Hastings Pier Madness

Dear HIP

Why can’t our local council step in and save Hastings Pier? It seems unwise that this important community asset was sold to Sheikh Gulzar in the first place. The council seems either overly naive or willing to overlook individuals who make ambitious promises but ultimately fail to deliver on them.

The old Debenhams building is another prime example of the same nonsense, with investors walking away with no feasible explanation.

It really is time that our council realised that many – not all, of course – of these types of operators are only interested in the revenue and really have no consideration or commitment to the town whatsoever, despite their protestations – not that much different in many cases from the vape shops, dodgy barbers and souvenir shops that seem to proliferate.

It appears that Gulzar has not succeeded in reinvigorating the pier. There are also concerns about whether structural maintenance has been kept up to required standards. In light of this, the council should consider removing him from the project and letting the Friends of Hastings Pier take over. The town should not be intimidated by legal threats.

Indoor amusement machines, kids’ rides, dodgems, etc. belong on the pier rather than cluttering up the historic Old Town. There are plenty of outdoor options there already, including the world-famous Crazy Golf, a kids’ play area, ball sports facilities, and so on.

The council should also get the boating lake back up and running, turning it into a mini lido or sunken garden, or simply filling it in and leaving it as open space. Finally, re-open the access from the road to the beach.

Come on, Hastings Council – get your heads out of the sand and open your eyes to the realities of the town that you represent. The way the world is going lately, foreign travel is getting less appealing and the ‘staycation’ is becoming more popular, so wake up and get it sorted.

Yes, Hastings is a seaside town. Town centre regeneration is promised, and St Leonards is on the up – but bringing the pier back to life, in the hands of people who care, should be a priority too.

I could go on, but banging my head against a brick wall comes to mind when thinking about these absurdities of town management.

Stuart D

(Old Town resident, Hastings born and bred)

Letter

Creating a better planning service

Dear HIP

Now that the draft local plan consultation and the elections are over it may be appropriate to further consider how the town’s most pressing problems of housing shortage and dealing with global warming might be progressed. Might it be done with more and better dialogue?

Over the last 18 months or so, the Hastings Urban Design Group (HUDG) have been trying to establish a dialogue with Hastings Borough Council planning department on how to create a more efficient and effective planning service than at present. After all, it is something we all pay for in our Council Tax and something that contributes to the success or failure of building more homes. We set before HBC a catalogue of apparent errors, faults, and omissions by the development control section of the planning department. At first our approach was completely dismissed, but eventually a meeting was arranged when it was mutually agreed that some improvements were necessary and we made some suggestions. We asked for a follow-up meeting, but despite repeated requests, over many months, we are still waiting.

Related to the above is that during the local plan consultation period it emerged that the usual development site identification process was not identifying possible small sites. Rather, it was relying on a backward-looking ‘windfall site’ system, which is now being recognised by some other planning authorities as not being thorough enough. Indeed, the different community groups within the town which commented on the local plan identified a range of possible sites which could potentially provide some 700 or more homes (flats and houses) apart from those on the planners’ list of sites.

Given the foregoing, we invite representatives from the public who know of potential sites or are themselves looking for sites to develop/self-build, to contact us via the form on the HUDG website. Once these are reviewed we will invite representatives from the council planning department (if they will attend) to a joint meeting to discuss, and hopefully agree, how both the site identification system and the planning process itself might be revised for the benefit of the town.

Ken Davis MA DipArch, DipPlan, DipBuildCons.

Chair Hastings Urban Design Group (urbandesignhastings.com)

We would love to hear from you.

letters@hastingsindependentpress.co.uk
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The period of striking and complex change that Hastings has undergone over the past twelve years is seen very clearly in the story of Hastings Pier.

HIP has regularly documented the changing fortunes of the pier over the past 12 years. In fact, the pier’s story has come to define the town’s recent history. In October 2010, a fire destroyed much of the Victorian structure, leaving it closed and derelict for years. What followed was an unusually strong local response: more than 2,000 people invested in a community share scheme to help fund its restoration, and bolster the amount provided by The Heritage Lottery Fund. When the pier reopened in 2016 after a £14 million rebuild, it was widely acclaimed as a community success story, a rare example of local people directly shaping the future of a major landmark.

The project gained national recognition, with the rebuilt pier winning the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2017 for its minimalist design. Yet, for complex reasons, the charity set up to run the pier was unable to maintain its financial sustainability, and it entered administration in 2017. In 2018, amid great controversy, the administrators sold it to the flamboyant owner of Eastbourne Pier, despite a strong bid from The Friends of Hastings Pier. Since then, the pier has faced repeated closures, changes in management and ongoing debate about its long-term role, whether as an events venue, a public space or something in between. It has now been put up for sale and is no longer fully operational.

HASTINGS RETAIL

While the pier has provided a highly visible focal point, change across Hastings has also been unfolding more gradually in its commercial streets. Areas such as the Old Town and parts of St Leonards have seen a steady growth in independent cafés, galleries and small businesses, particularly in the wellbeing sector, over the past decade. This shift is linked to a new influx of creatives and remote workers, mainly from London, drawn by comparatively lower property prices and the town’s coastal setting.

These changes have not been uniform. Hastings town centre continues to be plagued by vacant retail units to some extent caused by national trends including the decline of chain retailers and the rise of online shopping. The contrast between more vibrant, independent-led areas and quieter commercial zones has become increasingly pronounced.

Physical regeneration has also played a role. The Observer Building, once a hub for regional journalism employing hundreds of people, has been redeveloped after many years of neglect. Its transformation into a mixed-use creative and business space – along with several other major buildings in the area – reflect a broader shift away from large-scale local industry toward smaller, more flexible forms of economic activity.

Various pots of government funding have also played a part, but not always in a positive way such as with the abortive attempt to reopen Debenhams building as an events venue. An ongoing project is The Hastings Town Centre Public Realm and Green Connections Project, a £10m- £20m+ initiative to transform the town center with nature-based solutions, enhancing biodiversity, and improving walking/cycling links between the station and seafront.

Together, these developments point to a town in transition. Hastings has seen clear signs of renewal over the past twelve years, through independent enterprise and cultural investment, but also ongoing uncertainty around long-term sustainability.

Pier Future
20 April 2018
Friends of Hastings Pier (FoHP) has submitted an ambitious £3 million bid to take on Hastings Pier in an attempt to save it from being sold off into private ownership.
hastingsindependentpress.co.uk/articles/news/tide-us-over

Judge a man by the company he keeps
29 June 2018
So how did the Sheikh with a string of failed and failing companies get his pier bid approved? “The aim throughout the process was that the heritage asset be sold to the party which demonstrated the highest probability of sustaining it financially into the future and maintained the benefits for Hastings and the wider community”. So stated the administrators
hastingsindependentpress.co.uk/judge-man

What future for Hastings’ Shops? 
22 February 2019
Debenhams lies on the fringe of the main shopping area. Flaky exterior paint (take a look from the seaward side) and all the interior charm and excitement of a 1970s East German department store. It is a national chain in deep difficulty
hastingsindependentpress.co.uk/what-future

OB – ‘It’s Going To Happen’ 
22 September 2020
The Observer Building has suffered 35 years of dereliction, speculation and extraction. This is the first time it has had a deliverable planning permission, and the resources in place to deliver it.
hastingsindependentpress.co.uk/ob-happening

Fear Of Last Orders erupted onto the Hastings live music scene with all the subtlety of a bar stool lobbed through a window at 2am, at a lock-in at the dodgiest backstreet boozer you ever downed a pint in. Their mission was simple. Weld the excitement and energy of early Clash with the beats of Lonnie Donegan and sing songs about characters straight out of The Sweeney. And so a new musical genre was born: Punk, Skiffle and Debt Collection.

