Dave the OAP
Well-known member
Allegedly
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[Brighton] i360 filing for administration
- Thread starter nickbrighton
- Start date
BrightonCottager
Well-known member
At least the webcams at the top are still working: https://www.brightoncctv.co.uk/i360-cams
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Tom Hark Preston Park
Will Post For Cash
- Jul 6, 2003
- 72,660
Move along now, nothing (much) to see here
Not Andy Naylor
Well-known member
Sure, what would you like to know?
Regarding the sale of artefacts, the items being flogged are some of the very few saleable assets the trust owns (apart, obviously, from a large amount of rusting iron where a grade 1 listed pier used to be). If a museum wants to buy any, I understand we are open to offers. We also have a complete kiosk that was salvaged from the West Pier wreckage, which represents a much more substantial chunk of the city's heritage than a few brackets and seat backs, but it's costing the earth to store and all efforts to finance its restoration and rebuilding (on the hard standing in front of the West Pier Centre) have come to nothing. We have approached wealthy individuals and companies as well as applying for Heritage Lottery funding, but to no avail.
The Trust is a charity and has a paid chief executive, but the trustees all give their time for nothing, and the centre staff are volunteers. We pay rent to the council for the Centre, but our major source of income was rent from the i360, of which we are landlords. What happens to that now is, er, up in the air.
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Not Andy Naylor
Well-known member
She certainly hasn't been receiving anything like that, and has taken a voluntary pay cut.
Tom Hark Preston Park
Will Post For Cash
- Jul 6, 2003
- 72,660
Thanks for taking the time to reply, appreciate it. Just seems to me that selling off some of the pier's heritage to, er, preserve the pier's heritage is counter-intuitive. And the kiosk, is it that little one that was one of the last intact bits of the pier at the time of the final fire(s)? Got some photos somewhere. Beautiful-looking thing. Couldn't it be fully restored using a small fraction of the funds the trust holds? I'm not an accountant, but the latest accounts talk about the trust holding £1.8m. Or is that all spoken for? Cheers
You could compare which is more past it’s sell-by date, the beer or the Isle of White.
Official Old Man
Uckfield Seagull
This interests me. So the West Pier Trust own the land on which the i360 is situated?
Presuming they had a lease with the usual terms, failure to pay the rent would mean you get back the land. I'll presume the administrators will ensure the rent is paid (this week if I'm correct) and so they will continue to lease the land.
As to the kisok. If it is the old Rock Shop that has been replicated as a ticket office, that was falling apart anyway so there cant be much of it left.
Reminds me of the kiosk at the bottom of West Street that was removed and placed in storage. It has been rebuilt outside the Queens Hotel. Ask the owners and they'll show you the beam on the side, the only 'original' piece of the building.
Has anyone/wealthy benefactor/organisation ever had a stab at the cost of rebuilding the pier?
Cheshire Cat
The most curious thing..
Only with a can of petrol and a match.
Not Andy Naylor
Well-known member
This is the kiosk:
West Pier Kiosk - West Pier Trust
The West Pier Trust has been working for the last few years towards the restoration of an original 1866 kiosk recovered from the Pier in the 1990s. The kiosk
www.westpier.co.uk
Not Andy Naylor
Well-known member
There have been various estimates (and, before my time, cash offers) but these have failed to take into account all sorts of hidden costs. For example, the existing structure (which is dangerous) may look rickety but the Victorians knew a thing or two about sinking piles into seabed and it would be massively expensive just to clear the site. Then you'd probably want all sorts of enabling structures (hotels, casinos etc) either at the shore end or on the pier itself, which would almost certainly not get planning permission. It would need a benefactor with almost limitless cash, who would be prepared to lose loads of money reinstating the original Victorian pier or something close to it.
There was an estimate of £50m - £100m back in 2016.
West Pier would cost £1m a year to preserve expert claims
IT would cost £1 million a year to preserve the West Pier in its current skeletal state and £50 to £100 million to restore its to its Victorian…
www.theargus.co.uk
Lottery money was all lined up and ready to go before the arson attacks but the offer was withdrawn after that.
Tom Hark Preston Park
Will Post For Cash
- Jul 6, 2003
- 72,660
I'm thinking it may well be the big one to the right of my second (colour!) photo. Remember thinking at the time how amazing it was that the entire main structure of the pier had been gutted by fire yet the kiosks remained relatively intactThis is the kiosk:
West Pier Kiosk - West Pier Trust
The West Pier Trust has been working for the last few years towards the restoration of an original 1866 kiosk recovered from the Pier in the 1990s. The kiosk
Not Andy Naylor
Well-known member
I've written enough about football club administrations [#twats], CVAs etc, to know that we can only wait and see what the administrators come up with. Without my WPT hat on, I'm not sure anyone would want a patch of land with an i360 on it ...
There have been various estimates (and, before my time, cash offers) but these have failed to take into account all sorts of hidden costs. For example, the existing structure (which is dangerous) may look rickety but the Victorians knew a thing or two about sinking piles into seabed and it would be massively expensive just to clear the site. Then you'd probably want all sorts of enabling structures (hotels, casinos etc) either at the shore end or on the pier itself, which would almost certainly not get planning permission. It would need a benefactor with almost limitless cash, who would be prepared to lose loads of money reinstating the original Victorian pier or something close to it.
There was an estimate of £50m - £100m back in 2016.
West Pier would cost £1m a year to preserve expert claims
IT would cost £1 million a year to preserve the West Pier in its current skeletal state and £50 to £100 million to restore its to its Victorian…
Lottery money was all lined up and ready to go before the arson attacks but the offer was withdrawn after that.
Thanks, not an inconsequential sum! Would have loved to see it restored, but pretty unlikely now...
That's exactly how I remember it in the 60s and 70s. The Palace Pier was all brash and flashy with the fairground rides and stuff, and the West Pier was the 'quiet' one. It helped that it was away from the noisy centre of Brighton, (a fact that didn't help the i360), and as a boy I found it a bit of a trek, but I loved its air of decayed gentility. 'The West Pier is the Best Pier' as they used to say.
Anyway, what's the future? @Not Andy Naylor you seem to be more ITK than the rest of us, is there any chance of someone like Merlin taking over? I'd imagine they'll 'Do a Palace' and all us original creditors will lose (most) of our money, but hopefully someone can make a success of it.
jackalbion
Well-known member
- Aug 30, 2011
- 5,048
I was on a zero hour contract while I was at university, so I didn't have to work during term time when I was in Huddersfield. The was on part time otherwise, so I'd imagine there was a lot of people on that.
Not Andy Naylor
Well-known member
I presume we're talking about the i360 and not the Pier?
I don't have any inside knowledge of who the i360 have been talking to, but I understand there were two potential bidders and one dropped out. Of course, in that situation, the remaining bidder is suddenly in the driving seat because they can withdraw their bid, wait for the company to go into administration and then pick it up for much less from the administrator.
Obviously the best outcome (although probably not for the creditors) would be for some financially competent organisation to take over, run the i360 at a profit (which would have to mean a more sensible pricing policy) and start paying money back to the council. Whether the council themselves could try to do that I honestly don't know, but it could be one way to ensure that a small amount of money at least trickles back. But if they couldn't make it pay then of course there'd be no point.
Liquidation would be a disaster for all concerned, not least because I assume the demolition costs involved in replacing the i360 would be eye-watering for anyone wanting to lease the site for something else. Then we might end up with another rusting relic at the south end of Norfolk Square, and not one as photogenic as the West Pier remains.
Bit of lateral thinking here. Put a small platform on the rusting remains of the pier and a zip line from the top of the i360. Probably wouldn't make money but would be fun!