The seaside town of Hastings, which gave its name to one of the most famous battles in British history, is up in arms once again.

This time it is not the marauding French upsetting everyone but the fate of the town’s pier, whose future has pitted residents against a flamboyant Indian-born businessman in a bitter struggle that is unlikely to alter the fate of the nation but will certainly go down in local legend.

The war of words continues as campaigners calling themselves the Friends of Hastings Pier demanded a parliamentary inquiry into why the pier was sold to wealthy businessman Sheikh Abid Gulzar. The Friends had crowdfunded nearly £500,000 to buy the pier for the community. The group’s arrow-in-the-eye moment came three weeks ago when administrators deciding the pier’s future announced they had accepted Gulzar’s bid. The decision sparked hostilities between the two sides: meeting face to face for the first time on the pier they had fought over, insults were traded.

Campaigners say Gulzar is either keeping them “in the dark” about his plans or that he hasn’t any. Gulzar has fired back, saying the campaigners are “people with nothing better to do than protest”.

In its 146-year history, the pier, opened in 1872, has gone from Victorian pleasure park to popular music venue to a state of dilapidation that engineers described as “one good storm away from collapse”. It was then extensively damaged by fire.

In 2016 it reopened after a £14m renovation funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and won the Stirling prize for architecture a year later. In November last year, the charity running it went bankrupt. Administrator Smith & Williamson insisted Gulzar, 72, who already owns Eastbourne pier, was the best bet for the future of Hastings pier.

Documents filed with Companies House showed that of the six companies of which Gulzar is sole director, five were listed as “dormant” and none showed an operating profit. Two other companies went into liquidation in January 2017, owing around £1.3m to creditors and more than £280,000 to the taxman. Gulzar set up a new company, Lions Hastings Pier Ltd, a week before he bought Hastings pier.

A banner at the entrance of the pier with the logos of 27 business owners who welcomed Gulzar’s takeover was vandalised last week.

James Chang, spokesman for the Friends, said the group was determined but conciliatory, saying it had “extended the hand of friendship” to Gulzar. “There has been a nasty undercurrent to all this and we have tried to stamp that out. We don’t condone acts of vandalism and protests like that are not how we function. The pier is a community space,” Chang said. “Mr Gulzar has it, the decision has been made and we have to live with it. But there is anger and resentment.

“We want a meaningful engagement with Mr Gulzar which benefits the pier and the community. But we have no idea of his plans. To us, it should be a space to meet, walk dogs, go fishing…”, he said, a clear reference to Gulzar banning dogs and fishing from Eastbourne pier. “This has been very divisive for the town.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sheikh Abid Gulzar, who already owns Eastbourne Pier in Sussex. Photograph: Rex

Campaigners want to know how much Gulzar paid for the pier and why his bid was successful. They have enlisted the help of local MP and former home secretary Amber Rudd to find out. In a letter dated 9 July, an official from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport claimed that Gulzar had bought the pier for £500,000. A ministry spokeswoman said this figure was “wrong” but refused to give the real figure, saying it was a “private sale”.

“It’s a transparency issue,” Chang said. “Here we have a £14m investment earmarked for local regeneration that has been effectively used as a subsidy for a private business and we have no idea why.”

Gulzar, who arrived in Britain in 1965 aged 19 and took British nationality after making his fortune importing and exporting leather, hit back at his critics. “Who are these Friends of Hastings Pier?... I am the friend of Hastings pier and I have put my money where my mouth is.”

Asked about his plans for the pier, Gulzar replied: “If you want to know what I’m going to do with Hastings pier you should look 101% at what I have done with Eastbourne pier. I have lifted it from the grave right up. I am going to do the same thing in Hastings. I want to make the pier the pride of Hastings.”

The Friends are determined to carry on the fight. The group is refunding donations from the original crowdfunder but has launched another to raise enough to eventually buy back the pier “for the people of Hastings”.

“Our principle remains to have the pier in community ownership. We have not relinquished that. We are carrying on campaigning,” Chang said.