Fending off ludicrous enquiries about the whereabouts of the proceeds of the Hatton Garden job, the band have got down to serious business. Supporting the campaign to save Hastings Pier and recording an EP – In The Last Chance Saloon – that will introduce you to both the electric washboard and characters like the legendary Psycho Charlie. The band made news last year when they released their single, The End of the Pier, as part of a campaign to keep the pier open. Now they will officially launch their new vinyl EP, which includes this love song to the pier, with a special show at the Jenny Lind on Easter Sunday afternoon (5 April).

The four-track 7” also includes the psychobilly/skiffle cross-over tune Psycho Charlie. With cover artwork by legendary Hastings rock and roll artist Vince Ray, the tunes were recorded at the town’s Sonic Mix Studios, making the whole release very much a Hastings project.

Vinyl copies of the record will be available on the day and afterwards at Pressing Matters Records on Queens Road, and online from the Fear of Last Orders Facebook page.

Launch is 5 April at the Jenny Lind, 4 pm. Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id= 61568028768000 Pressing Matters: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554899543370

Sheikh Abid Gulzar, owner of Hastings Pier, has applied for listed building consent and planning permission to erect a new pavilion building on its eastern (lefthand) side, opposite the block which currently accommodates the Casa de Pier restaurant. 

The application, prepared for him by Eastbourne architects CKA Architectural, describes the intended new construction as matching the existing restaurant building and “be[ing] a largely faithful replica to the building that was lost due to the fire” in 2010, though with a slightly altered location so that existing temporary structures can be retained. The original buildings were designed as a pair to provide shelter on either side of a bandstand. The new building will feature the same curvature similarly capped with a dome at either end, and replicate other aspects of the design “to provide a sense of a pair of buildings, as was the original design intent”.

One of the existing kiosks landward of of the proposed new building will be adapted to provide additional WC facilities – a new disabled WC and three other toilets. 

The proposed works “would largely restore the appearance of the Pier back to its heyday of the late 1920s/early 1930s”, it is argued in the application. But Mr Gulzar also proposes to “update the existing décor” by festooning the pier entrance and the twin pavilions with the personal trademark liberally used across his property empire at Eastbourne: the colour gold. Permission is sought for the arrow heads on the entrance gates and railings, the balls on the top of side railings, and all four domes on the pavilions to be painted gold. 

Mr Gulzar’s previous forays into golden décor at Hastings Pier for accessories such as forms of stuffed animals have met with some local hostility. This new design proposal may prove similarly contentious.

Update on Pier Company Liquidation

The liquidator of the former company Lions Hastings Pier Ltd, through which Mr Gulzar managed the pier as its sole director until it collapsed into insolvency last year, has filed a first year’s report of her administration. Laura Walshe, an insolvency practitioner practising in Birmingham, reveals in it that the trade fixtures and fittings on the pier, which were the company’s sole assets, were sold back to him for £7,000. Former pier engineer Peter Wheeler, who together with fellow employee Daisy Hill brought claims against the company before an Employment Tribunal and were awarded over £82,000, made a (presumably lower) counterbid. The full indebtedness of the company was confirmed to be in the region of £300,000. Neither Mr Wheeler nor Ms Hill nor any other creditor will receive any pay-out, though Ms Walshe indicates that the two former employees may receive some compensation from the Redundancy Payments Service.

Ms Walshe has confirmed making a “confidential report” to the Insolvency Service on the conduct of Mr Gulzar as former director. There were, she indicated, “matters which did merit further review relating to dealings between the company and an associated entity”, and she has asked for further information on this from him. But she also noted that concerns in relation to other companies operated by him were “beyond the scope of my duties”. On past performance, the probability of the Insolvency Service taking any action against him, e.g. to question his fitness to continue as a director of his other ongoing companies, must be regarded as extremely remote.

Christmas Market with Ice Skating

Pier leaseholders Piertown have announced that they will install a temporary ice rink on the boards of the pier as part of a Christmas market. It will open on 14 November and run for seven and a half weeks until 5 January.

The market will have free entry. Timed ice skating sessions are bookable through Skiddle (price £8 for adults, £6 for under 14s, for up to an hour). Live music, mulled wine and children’s rides are promised, as is a Santa’s grotto.

Max Wolf, director of HPier, which leases the pier superstructure from owner Sheikh Abid Gulzar, has been stripped of his role as designated premises supervisor for licensing purposes.  The new conditions include a requirement to provide to HBC and to police, fire and ambulance authorities at least two months in advance an extensive event management plan for each event where more than 1,500 people are anticipated to attend.

This should include a noise management plan which allows complaints of excessive noise suffered by neighbouring premises to be delivered, monitored and acted upon in real time.

Fully functioning CCTV should be installed and adequately maintained.

As reported two weeks ago in HIP 259, the sub-committee’s review of the existing events licence was triggered by SECAmb (South East Coast Ambulance Service) following allegations of multiple breaches of conditions governing public safety. Breaches included failure to provide adequate crowd control, emergency medical care and safety equipment. 

Martin Watson, operational commander at SECAmb, told the sub-committee that mass gatherings “pose significant risks to the health and well-being of many individuals, both those attending events but also those surrounded and impacted by potential activities”. The pier’s exposed position above water and the limited means of access made it particularly vulnerable, while the provision of medical services during past events had fallen to a “dangerous level”. SECAmb’s concerns had been raised “repeatedly” with the pier’s management through meetings of the local Safety Advisory Group but without adequate response. 

Kirstie Rolfe, a senior licensing officer at HBC, added: “I am grateful that we haven’t had a major incident…I am not confident even now that, if one were to happen, it would be dealt with in a sufficient manner.”

Past failings were effectively admitted by a barrister Duncan Craig, appearing before the sub-committee on behalf of the pier’s management. No comment has been made on their behalf following the issue of the fresh licence conditions.

The future of mass gathering events at Hastings Pier could be under threat when a licensing sub-committee of Hastings Borough Council (HBC) meets on Monday 2 September to review the terms of its premises licence.

The review has been triggered by SECAmb (South East Coast Ambulance Service) after a series of attendances by police and emergency services at major events held at the pier both this summer and in 2023.  

The licence for conduct of events on the pier, including sale of alcohol and live music performances, was originally granted to Hastings Pier Charity in December 2015 on the basis that there would be cultural events such as opera nights and open air cinema.  Times have changed. 

After Sheikh Abid Gulzar became owner in 2018, the licence was transferred between several operators appointed by him. Since February 2023 it has been held in the name of HPier Limited, its director Max Wolf being the named Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS). Events are, however, currently subcontracted out to electronic dance music promoters Damien Fell and Mark Dickson operating through their companies Hastings Pier Events Limited and/or Slap That Sound Limited. The licence now authorises late night refreshment including sale of alcohol, outdoor plays and films, live music, recorded music, dance performances and similar entertainment.

