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| Hastings pier gets £11.4m lottery grant | Hastings pier gets £11.4m lottery grant |
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| The sad, charred skeleton of Hastings pier should be restored to its gaudy glory, through an £11.4m Heritage Lottery fund grant to a local trust to buy and restore the seaside gem once known as "the peerless pier", which has been a scorched eyesore since an arson attack in 2010. | The sad, charred skeleton of Hastings pier should be restored to its gaudy glory, through an £11.4m Heritage Lottery fund grant to a local trust to buy and restore the seaside gem once known as "the peerless pier", which has been a scorched eyesore since an arson attack in 2010. |
| Generations of local people remember it fondly as the heart of the resort for children, genteelly strolling adults, fishermen – and rowdy teenagers, including the comedian Jo Brand, who grew up in the area. "I was gutted when the pier was gutted," she said. | Generations of local people remember it fondly as the heart of the resort for children, genteelly strolling adults, fishermen – and rowdy teenagers, including the comedian Jo Brand, who grew up in the area. "I was gutted when the pier was gutted," she said. |
| "Hastings pier was where I spent a great deal of time as a teenager and it was the gathering point for a whole generation looking to see bands and dance the night away. So, I suppose it's no surprise that I view it with enormous affection. I can't wait to see the new pier rise out of the ashes in the next couple of years. Hooray!" | "Hastings pier was where I spent a great deal of time as a teenager and it was the gathering point for a whole generation looking to see bands and dance the night away. So, I suppose it's no surprise that I view it with enormous affection. I can't wait to see the new pier rise out of the ashes in the next couple of years. Hooray!" |
| The Grade II listed pier was designed by the genius of Victorian pier architecture, Eugenius Birch – who also created Brighton's now destroyed West Pier. It opened in 1872, and originally stretched 277m out to sea. It had the usual patchy pier history of storm and fire damage, but flourished with a dance hall, a fun fair, a bowling alley and rifle range, and cafes. It became renowned for big name pop concerts, including the Rolling Stones, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, and Pink Floyd in January 1968, Syd Barrett's last appearance with the band. | |
| Over the next 30 years it was severely damaged by storms, repeatedly changed ownership, closed on safety grounds several times, and in 2009 was bleakly assessed as "one good storm away from collapse". It was declared Britain's most endangered pier by the National Piers Society and the following year a fire was started deliberately – although nobody was ever convicted – which smouldered for days, destroying almost all the buildings, leaving only the structural ironwork. | Over the next 30 years it was severely damaged by storms, repeatedly changed ownership, closed on safety grounds several times, and in 2009 was bleakly assessed as "one good storm away from collapse". It was declared Britain's most endangered pier by the National Piers Society and the following year a fire was started deliberately – although nobody was ever convicted – which smouldered for days, destroying almost all the buildings, leaving only the structural ironwork. |
| By then it was owned by an offshore company, Panama-registered Ravenclaw Investments, which has failed to carry out the vital repairs. Hastings borough council finally voted for compulsory purchase as the only way of saving it. A specially formed local trust, the Hastings Pier & White Rock Trust, now plans to buy the pier and reopen it, hoping to start work in the spring and finish by late 2014, keeping the only surviving original building, the Western Pavilion, as a visitor centre, restaurant and bar. | |
| The Heritage Lottery Fund celebrates its 18th anniversary this year, a period in which it has given grants totalling more than £5bn. Grants were also announced on Monday for the Westonbirt arboretum in the Cotswolds; Flodden Field battle site in Northumberland; the medieval St Mary-on-the-Quay in Lincoln; Hoxton Hall community arts centre in Shoreditch; and to restore an eccentric Victorian Swiss garden at Old Warden Park in Bedfordshire. |