Pier Owner Gulzar Faces Triple Court Reckoning
HUGH SULLIVAN
Sheikh Abid Gulzar, 80-year-old owner of Hastings Pier, is set to make three court appearances, each at a different venue, over the next four months.
On 12 August, the company Golden (Lions) Eastbourne Limited, of which he is sole director and shareholder, faces a winding-up petition in London’s High Court brought by British Gas Trading Limited. The company owns Eastbourne Pier.
On 2 September Gulzar faces an individual trial in Brighton Magistrates Court on a charge, which he denies, of possession of a knife blade or sharp pointed article in a public place. The case was first listed for trial by Hastings Magistrates in April but ordered to be transferred to Brighton. It is understood to relate to an incident in Eastbourne in May last year.
On dates as yet unspecified in November, Gulzar faces a further three-week trial in Lewes Crown Court along with a co-defendant, business associate Manasdeep Singh, on ten charges of alleged fraud under a private prosecution brought by water supplier Castle Water Limited. The charges relate to the claimed provision of £150,000 worth of water to a number of hotels owned by Gulzar’s companies. He and Singh stand accused of fraud in their avoidance of payment. Both have pleaded not guilty.
At a prior hearing of this prosecution at Hove in March, Gulzar was required to put up security for his potential liability. The court directed that this security should include his major private asset, the freehold of Hastings Pier. Thus, although he has stated publicly that he is looking for a buyer for this pier, any prospective sale would be frozen until after the November trial unless the court allowed a sale to proceed with the proceeds held in lieu.
PREVIOUS COMPANY DEFAULTS
Ten out of 12 companies which Gulzar has owned and directed as sole shareholder over the past 11 years have either been liquidated or dissolved – many owing substantial sums either in tax or to trade creditors (or both).
Lions Hotels Limited and Chatsworth Hotels Limited were both liquidated in 2017 with combined debts to the Inland Revenue of nearly £300,000 and over £150,000 to trade creditors.
In September 2023 Lions Hastings Pier Ltd, which managed operations on Hastings Pier but did not own the freehold or any other major assets, was wound up with a deficiency in excess of £300,000, much of it owed to former employees Peter Wheeler and Daisy Hill. The company liquidator Laura Walshe made what she described as a “confidential report” to the Insolvency Service on Gulzar’s conduct as former director, indicating “matters which did merit further review relating to dealings between the company and an associated entity”. She noted that concerns in relation to other companies operated by him were “beyond the scope of my duties”.
No disqualification proceedings nor other attempts to control the conduct of his companies have ever been brought against Gulzar, despite an on-going series of insolvencies.
In 2024 two other former hotel companies, Albany Lions Hotel Limited and Mansion Lions Hotel Limited, were dissolved, the former after a winding up petition was issued by HM Revenue & Customs. No accounts had been filed in respect of either since 2019, so any financial deficiencies have not seen the light of day.
In May this year, two other companies: Lions Pier Limited, believed to be the operating company for Eastbourne Pier, and Golden AMB Limited, previously the operating company for the Mansions Lions Hotel, were wound up on petitions brought by Eastbourne Borough Council. Two months before, both companies had filed respective accounts made up to March 2025. Lions Pier showed assets (at cost) of £570,000 but creditors of over £1.3 million, including trade creditors of £930,000 and tax outstanding of £91,000; Golden AMB showed assets (at cost) of £630,000 with creditors of £2.48 million, including £1.13 million trade creditors and tax/social security outstanding of £91,000. No statement of affairs as at the date of liquidation has yet been drawn in either case.
WHAT’S LEFT
The extent of Gulzar’s private wealth is unknown, but he owns Hastings Pier, the Boship Lions Farm Hotel outside Hailsham (closed after losing a government contract to house asylum seekers, and apparently now up for sale) and the former Mansions Lions Hotel, which has been on the market for many years (current ‘guide price’ with Sussex Commercial is £2.8 million). But his corporate empire has been reduced to just two companies: Golden (Lions) Eastbourne Limited, which faces winding up in a fortnight’s time, and Boship Lions Farm Hotel Limited.
The Boship Lions company hasn’t filed accounts since 2019. It is believed to have been used as the operating company to manage the Boship Lions Farm Hotel, and at that stage had no significant assets.
The Golden Lions company, however, filed accounts in March this year made up to March 2025 showing an asset value of £6 million – presumably for the freehold of Eastbourne Pier, since no other property is known to be held by the company. This figure is not related to cost but noted on the face of the accounts as a “fair value”. (By way of comparison, Gulzar stated recently that his asking price for Hastings Pier is £4 million).
It seems unlikely that Gulzar will allow Golden Lions to be wound up on 12 August, and much more probable that he can and will in due course raise the finance to pay whatever is owed to British Gas Trading. His past form includes several instances in which claims against him and/or his companies for unpaid tax and national insurance contributions have had to be pursued through the courts by Revenue & Customs authorities and/or appealed but have eventually been settled.
The outcome of the respective criminal prosecutions against him, on the other hand, is not one that can be commented upon in advance.
Sheikh Abid Gulzar has been asked by HIP for comments on the winding up proceedings in respect of his company Golden (Lions) Eastbourne Ltd but had not responded at the time of going to press.
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