SECAMB REPORT

However, SECamb Operational Commander Martin Watson has provided the council with a report that alleges wholesale breaches of licence conditions for holding mass gathering events with more than 1,000 partygoers. Multiple elements of the licence dealing with public safety – including provisions for crowd control, emergency medical care and safety equipment –  have been “absent or inadequate”, according to Mr Watson. 

He reports in particular on an unannounced site visit to the Garage Nation event on Saturday 8 June this year, when several fights and ejections were witnessed, fencing and other crowd barriers were observed to be “insufficiently robust”; items of water safety and other safety equipment were apparently missing; and emergency exit routes weren’t clearly marked or managed.

Four weeks later, on 6 July, SECamb received an emergency call reporting a drunk attendee at the event feared at risk of drowning after entering the water beneath the pier, though it’s confirmed that the event’s security staff provided aid. 

Mr Watson has told the council that he doesn’t seek revocation of the licence, but does seek a set of revised conditions to be imposed.

Monday’s scheduled review of the licence has been preceded by a consultation at which other authorities and members of the public have offered further observations.  

POLICE INVOLVEMENT

Sussex Police have reported eight separate incidents at the pier between July 2023 and July 2024 categorised as one sexual offence, one public order offence and six violent assaults. Complaints about public urination and inadequate toilet facilities have also been made. The police are particularly concerned that there was no functioning CCTV at the premises, even though the licence requires it.

HBC’s Environmental Health officers have complained that repeatedly expressed concerns, both as to safety provisions and as to excessive noise, have been ignored over a long period of time. “Each relevant authority has given lots of advice and guidance to help the operators address issues such as noise disturbances, as well as them being better prepared for emergencies, so they can carry out their response efficiently if/when an emergency occurs. Nothing appears to improve, and we continue to have the same conversation repeatedly. We continue to chase for material such as noise management plans, medical plans, fire risk assessments and water safety equipment, which should all be in place. We cannot continue like this and cannot ignore our concerns, hence the need to review the premises licence.”

Noise complaints have been echoed by householders onshore. Residents of Eversfield Place, Albany Court and Robertson Terrace have noted a marked increase in noise levels this summer from the volume of the music, of the public address system and of “the assembled crowd”, which can endure from 12 noon until up to 10 or 11 at night on Fridays and weekends. A number of complaints have been made to an HBC noise hotline in respect of excessively loud music. Environmental Health officers are said to have visited and made records, but without engendering any effective responses. One resident says that his neighbours “appear to have lost faith that adequate action can be taken”.

There are also complaints of the large amounts of litter that are generated. An inadequate number of bins means that much inevitably ends up in the sea or on the seafront. 

No formal responses have been filed publicly from either DPS Max Wolf or from the operating companies, but they will no doubt have been invited to make representations at the hearing on 2 September. 

Retrospective approvals

At a meeting of Hastings Borough Council’s planning committee on 14 August, pier owner Sheikh Abid Gulzar obtained retrospective planning permission approving alterations to the pier that have already been undertaken.  These constituted replacement of a lattice beam and the installation of an abrasion jacket around a pillar in order to strengthen the substructure, plus the erection of 52 Victorian-style lamp-posts.  

Former Pier maintenance engineer Peter Wheeler had filed an objection to the substructure works, arguing that they were technically deficient and failed to address more serious structural problems. “Whilst any repairs to the listed structure should be applauded”, he wrote, “the condition which the Pier structure is in shows the deplorable lack of knowledge, capability, attention and money on this heritage asset”.

There were several objectors to the lamp-posts, described by one (Chris Coombes) as “cheap, out-of-place plastic faux Victorian” and “eroding the very essence of the Pier, leaving little to recognise from the approved design vision”; while another (Chris Hurrell) wrote of them as “add[ing] to the accretion of incoherent additions to the Stirling award-winning pier, which has become a chaotic mix of Skinner’s sheds, storage containers and small kiosks”.

The HBC Conservation Officer made no objection, however, and the councillors on the committee were effectively advised that there was no basis in planning law to have them removed.

What did emerge in the course of the committee debate was that Gulzar still faces potential enforcement action in respect of a number of installations for which he has not sought approval. These include storage containers at the far end of the pier and on the west side of the cafe/restaurant. Moreover, the small striped kiosks were given previous approval for a period of five years only, which has expired.

The long history of conflict between Gulzar and a wide range of public authorities (from magistrates and tax tribunals to local authorities in both Hastings and Eastbourne) is set to continue.

In May 2022 they obtained judgments against the company totalling over £74,000 in the Ashford Employment Tribunal. These judgments were in respect of claims of constructive unfair dismissal and, in Ms Hill’s case, sexual harassment under the Equality Act perpetrated within a few weeks of Gulzar purchasing the pier in 2018. Neither he nor his company have made any payments to the successful claimants since then, so the full judgments plus accruing interest remain outstanding. 

There are a number of other county court judgments registered against the company.

Wheeler and Hill financed the Tribunal proceedings, in part at least, through crowdfunding. They have now started a fresh crowdfunder programme to cover the fees of their solicitors Longmores, based in Hertford, to bring proceedings to wind up the company on the ground of unpaid debts. Their purpose, according to the funding appeal, is described as “bring[ing] Lions Hastings Pier to book…Companies and Directors which behave so badly time and time again must not be allowed to get away with their fraudulent activities”.

Gulzar certainly has a long and well-documented record of managing companies into insolvency and failing to pay debts – whether personal or corporate – but has so far avoided any disqualification: he continues to act as sole director of seven other companies as well as of Hastings Lions Pier. Wheeler is determined to change this pattern.

“[The petition] will make Gulzar acknowledge the debt from the Tribunal, it will demonstrate that bad employers cannot get away with ignoring the consequences of their actions,” he says. “The Tribunal was at great personal costs in terms of mental stress as well as financial commitment to refute the lies, counter the misogyny and demonstrate sexual harassment by the managers of Lions Hastings Pier Limited. Ultimately, as can be seen from Gulzar’s track record, he should be struck off as a director – which is a privilege, and not a means of defrauding companies by running up large debts, then settling for much lower amounts – in short, relying on fraud to run companies”.

The crowdfunder is aiming to raise £7,000. It will remain open for donations until 4 August. Edit: find it here.

When Keir Halliday was thinking about opening her new restaurant, there was one location that was head and shoulders above the others. “I chose the pier because it’s a special place. For me there’s no comparison to anywhere else in Hastings, here I feel at home.” 

Halliday has just opened La Belle Vue – a French restaurant in what was the old visitor centre building on the award-winning Hastings pier.

Halliday was born in West London and relocated here nine years ago, having been a regular visitor to Hastings and St Leonards where she now lives. “I worked in corporate management in logistics for 25 years. When I moved here, I realised that I had to do something different, and being a foodie and wine lover, I decided to buy a restaurant.” 

That restaurant was what was previously Relax in Marine Court. Halliday opened it as a tapas bar before partnering with a music promoter and rebranding it as Saint Chicken. Soon, however, she realised her passion was for French and Italian food and so opened Amore Italian, an Italian deli next door to the restaurant. Bringing over Michelin-starred chef Domenico Acampora from New York “we then opened AMA, a fine dining restaurant which had a French/Italian fusion menu,” says Halliday.

Life then got in the way – “I had to attend to some family health issues and take time out to be at home” – and Halliday sold up. Not one to entirely step away from all things F&B (food and beverage), she then trained as a sommelier and turned her attention to starting a new restaurant. 

