A seaside pier that has been wrecked twice by fire, served as a landing site for second world war refugees and played host to The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Tom Jones is on the verge of being sold to a businessman six years after it was saved with a £12m lottery grant.

The proposed sale of Hastings pier prompted a protest this week by local campaigners who have been raising money to try to buy it themselves. They complain that they have not been consulted on the sale and fear for the future of what they call the “people’s pier”.

The private buyer Sheikh Abid Gulzar bought Eastbourne pier in 2015 and has angered local residents and conservationists by painting parts of it gold, banning dogs, cyclists, fishing and picnics and charging a £2 entrance fee.

He was expected to sign an agreement to purchase Hastings pier this week. He has not commented on the reported deal, but last week he registered a new company, Hastings Pier Limited.

The Hastings campaigners have raised through crowdfunding more than £440,000 of a £500,000 target and had understood they would be given enough time to find the rest, but they were told Gulzar had an “agreement in principle” for the purchase.

Hastings pier was opened in 1872, had its heyday as a seaside pleasure attraction in the 1930s and became a popular music venue in the 1960s. The original 2,000-seat pavilion was destroyed by fire in 1917 and replaced five years later. The pier was damaged by storms in 1990, sold to a succession of owners and finally declared unsafe and closed in 2006.

A fire in 2010 caused further damage, but in 2012 work began to rebuild it with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Last year the newly reopened pier won the Stirling prize for the best new building in the UK.

Hastings Pier Charity, which ran the Grade II-listed structure and was partly funded by local “shareholder” donations, went into administration last November.

Friends of Hastings Pier (FOHP) want to keep it in community ownership and have submitted plans they say will ensure its future. They hoped to be given more time to hit their fundraising target and were shocked to discover the pier was on the point of being sold. On Wednesday evening, 300 people turned out for an impromptu protest and concert on the pier.

James Chang, a spokesman for the group, said: “Private investors typically have wanted to make a profit. The last pier owner didn’t invest money in maintaining it while at the same time taking money out of it. Under community ownership we’re not looking for profit, we just need to break even, but mainly we want it to be run for the community.

“Having a derelict pier in a seaside town is worse than having no pier. It’s a massive sign of neglect. We can maintain the future of the pier with this, so we don’t quite understand why this decision is being taken. We want a say in its future. It is wrong for it to be sold for an entrepreneur to profit from.”

Another campaigner said: “Hastings pier is part of our Victorian seaside heritage and it shouldn’t be flogged off for a song.”

FOHP said on Thursday: “The pier was put into administration last November by the Hastings Pier Charity. This meant that the fate of one of the country’s very first community benefit societies, established under an act passed in 2014, was subject to a legal system which is designed purely to deal with commercial bankruptcies.

“The administrator, Adam Stephens, has let it be known that he wants to make an imminent decision so that whoever takes over the pier can benefit from the very healthy summer trade. The pier makes much less money in the winter months.

“He has a choice of just two bids. One is the Friends of Hastings Pier (FOHP), who wish to maintain the pier as a community-based asset. The alternative is Abid Gulzar, the owner of Eastbourne pier.”

Dan Matthews, an events co-ordinator for the pier, said: “It is shocking that this iconic pier, which was the recipient of so much public money, is going to be flogged off on the cheap like this. It is a travesty. It’s criminal, really. It’s a national disgrace. There is a plan just waiting in the wings which would keep the pier in public ownership.”

At Wednesday’s protest gig Jess Steele, one of the key figures in FOHP, said there was a clear alternative to the pier going into private ownership, and she announced that campaigners had been asked to put a revised business plan to the administrator by noon on Thursday.

“We are now in a very strong position. We now have a very experienced commercial operator partner/investor on board who is willing to install and operate a new temporary structure on the pier at his own cost,” she said.

“This essentially means we are ready to go. All we need is for the administrator to agree to sell us the pier and we could be up and running with our new business plan within weeks.”



FOHP say they are confident that the remaining £60,000 can be raised before the end of the month. “It’s not over yet. We’re working up to the wire to try to get the best long-term answer for Hastings pier,” Steele said.

The Heritage Lottery Fund said the decision lay with the administrators. A spokesman said: “We are supporting the administrators appointed by Hastings Pier Charity in their efforts to find a new future for the pier following the sad demise of the community trust. A decision on the future of the pier will be announced by the administrators in due course.”

The administrators Smith Williamson said a decision would be made imminently but refused to comment on the identity of any possible buyer.