The battle of Hastings pier has erupted in public insults and accusations after a decision, announced at the end of December, to close the seaside town’s prize-winning attraction for two months.

Furious locals have accused owner Sheikh Abid Gulzar of keeping them in the dark over his plans for the pier’s future after his sudden decision to shut it until March for repairs and improvements.

Gulzar responded saying campaigners had been rude and insulting and “wanted everything for free”.

The latest outbreak of hostilities, conducted mainly on social media, marks a new low in relations between campaigners and the owner. The warring sides have different visions for the pier, which won the prestigious Stirling prize for architecture in 2017.

Hastings residents accuse Gulzar of cheapening the listed Victorian structure with the installation of fibreglass animals, including an elk and a gold baby hippopotamus, and plans for an amusement arcade.

Sheikh Abid Gulzar on Eastbourne pier, which he also owns. Photograph: Brighton Pictures/Rex/Shutterstock

James Chang, of the campaign group Friends of Hastings Pier (FoHP), said locals wanted “sympathetic development”.

“We’re not objecting to the development, we’re objecting to the nature of development,” he told the Guardian.

In an interview with BBC Sussex, Chang added: “What we are asking for is transparency. We want to know the plans for the pier. We need to know that the pier is being well cared for and looked after. There’s £14m of public money that has been invested.”

Gulzar, a hotelier and businessman who also owns Eastbourne pier, hit back, saying there had been arson attacks and thefts on the pier. He said a recent fire in the cafe was a close call.

“Safety is paramount. We have had one or two incidents that have frightened me …had that fire happened early morning or late evening, the whole of that building would have gone up in flames,” he said.

He added: “I will make sure this pier will be one of the best, but I will not tolerate any nonsense where people come and use swear words and want everything for free. The most important thing is to get on with this work. I will do everything right. I love Hastings, it’s one of the best seafronts, but it should improve.”

Since it opened in 1872, Hastings pier has gone from Victorian pleasure park to popular music venue – which saw performances by Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones – to crumbling edifice that engineers described as “one good storm away from collapse” in 2009. It was extensively damaged by fire in 2010 and reopened in 2016 after a £14m renovation paid for by the Heritage Lottery Fund. However, a local charity set up to run the pier went bankrupt in November 2017.

FoHP raised around £750,000 in crowdfunding and put in an offer to buy the pier on behalf of the community, but to local fury ,administrators sold it to Gulzar in June last year for £60,000, according to Land Registry documents.

The aftermath of the fire in 2010. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

On a wintry day in Hastings, Peter Wheeler, the pier’s former chief maintenance engineer, had a face as cloudy as the sky as he watched the wind and waves batter the structure. He and several other pier staff are taking legal action against Gulzar for constructive dismissal.

“At the moment, there is no dedicated team available to work on Hastings pier. We had eyes on it every day, checking it, making sure bolts were tightened and things like that,” Wheeler told the Guardian.

He said “malevolent acts” had been taking place on and under the pier. “Someone has been climbing up underneath and unscrewing the sewage pipe caps. We spotted it and replaced them, but two days later the caps were taken again. You’d have to be pretty nimble to climb up the underneath. It’s malevolent, not just a jolly jape.”

Wheeler insisted the pier needed constant maintenance, but accused Gulzar of closing it unnecessarily. “There’s always maintenance to be done, but it doesn’t mean you have to shut the pier,” he said.

The local MP, Amber Rudd, has expressed concern over the sudden closure, but Peter Chowney, Hastings borough council leader, said the authority had no direct control over Hastings pier.

One of the controversial golden hippopotamuses on the pier. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

“It is privately owned, and the owner is entitled to adopt whatever opening hours he wants to,” Chowney told the Hastings & St Leonard’s Observer, adding that it was “unfortunate that no prior notice was given” and the closure “could have been handled better”.

Gulzar’s spokesman, Brett McLean, told the Guardian the essential repairs included rewiring and he hoped the pier could be opened by mid-February.

He said an engineering team based at Eastbourne was carrying out regular checks on the structure. At the weekend, pictures of engineers reportedly replacing a guard on one of the pier columns were published on the pier’s Facebook page.

McLean added: “The personal attacks on Mr Gulzar are extremely unkind, unnecessary and unwanted, and as such are the shameful creation of a small but vocal minority … I am aware that the administrator’s also received an incredible amount of abuse from, presumably, the same group of individuals.”