“I chose French food because [pier leaseholder] Max Wolf is doing Italian [in the space next to the entrance] and, next to Italian, French is classic cuisine that forms the basis of many cooking methods. In addition, there isn’t a classic French Bistro in town that I know of.”

La Belle Vue’s launch menu features the likes of steak tartare, duck rillettes, beef bourguignon and moules mariniére with frites. “We source what we can locally, but the French food we use is from just across the water and therefore has a reasonably low carbon footprint.

“I describe the menu as old-school French. I wasn’t sure that snails and frogs legs would appeal to people but funnily enough they have been best sellers so far.”

La Belle Vue restaurant, Hastings Pier, 1-10 White Rock, Hastings TN34 1JY 01424 906007
www.labellevue.restaurant 

Palestine on the Pier, the free cultural festival, returns to Hastings Pier on 4 September with another UK first – a fashion show of embroidered thobes, or traditional ankle length garments worn by men and women, from all over Palestine. It is the first time this heritage collection of thobes – some over 150 years old – has been displayed in this country and will form a spectacular catwalk centrepiece of the celebrations.

“These dresses have never been seen before in this country and we’re so excited to be sharing them for the first time on Hastings’ very own pier,” said Katy Colley, one of the festival organisers. The first Palestine on the Pier took place last year with music, food, dance, storytelling and craft, attracting a crowd of over 1,000.

This year, hosts Hastings Pier Entertainment, and Hastings & Rye PSC are taking over the whole pier with a full programme of entertainment and activities for all.

One notable performer will be acclaimed Palestinian viola player and composer Samer Rashed, flying in from occupied East Jerusalem to showcase his latest album Tales of the Gypsy Jazz with his band. The all-female dance troupe Hawiyya will take to the stage to perform their arresting combination of traditional dabke folk dance, combined contemporary storytelling, and will showcase a unique, one-off performance in collaboration with DJ Saliah, a British Lebanese electronic music producer.

Thobe Show from Ramallah, West Bank; Tatreez Workshop with Miranda Allen; DJ Saliah

DJ Saliah, fresh from playing Glastonbury, will also be DJing on the pier at the end of the event with a mix of dabke rhythms and classic Arabic dance music from the nineties and noughties. 

Throughout the day audiences will be treated to classic Arabic folk music on the oud and percussion from Brighton-based musicians Jamal and Alaa. Hastings’ own Frank Moon will also perform on the oud with his band The Owlers.

The Children’s Corner on the top deck will feature performances from interactive Palestinian storyteller Elias Matar and kite-making workshops, run with community-based creatives Arts on Prescription. Guests can sample Palestinian cuisine at the food and drink stalls along the lower deck: falafel wraps from Arwa; chicken shawarma and kofte from Khalid’s Kitchen; Chef Momo’s delicious mabrousheh and Knafeh desserts; and L2K’s thirst-quenching Palestinian Limonana. Visitors are also invited to step inside the new ‘Talking Tent’ to hear from Palestinians living in the UK about their lives and experiences.

There will be a marketplace crammed with beautiful handicraft, stunning jewellery, authentic Palestinian keffiyehs, hand-painted ceramics, tatreez embroidered bags, wallets and purses, art, books and t-shirts. Since texture and design form a strong feature of this year’s show, three tatreez embroidery workshops are being held over the course of the weekend at The Nest with Palestinian artist Miranda Allan.

Palestinian embroidery – or ‘tatreez’ – is an artistic tradition passed down through generations that involves hand-stitching patterns and motifs with brightly coloured thread onto thobes and accessories. The designs symbolise status as well as life events and are often unique to a particular village so that every stitch tells a story. Tatreez was recently added to the UNESCO list of protected cultural heritage.

Artist Miranda says: “Palestinian embroidery is an art. When a Palestinian woman embroiders on her dress and decorates the furniture of her home it is with the story of her life and the history of her homeland – Palestine.”

The tatreez thobe catwalk show, flown in from Ramallah in the West Bank, will be a centrepiece of this year’s festival, and as well as the live show, the dresses will be on display on Saturday 3 September at The White Rock Hotel between 10am-5pm. Meanwhile, Palestinian visual artist Areej Kaoud will be exhibiting a selection of her works at the Big Yin art gallery in St Leonards throughout the weekend.

Katy Colley said: “We had such amazing feedback from last year that we decided to expand, and we are grateful to our partner organisations who have shown great enthusiasm in bringing Palestinian culture to a range of different locations throughout the weekend. We have something for everyone. It is wonderful to be able to share the richness of Palestinian culture in all its many forms – and the best part is that it’s free entry, so there is no strain on the budget for families at the end of the summer holidays.”

• For a full list of activities and performers on the pier, and to book a place on one of three tatreez workshops at The Nest (this workshop has a small fee, numbers are limited, booking essential), visit: hastingspalestinecampaign.org

Hastings Pier celebrates its 150th birthday on 5 August. It started a new phase in the history of the British seaside piers, being the first pier designed as a multi-purpose entertainments centre rather than a seaside promenade and steamboat landing stage. 

On 5 August 1872, the new Hastings Pier was declared to be a ‘peerless pier’ because of its unique 2,000 seat grand pavilion. None of the 29 British piers built before then had had such an attraction included in their design – a venue for bands, theatre and many other forms of leisure, whatever the weather. The success of the unprecedented Hastings venture prompted many of the then-existing British piers to follow the example, and such pavilions were to become a common feature of both the pre-1872 piers and the 55 piers built after then. 

Leading attraction

The new Hastings Pier straight away become the town’s leading tourist attraction, and was to remain so until the late 1970s. The 910 ft-long pier was constructed at the west end of the town of Hastings, on its border with the rival up-market resort of St Leonards-on-Sea. On that August bank holiday in 1872, crowds of visitors and local residents thronged the streets to see the grand procession and opening ceremony, but it rained hard all day and strong winds lashed the seafront. 

Opening day (1912)

The pier was an unexpected and immediate success, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors every year and giving a significant reward to its investors. The pier’s triumphant early years also helped boost two decades of expansion and investment throughout the town, turning it into a popular destination for the new generation of day-trippers and holiday-makers. This boom in the fortunes of Hastings and its pier prompted the building of a rival pier less than a mile away, in St Leonards in 1891. 

But by the late 1890s the two towns had begun a long period of steady decline, forcing both piers to rethink their priorities. In 1910 Hastings Pier began a non-stop era of constantly changing its attractions, a move that helped renovate the town as a major seaside resort in the 1930s. 

First world war

An American bowling alley and a large joywheel roundabout were built in 1910. In 1914 the 220ft of the pier nearest the promenade were sold by the Pier Company to Hastings Council, just as the First World War broke out. Work began immediately on creating the ‘parade extension’ by widening that part of the pier to 220ft, and this officially opened in April 1916. Over the following four months two curved shelters were built around a new bandstand, along with a well-designed building which formed the Pier Company’s frontage onto the Council’s parade extension. The western bandstand shelter was the only building on the pier to survive the 2010 blaze.

An unexpected and immediate success (1912)

The Pier’s 1872 pavilion was destroyed by fire in July 1917, and it took five years to replace it, but with a frail and unattractive barn-like structure. Attempts were made to improve it several times in the following years.

