KAREN Hardy travels the world over judging competitions and promoting ballroom dancing, but one place remains dear to her heart.

“I love Bournemouth and put it on the map whenever I’m interviewed. I’ve stood in the middle of the town and thought: ‘They’ve made it absolutely beautiful’.”

Now running her own dance studio in London, she jumped at the chance of coming back to the town where she was brought up by her mother Anne and father Andrew. But when she tried to take her dad for a belated Father’s Day coffee, the only place they could find with outdoor seating was a pub with a balcony. “I’m sad to see it all closed at 5.30pm,” she said.

“The answer is to take away the double yellow lines. We just wanted a coffee shop, but every single one had double yellow lines outside. Bournemouth needs movement, a flow.”