£PIER CHARGES - LUKE GARDENER

Another pier owner hits the financial wall, wanting to charge for entry in place of creativity

SHEIKH'S PIER - Responding to pleas not to charge £1 or £2 pounds to enter the pier (with a cup of tea thrown in), Mr Gulzar has put his plans to introduce such a plan on hold. Thankyou Mr Gulzar.

THE ARGUS MONDAY 30th NOVEMBER 2015

A STUDENT’S video pleading with the new owner of Eastbourne Pier not to charge an entrance fee has gone viral with more than 100,000 views online in just three days.

Luke Gardner – a creative media studies student at Sussex Downs College – decided to create the video rather than just a write to Sheikh Abid Gulzar, who bought the pier last month.

Mr Gulzar had suggested in a national newspaper article that he might charge a £1 or £2 entrance fee to go onto the pier – a suggestion which has divided the town.

Some have said they would be happy to pay the charge, while others said they would boycott the iconic site in protest.

Mr Gulzar has since confirmed that no firm decision has been made, so Luke thought it would be a great idea to make his views known on video, but he didn’t realise it would be so popular.

Luke says on the video that he disagrees with any charge to go onto the pier, but is delighted that he has caused so much interest with his video.

He is now planning a second video and he hopes to include the new owner in that one.

Mr Gulzar has always said he is happy to meet locals who have a view on the pier, and while Luke says he hasn’t yet spoken to the new owner, he does hope to do so in the next couple of days.

by Peter Lindsey

FACEBOOK

According to the Eastbourne Independent there are over 650 postings on the Pier Memorial Facebook page. You can see these for yourself by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/arcadememorial/

SUNSET - Will the Blue Room ever see the light of day and when might that be? Concerns are rising in Eastbourne that the town may never see the amusement arcade restored. The present owner says he does not have the money to do that, and that is one of the reasons for looking at putting a charge on entry. Though, at £1 or even £2 pounds, we might have to wait a lifetime to see the Blue Room back. Can the town afford to wait that long?

CONTACTS

Eastbourne Pier

Grand Parade
EASTBOURNE
East Sussex
BN21 3EL

Eastbourne Borough Council

1 Grove Rd

Eastbourne

East Sussex

BN21 4TW

LINKS & REFERENCE

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REMOVAL - Was it necessary to remove all the steel work? We hope that at least one complete section was saved as a pattern to replace the structure. We wonder if a more careful disassembly might have made reconditioning possible?