In the late 1920s the section of the pier that was 45ft wide was widened to 90 feet, and several new buildings were put on it, including a medium-sized pavilion.

Liberty from legal constraint

A little-publicised ingredient in the Hastings Pier Company’s financial success in its early years was that just over half of the pier lay outside the town boundary, and therefore this section did not have to pay an annual council tax to Hastings Council, or to any other local authority. Until 1937 the borough boundary ran across the pier just under half way out from the shore, and only this inland portion had to pay the annual tax, or had to bide by local authority rules on planning consent, building regulations and public health. This beneficial liberty from local legal constraints and heavy taxes significantly helped the pier and its shareholders in the early decades.

Life continues as the pier burns (1917); Live music from, The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, Sex Pistols, X-ray Specs…

The pier was rejuvenated after the Second World War, and it remained a popular and profitable enterprise until the early 1980s. From then onwards, however, piers nationally became unfashionable, with Hastings Pier also suffering from repeated storm damage, poor structural maintenance and lack of investment. The pier finally closed its gates in 2008, and then suffered a catastrophic fire in 2010, which could have brought its life to an end. 

Local people to the rescue

However, a group of local people who were then campaigning to save the pier refused to give up, and instead increased their efforts, led by Jess Steele. Their outstanding success in obtaining grant money for large-scale restoration resulted in the re-opening in 2016 of a new ‘peerless’ pier. 

Re-building with the barge (CREDIT: Kevin Boorman); New life (CREDIT: Dave Young)

But its owner the Hastings Pier Charity suffered from poor management, mainly in failing to build a large-scale weather-proof entertainments centre (its 1872 hallmark), and the charity went bust in November 2017. In a highly controversial move, the administrators Smith & Williamson sold the pier in late May 2018 to the eccentric Eastbourne hotelier Mr Abid Gulzar (also known as ‘The Sheikh’), who already owned Eastbourne Pier. The 2014-16 restoration of Hastings Pier had cost £14 million; Mr Gulzar paid £50,000 for it.

• The full story of the Hastings and St Leonards Piers is in Steve’s book A Pier Without Peer, published 2016, which is on sale in the Hastings History House in Courthouse Street (open Thursday-Saturday) and in the Fishermen’s Museum in Rock-a-Nore Road (open every day).

Since the engineers’ departure, the superstructure of the pier (decking and above) has been leased to Hastings Pier Entertainments Limited, a company operated by local entrepreneurs James Tovey and Mustafa Abdelhadi. However, it may be safely assumed that this lease does not require them to undertake any maintenance of the substructure. That no doubt remains the responsibility of Mr Gulzar and his company.

CREDIT: Dave Young

Mr Wheeler advises that although the substructure is currently safe and strong, it requires constant nursing – what he calls Engineered Preventative Maintenance, see below – if it is not to return within a period of years to its pre-restoration state of dilapidation. Mr Gulzar has not divulged publicly what maintenance programme, if any, he or his company has instituted since 2018, and none has been observable. So who or what could compel it?

No conditions 

Mr Gulzar bought the pier without any apparent conditions as to future maintenance. That was, in the opinion of many observers at the time of the sale, a scandalous dereliction of responsibility on the part of the National Lottery. They, as major creditors in the insolvent administration of the previous owners Hastings Pier Charity, had power to instruct the administrators to impose conditions on the buyer, but failed to do so. Without such conditions, Mr Gulzar is under no obviously enforceable legal obligation. 

Section 48 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 does, however, give both local and central government powers to serve notices requiring works to a listed building which are considered “reasonably necessary for [its] proper preservation” and to acquire it by compulsory purchase if such works are not undertaken. 

Hastings Borough Council have shown no appetite over the last four years to attempt intervention in Mr Gulzar’s dealings with the pier. They have granted such minor planning applications as he has put their way and otherwise kept their noses clean. The new administration headed by Cllr Paul Barnett could try getting tougher, drawing up a preventative maintenance programme and insisting on its implementation. But, if so, it would be a major change of policy.

Peter Wheeler’s advice – Engineered Preventative Maintenance: 

The precious part of the Pier is the grade 2-listed substructure with the cast iron vertical and raker columns. These must be protected from abrasion by the shingle and from wear by loose clamps for the horizontal and cross bracing. The reconstruction from 2013-2016 installed some 3,000 tons of steel and nine piles, each driven 12.5m into the seabed.

As the bracing is in an accelerated low water corrosion zone, the corrosion of nuts washers and bolts is very high and a continuous programme of tightening and replacement is necessary, or else each wave causes fretting and wear. The loose brackets grind into the columns, significantly weakening them.

At the base of each column a sacrificial abrasion guard should protect the columns from shingle abrading at the ebb and flow of each wave – they become shiny after a storm as the rust is blasted off. There are many guards missing, having worn away, and the columns become wafer-thin at beach level before collapsing.

Jetsam in the sea gets hooked onto the structure, and this increases the stress on the structure for each surging wave and needs to be removed regularly.

Mr Wheeler had been principal project engineer in the restoration of the pier funded by the National Lottery from 2013 onwards. Ms Hill joined him as pier maintenance engineer from 2016. Both were employed by the Hastings Pier Charity. When the Charity became insolvent, and administrators sold the pier to Mr Gulzar, his Lions company automatically became the engineers’ employer under TUPE (Transfer of Undertaking – Protection of Employment) regulations. 

CREDIT: Bob Beaney

It was not a happy experience. Mr Gulzar refused funds for safety inspections or for new materials, and rejected a series of professional recommendations for action, which rendered performance of the engineers’ respective duties impossible. He purported to bring disciplinary proceedings against Mr Wheeler without any prior discussion. He also belittled Ms Hill’s professional competence, adding in a series of sexist remarks and discriminatory conduct, commissioning secret photographic pursuit of her at her work and at one point offering her £5 to dress up as Marilyn Monroe to pose in a white gusty dress.

Tardy process

The case took the best part of three years to reach the employment tribunal hearing. The tardy process of tribunal administration and a long backlog of hearings during the era of Covid lockdowns and restrictions will have been the chief cause. Whether or not the claimants and their lawyers may have been tardy in assembling their case, it’s likely on past form that Mr Gulzar, who is sole director of the Lions company, prevaricated in his responses. He has a long history of defeats and personal humiliations in legal disputes over tax liabilities, unpaid bills and other employment issues. It was perhaps no surprise, then, that in this case he failed to show up at the tribunal hearing or appoint lawyers to represent the Lions company, leaving the engineers’ solicitor Michael Foster, former Hastings & Rye MP, to present their respective claims unopposed.

The awards determined by Judge Corrigan vindicate, from a legal point of view, the conduct and reputation of both Mr Wheeler and Ms Hill. However, that outcome will not necessarily lead to any payout to them, nor does it bring any clarity to wider questions that remain concerning the future of the pier.

The Lions company accounts, last filed in December 2021 for the year up to March 2021, show a negative balance of nearly £140,000. This may be insufficient evidence in itself to prove that the company is already insolvent, but Mr Gulzar has past form in presiding over insolvent companies in the hotel trade, and he may well have decided that this one can follow suit. The company does not own the pier itself – that remains in his own sole personal ownership as a result of the unconditional sale to him by the Charity administrators in June 2018. 

