‘Goldfinger’ ordered to halt paint job on historic pier
land, said: “The new owner is bound by the restrictions that apply to all Grade II*-listed buildings, but also by council planning laws, so all the necessary permissions would have to be in place before he was allowed to carry out any important changes to the pier.
“However, piers are not ornaments and need to function and be viable to their private owners so changes that are reasonable could well be allowed.”
An Eastbourne council spokesman said the pier owner should now submit a retrospective planning application.
Eastbourne Pier, which opened in 1870, is seen as one of Britain’s most historic piers and, with the demise of Brighton’s West Pier, destroyed by arson in 2003, the best example on the south coast.
On August 2014 it was gutted by a huge blaze. Firemen battled for days to keep the flames from engulfing it. Owner Cuerden Leisure promised to rebuild it but when plans for a fairground with dodgems and waltzers were rejected, Cuerden sold it to Mr Gulzar.
The entrepreneur has accused a handful of people of running a campaign against him.
“There are one or two people who would always complain but the majority of people are very happy,” he said. “The footfall on the pier has almost tripled. For me it is a project of the heart. It was the most neglected pier in Britain but there has been a lot of work carried out. I am looking for the next generation to enjoy it.
“I am not scared to think outside the box. I’m not charging people. They are coming onto my investment free of charge.”
Mr Gulzar, who is from a family of tanners in northern India and came to Britain in 1965 at the age of 19, said he had sold a hotel, Chatsworth Hotel, and was selling another, the 122-room Mansion Lions Hotel, to fund the pier project.