and time stood still. A time capsule where nature had taken over and remnants of the past still stood gathering dust while life forgot.”

Colwyn Bay Pier

Video Loading

Colwyn Bay has been a popular holiday destination for Merseysiders for many years and people were sad to see the pier fall into the sea earlier this year.

The listed structure in North Wales has been in a state of ruin for a long time and the decay finally sent a large part of it to a watery grave in February.

Colwyn Bay Pier
Colwyn Bay Pier

Conwy Council have wanted to demolish the 116-year-old Victoria Pier for years but the Welsh Government's historic monuments body Cadw has not de-listed it.

After a long period of neglect by the council, despite a statutory obligation to maintain, the boardwalk sank into calm seas after being battered by storms along the coastline.

The Victoria Pier Trust are campaigning to have the once-popular tourist destination standing for another 100 years and are asking for people's memories.

Memories of Colwyn Bay Pier
Memories of Colwyn Bay Pier

Martin Austin said: "In June 1899 the first Steel Pillars were screwed into the sea bed. Over a 117 years later the Victoria Colwyn Bay Pier is now being dismantled, repaired and restored, and will be Re-built in Partnership with Conwy County Council, Cadw and The Welsh Assembly Government.

"The Victoria Pier Trust are currently working in Partnership with Llandrillo College's media department, who will be looking to film people's memories of the pier, including the war years, the bands people saw at the pier, people who worked on the pier, tourists and visitors, and also what young people would like to see on the pier in the future."

Southport Zoo

It has been just over 11 years since Southport Zoo closed its gates for the last time.

The six acre site housed over 154 species of animals including African lions, chimps, gibbons, parrots and reptiles and was a fun day out for many families over the years.

Owned by Carol and Douglas Petrie, Sefton Council did not allow the renewal of the lease and the site was given over to Pleasureland.

All of the animals at the zoo were rehomed before its closure in 2004 to smaller zoos across the country, with the larger mammals going to Cumbria and other animals going to zoos in Wales.

The old site was first made into a paintball attraction and was relaunched in 2010 as Battlefield Live Southport.

Last year Pleasureland boss Norman Wallis turned the disused site into a an extreme horror experience for Hallowe'en.

The Southport Zoo is closed for good. 23rd July 04. Pic by Gareth Jones
The Southport Zoo is closed for good. 23rd July 04. Pic by Gareth Jones

Brave souls were invited to explore the eerie zoo grounds overtaken by trees and undergrowth as the site was still home to the decaying animal enclosures and desolate buildings that housed a visitor centre.

Last October Mr Wallis told the ECHO: “It struck me that the old zoo would be perfect for bringing back into use as a Zombie Zoo for Halloween."