Is it conceivable that at some point a determined adversary might attempt to pin personal liability on Mr Gulzar
in respect of his conduct as company director? Even if that happened, it seems unlikely that he will be forced to dispose of the pier any time soon. In the meantime the sea continues to wash twice daily against the understructure, untrammelled by any robust maintenance programme provided by those above.

Traditionally, fairground folk have not had a good press. They have generally been seen as travelling types who somehow live a ‘dodgy’ sort of lifestyle. But a closer look at the people who run the fair on Hastings pier reveals a more subtle and interesting community who bring Hastings something rather special. The fair on the pier is run by Gary and Jolie Smith and their extended family, and they are working long hours – on rainy days and scorching days – to craft something not just for fleeting tourists but something affordable for the families of Hastings.

It is tempting to see Jolie as the matriarch of the operation but she is keen to point out that everyone in the family has their pennyworth. Nevertheless, her husband Gary asserts that “she’s the brains” behind the fun. Both Gary and Jolie come from fairground families with a long pedigree of hauling amusement from town to town. A great grandmother was one of the first women to be a so-called lady boxer. Unsurprisingly perhaps, Jolie is a tough-minded woman with a ‘live and let live’ philosophy. Intriguingly, she writes letters to parliament calling for people living this traditional way of life to be recognised as ‘showmen’: for ‘showmen’ to be an identity on a par with ethnic distinctions. (I pointed out that some might say that ‘showmen’ is a sexist term but she is curtly dismissive of such Guardianesque concerns.) Jolie is proud to say that she has “never lived in a normal house”. She adds that “the only home I like has wheels on it, and it rocks me when it rains.” But she also says that she did look at renting in Hastings only to be shocked at the rates. Instead, she commutes in every day from her caravan in Medway. 

But Jolie is also trying to do something different with the Hastings pier site. They negotiated closely with James Tovey and Mustafa Abdelhadi of the Music First Events group (who have had control of the pier’s offerings for some time) and put together a set of rides aimed at local families with younger children. The price per ride is modest. They have also tried to create something that offers much for children with special needs. This is not a fair with the usual deafening disco din: the sound and flashing light level is kept low and some areas, such as the soft play cage, are quiet and welcoming to all little children. Jolie is very sensitive to the impact of sound and vison because one the younger children of the fairground family has autism. She is also aware that local older residents do not need a huge backbeat to make a cup of tea. 

Gary and Jolie describe their familial workers as “the family of the pier.” Including sisters and cousins, there are 16 children of the pier, ranging in age from 1 to 18. Out of school time they help out, have a laugh and, above all, learn the business. Gary is the hands-on partner in the duo: Jolie tells us proudly that he actually built the 9-hole crazy golf course last winter. On the day I spoke to him he was about to drive to Scotland to pick up a new ride. It will be an exhausting heavy goods task, but Gary seemed unfazed.

The hours of work are undoubtedly long: Samantha, controller of the little plane world, said “we only go home when the people go home.” Wisdom her father had passed on. And income is unpredictable. On top of that the costs are high and regular inspections and insurance updates can be suddenly crippling. It is in many ways a precarious lifestyle and not made any easier by unthinking popular prejudices. In my view, Hastings is fortunate in having a family passionately devoted to the deeply serious side of the amusement game. Perhaps people who moan about going round in circles at the office should try actually running a merry-go-round. 

‘Freedom Day’ has been and gone, so now is the moment to make the most of the beautiful weather.
If you need a day out then look no further, as there are plenty of local markets and fairs to explore. From art to food to music, there’s a market for every-one this summer in East Sussex – and you may even be able to pick up a bargain or two. 

By Ben Cornwell

Gallery on the Pier, Hastings Pier

Organised by Love Hastings, this arts and crafts market every Sunday, from 10.00am to 5.00pm, gives both new and established artists the chance to showcase and sell their work. There will be a huge collection of work on display, including oil paintings, photos and sculptures, which will be available to buy each week.

Pop-Up Market, The Stade Hall, Hastings Old Town

The pop-up market helping support local businesses and makers will be running on Saturday/Sunday 4th and 5th September 11.00am-4.00pm. There will be some beautiful, handcrafted items to buy, so make sure to put the date in your calendar.

Rye Farmers Market, Strand Quay

The Farmers Market has been running in Strand Quay every Wednesday 10.00 am-1.00 pm for over ten years. Pop down and check out their stalls containing fresh fish, meat, eggs, vegetables, cheese and so much more.

Rye Country Market, Rye Community Centre

Rye Country Market is open every Friday 10.00-11:30am and features stalls selling local produce such as cakes, savouries, eggs, fruit & vegetables and fresh flowers. Take a look for yourself the next time you have a free Friday morning.

Bexhill Record Fair, The De La Warr Pavilion

Thousands of records will be on sale at the Bexhill Record Fair on Saturday 14th August 10.00am- 9.00pm. Make sure you get there early to get your hands on some absolute bargains and rarities before anyone else.

Autumn Market, Manor Barn Bexhill 

Don’t miss out on this year’s Autumn Market on Sunday 5th September 11.00am-2.00pm, as there will be plenty of craft stalls, treats, food, music and entertainment to enjoy.

While spectator sport remains largely confined to digital images with limited audience capacity, Hastings Pier is about to stretch those limitations to the ultimate. Its decking above the waves will be the setting for big-screen viewings of the European Championships over the next month. 

The organisers 4thefans have also set up Fan Parks in London and Manchester, but the 600-capacity venue in Hastings – arrayed on 100 Bier Garden benches with six fans per bench – could be the liveliest anywhere. It could also be the wildest and wettest if the weather is less than benign.

Bookings for England’s first two matches, against Croatia on Sunday afternoon (13th June) and Scotland next Friday evening (18th), are already sold out at £30 per bench. Seats for other fixtures, including quarterfinals and semi-finals if they involve the England team, are still available as we go to press, with fuller hospitality packages on offer at higher prices.

Will England – or Wales or Scotland – rule the waves? We’ll find out over the next month.

The news was announced to Instagram followers last Friday with a confident swagger – “After perhaps the longest and most depressing winter in known memory, the dream of a summer of socialising, dancing, events, live gigs, football & fun looks set to be a reality…We have plans to make [the three] years very memorable for all of us!”

PICTURE: Dave Young

Last year the management pair, operating under the banner of their  existing company Music First Events Limited, hosted a daily beer garden at the far end of the pier accompanied by a series of music events. They opened only in July and closed in September. For their extended return they have formed a new company, Hastings Pier Entertainments Limited, and it is clear that they mean to exercise full control across the length of the decking, including a fresh selection of caterers and other service providers. Gone, in any event, are the gold-painted stuffed animals and other exotica of the unlamented regime of Sheikh Gulzar. 

Mr Gulzar nevertheless remains owner and landlord. It has to be assumed that he will continue to be responsible for necessary repairs and maintenance of the structure beneath the decking, though there has been little evidence of this over the winter. 

PICTURE: Dave Young

The council explained its instruction to MFE to cancel its remaining programme by reference to the lack of social distancing among attenders at a music event at the previous weekend, 12th/13th September. A spokesperson said: “As a result of this, and the fact that infection rates have increased nationally and also to some extent across East Sussex, our environmental health team suggested that as a precaution the operators of the pier should reconsider the type of events they are staging, and how they are managed. The operators have responded positively to this suggestion, and have decided there will be no more live bands/DJs for the foreseeable future.”

