Better days are getting nearer for Hastings pier.

Grant secured for pier restaurant

Hastings Pier has taken another big step towards restoration by winning a £750,000 grant from the government’s Coastal Communities fund. A further £443,000 has been allocated to Sussex Coast College to establish a coastal industries academy, writes Nick Terdre.

“The Coastal Communities funding is an important step forward and moves us significantly towards our overall funding target,” Simon Opie, chief executive of the Hastings Pier and White Rock Trust (HPWRT), told HOT. “Just as importantly, it supports our vision for the pier as a gateway to employability and represents support from central government for our strategy of economic regeneration linked to the pier.”

The £750,000 grant is earmarked for the establishment of the Pavilion Restaurant, which is also linked to the grant to Sussex Coastal College – students of the coastal industries academy will be given workplace training at the restaurant.

The Coastal Communities grant is part of the additional £2.5 million which HPWRT has to raise as a condition for receiving funding of £11.4m allocated last year to the pier restoration project by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

HPWRT has applications in train to bring funding to the total £13.9 million target. “We should have a clearer picture of where we stand by the end of this month,” Mr Opie said. “I am optimistic that we’ll be able to take the keys to the pier in May, and then make a start.”

In addition to the £13.9 million for restoration, the trust aims to raise working capital by selling community shares. “We would hope to launch the Community Shares scheme on the day we take ownership of the Pier,” Mr Opie said. “Our initial fundraising target through the shares will be £400,000, but we’d hope to exceed that figure over time.”

The council has been authorised to undertake the compulsory purchase of the pier, the ownership of which will then be transferred to a specially created body, Hastings Pier Charity.

See Three cheers for the pier

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