First cancellation was of last Thursday’s HiddenBeach On The Pier gathering, due to be fronted by local DJ Remi Vibesman. A wholly ticketed eight-hour Queer on the Pier festival was allowed to go ahead two days later on the Saturday (19th September), presumably because the MFE were able to persuade the council that they had hired sufficient numbers of marshals to ensure that rigorous distancing controls would be maintained. 

But all subsequent events have been cancelled.

According to the council spokesperson, its environmental health team “continues to support businesses, including event organisers, to ensure they have access to and understand the guidance and how to operate safely according to it”. However, any application of rigid guidelines to outdoor gatherings on the pier arguably runs counter to scientific studies relied upon in the formulation of general government policy, which suggest that the risk of Covid-19 infection in well-ventilated outdoor environments is minimal. 

Jonathan Van-Tam, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England, told the daily Downing Street briefing back in April that “there is a definite truism across all of the science literature that ventilation is a most critical part of reducing transmission from respiratory viruses”. Normal breezes and air currents appeared to quickly disperse any kind of plumes of breath exhaled, he said. 

Dr Chris Smith, clinical lecturer in virology at the University of Cambridge, previously told the BBC that the chances of Covid-19 transmission outside were “vanishingly small” because “the amount of dilution from fresh air is so high”.

No mainstream scientists in the field are known to have argued to the contrary. As for ventilation on the pier, enough said.

The Bier Garden on the pier will remain open until 4th October with slightly reduced hours: 1pm to 7.30pm Sunday to Thursday: 1pm to 10pm Fridays and Saturdays.

NB The pier will now close at 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays in line with the government regulation announced this week

Council Serves Control Notice, Gulzar Woos MP

Following months of complaint from local critics that the owner of the pier, Sheikh Abid Gulzar, and his management company Lions Hastings Pier Limited were failing to comply with planning conditions, building control officers of Hastings Borough Council convened a meeting with him on 17th January. The outcome was an apparent agreement as to outstanding breaches and a timetable for remedying them set out in a formal enforcement notice.

In short, the following infringing installations, equipment and signage were to be removed from the pier by 3rd February:
• Storage and waste containers
• Advertisements on the deck café and front railings including the Skinners shed banner
• Lions amusement signs on the Visitor Centre 
• Arcade machines in the shop area
• Loudspeakers
• Poles supporting the illumination of the ice-cream hut and pavilion
• The moth art installation
• The smoking deck

Some signage, including the Skinners banner, has indeed been removed. But other items remain. Mr Gulzar’s PR representative ‘Lord’ Brett Maclean argues that most of the infringements were already occurring under the previous ownership of the Hastings Pier Charity before it went into administration in November 2018, and that it is “unfair and unjust” to enforce compliance now. Moreover, removal of the cooler unit at the near corner of the pier would have a detrimental impact on the operation of the pavilion, while the original design lacked a storage area for refuse. Loudspeakers, he says, are needed for health and safety reasons.

It appears likely that some, if not all, of the issues could be resolved by Mr Gulzar and his associates submitting a properly drawn application with an overall scheme of design and decoration – but this isn’t something that he seems in any hurry to do. 

He is clearly much keener to garner positive publicity. He and Mr Maclean recently posed themselves alongside newly elected MP for Hastings & Rye, Sally-Ann Hart, in a photo opportunity for the Hastings Observer, where she described the pier to them as “a wonderful asset to the borough’s tourism industry and a real gem in the crown of our coastline”.  Mr Gulzar gushed in turn: “Mrs Hart has a clear vision and will be of great value to the business community”.

The operators of Hastings Pier, Lions Hastings Pier Limited, recently posted a sign at the entrance gates stating: “We would like to remind the general public that the land under the pier is private property. Please do not walk under the pier. Thank you for your co-operation”. Underneath was a more peremptory message: “PLEASE RESPECT OUR PROPERTY. NO TRESPASSING”.

It appears from the title register at the Land Registry that they were technically correct in asserting that the land under the pier, as well as the structure of it, is in the private ownership of Sheikh Abid Gulzar.  However, it is difficult to see how an edict against trespassing upon it could be enforced without erecting physical barriers. Quite apart from contesting the daily tidal ingress that would evoke the memory of King Canute, that would require planning permission, which would surely not be forthcoming. 

On its Facebook page last week the company posted a more reasoned statement: “We would respectfully request general public to not walk under the pier. This is due firstly to the recent tidal activity which has unearthed some sharp metal debris dating back to the 2010 fire and has also exposed buried cables which are embedded into the seabed and secondly the manner in which hypodermic syringes have been discarded under the pier making the area undesirable to walk on.”

The Facebook page also states that construction is “well underway” on the first of four new additional log cabins on the eastern side of the concourse, to be used for commercial retail and catering purposes.

“We are delighted that a local business Skinners Sheds is undertaking this transformational development for us which will help generate additional resources for the pier.”

Skinners are no doubt delighted too, as it has given them the opportunity to install a large banner along the seafront balustrade advertising to passing traffic their general business wares and services.  

Beacon Jazz

Fans of avant-garde music are in for a double treat at the Beacon in October. Free jazz trio Somersaults are touring their new album ‘Numerology of Birdsong’ (West Hill Records) featuring local bass hero Olie Brice, Dutch reeds player Tobias Delius and drummer Mark Sanders. The second half of the gig features a set of solo sax from improv pioneer Trevor Watts (interviewed in HIP in March this year). Tickets £5 on the door. 8pm Thursday 17th October 8pm The Beacon 67-68 St Marys Terrace, Hastings, East Sussex,TN34 3LS.

Big Band at Kino

Following the sold-out show in May this year, the Big Band at the Kino returns on 19th October, 2019 with 2 shows at the iconic St. Leonards venue. The seventeen-piece big band is augmented by 4 guest singers known to most who frequent the local scene; Chantelle Duncan, Dr. Savage, Blair McKitchan, Bev Lee Harling and featuring their own original songs. This round of performances will include fantastic new arrangements from Frank Moon, Chris White and Greg Heath. We have the best lead performers, blistering improvised solos and an exhilarating modern big band. All you could want from a musical extravaganza. Check out the compilation video from the last show, you can book your tickets on the Kino’s website.

Blues in the Afternoon 

Following last year’s fantastic show, Blues in the afternoon is back at The Sea Angling Club on The Stade in Hastings Old Town, on Sunday 6th October, from 2pm (free entry, donations to St Michael’s Hospice welcome). The Mayor will be opening this year’s proceedings and local Historian and music expert Andre Palfrey-Martin will be the show’s MC. There will be incredible live Music from the talented: Freak Flag; Pete Prescott and Friends; an appearance from the Eric Harmer Band; and music and poetry from Pete Brown. A new CD will be available for £5, featuring fab local bands including Kingsize Slim, Roger Hubbard, Nelson King, Peter O’Donnell plus many more. Proceeds from CD sales will go to St Michael’s Hospice.

Plastication Imagination 

From 17 September to 27 October 2019, Marybeth Haas will be displaying work in six locations on advertising boards along Hastings and St Leonards Seafront, as part of both Coastal Currents and Photohastings season. Two sets of images are opposite the rear of Debenhams, close to the underground walkway from the underground car park, and another pair are to the left heading towards Hastings Pier.

Haas comments: “These images are a result of my own exploration and expression of multiple conflicting thoughts and feelings about the environmental challenges we collectively face. Overall, I feel optimistic about our capacity for connecting with and caring for our environment. I also feel an urgent need for collective shifts in attitude, and frustration about how difficult it sometimes is for me to make better choices and also what I see as continuing mass complacency. We are slowly waking up to the need to change our behaviour, particularly our attachment to using plastics and habit of throwing things away after use. We still need to find motivation and inspiration to commit to making more holistic and less convenient choices.”

New Reggae Sound 

Humble Rumble Sound System is a new Hastings’ based reggae Sound that’ll be powering The Hastings Dub Club. First session at Crowleys Bar, 56-57 Havelock Road, Hastings, TN34 1BE on Saturday 19 October, 9 pm till late, free entry. Run by father and son, Charlie and Jamie Woods, Humble Rumble is supplying a musical treat for lovers of reggae music, coincidentally during Black History month. The duo have built a massive System that pumps out heavy vintage and new reggae, from the 1970’s right up to date, including Humble Rumble’s own slab of newly released 7” vinyl featuring singer Milton Blake on one of Jamie’s crucial rhythms.

‘The Holy Rebel’ exhibition at Stella Dore Gallery continues until 20th July. Read the result of our interview with the artist, Rugman. Read the HIP’s review here.

‘Sixty Feet of Water Between Life and Imaginative Obsession’ is a new exhibition of paintings at Elisabeth Bauer on George Street and runs until 4th July. Check their website for more info. 

‘Pic ’N’ Mix’, Georgie Wheeler’s solo show, continues at See Spray Gallery until 30th July. 

Benjamin Phillips’ ‘Road Trip’ Exhibition at The Crown on All Saints Street continues until the end of July. 

The Hastings Reggae Festival 2019, The Oval, Saturday 27th July. The family friendly event will include a stage of international Reggae, Dancehall, Dub and Jungle artists, as well as a simply irresistible selection of mouthwatering Caribbean food provided by market vendors from near and far.

• Official Ticket Link on Skiddle.com

England’s Creative Coast The breath-taking coastline of Essex, Kent and Sussex is home to some of the UK’s most critically-acclaimed galleries, arts organisations and art events. Seven of these institutions are joining forces for the first time to pioneer a cultural adventure that stretches from the South Downs to the Thames Estuary. Running from Spring to late Autumn of 2020, England’s Creative Coast is part of what these institutions see as a ‘cultural renaissance’ transforming the seaside towns and surrounding countryside of England’s South East. It’s led by Turner Contemporary and Visit Kent, but will make substantial inroads into East Sussex. 

The project has four main features: a series of seven art commissions; a GeoTour; the ‘Art Homes’ project (which sounds like it might not be dissimilar to our existing Coastal Currents); and a selection of ‘self-build itineraries’, combining elements of review and travel guide, which will be displayed on www.englandscreativecoast.com

Getting a fairer deal for under ten-metre fishing fleets around the country is “not an overnight process” according to Amber Rudd. 

However, the MP for Hastings and Rye has been meeting with her senior government colleagues to “make the case for our fleets” which she says should be able to set their own quota. 

Currently boats of under ten metres make up around 80 percent of the UK’s fishing fleet, but have access to just two percent of the national quota. 

An investigation by Greenpeace published in October 2018 showed that five of the UK’s wealthiest families control more than a quarter of the country’s fishing quota. 

But Environment and Rural Affairs Secretary Michael Gove has previously stated that the government does not plan any changes to the way UK quota is distributed after the UK leaves the EU and Common Fisheries Policy.

Meanwhile, Mr Gove has designated an area of the sea from Hastings Pier to Beachy Head as a Marine Conservation Zone.

The move, which covers 195 square km, is designed to protect the seabed from harmful fishing methods although it has not yet been made clear how this will be enforced. The Hastings fishing fleet -made up of under ten-metre boats – has been been assured this will not affect them. Ms Rudd said: “It is important that our historic fleet’s sustainable practices are unaffected by the MCZ, while they will also benefit from the increase in marine life due to the stopping of larger scale harmful fishing methods.” The Hastings Fishermen’s Protection Society say they are happy with the proposal.

On weekdays, Wendy Goodsell works with the Parchment Trust, assisting young people with special needs. At weekends her concern is for the environment, in particular beach cleaning. 

Wendy travels all over the UK collecting rubbish from beaches and has just returned from the Isle of Skye where she and her husband Mark, another passionate eco-warrior, cleared the beach by their rented crofter’s cottage. There’s an otter haven close by and seals that she has swum with, so Wendy is particularly concerned about dangerous fishing industry debris which can injure and trap the island’s wildlife.

Wendy, an energetic 53-year-old with two children and three grandchildren, says she’s always been passionate about the environment and spends much of her spare time cleaning up our shores and helping wildlife. She doesn’t need to go abroad because everything she wants to do is right here in Britain – and never having had a passport she doesn’t fly, further helping the environment.

PICTURE: Dave Young

Her interest in beach cleaning started in earnest when she met Andy Dinsdale at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and they have collaborated ever since. Her four-and-a-half-year-old grandchild Emilia goes with her on local trips, explaining to her friends, “I’ve got to save the whale”. Recently Wendy has collaborated with Coast magazine and done beach cleans with their editor. 

If you’d like to get involved in a beach clean close to home, every first Saturday in the month a friendly crowd of people meet by Hastings Pier and are issued with bags and litter pickers; children are particularly welcome.

Find more ways to help the natural world at our local eco-friendly festival, Sustainability on Sea, taking place on Saturday 21st and Sunday 29th September 2019. The event culminates in an all-day Big Green Fair with stall holders, information stands, talks, activities for children and entertainment at The Stade. 

•  For more information on SOS visit www.sustainabilityonsea.org.uk

• For more information on beach clean-up events visit
www.mcsuk.org/beachwatch/beach/hastings-beach;
www.cleanseasplease.net;
www.sas.org.uk/region/south-east

When the historic landmark was refurbished with £14 million of public, Heritage Lottery and shareholders money, it seemed to mark a triumph of community – led regeneration. But after former owners, Hastings Pier Charity fell into administration in November 2017, it was placed on the market by administrators Smith & Williamson. Despite a community bid from Friends of Hastings Pier who wanted to keep it in public ownership, and a private bid proposing a £10 million investment from Roger Wade of Boxpark, it was sold to Eastbourne pier owner Sheikh Abid Gulzar on 15th June last year for £60,000. 

Following the sale S&W said that out of the bids received Mr Gulzar had demonstrated the best immediate financial capability as well as the operational capacity and experience to help the pier move forward, stating:

“It is anticipated that significant cash for working capital and investment purposes, amounting to over a million pounds, would be required to make the pier sustainable.”

Twelve months on, the heritage asset which won the prestigious architectural RIBA Stirling prize, shows little sign of receiving any of that £1 million investment. No long term plan has been published, it was closed to the public for over three months during the Christmas and winter period and its full time engineering team are suing for constructive dismissal. Temporary “log cabins” (effectively garden sheds), were given planning permission by HBC in March, but have yet to be built. Its £1.5 million Visitor Centre, funded by HLF for educational purposes, has been granted change of use by HBC to become an amusement arcade with slot machines but so far these have not been installed.

Following the sale last summer Mr. Gulzar told HIP the pier would be open 365 days a year and that long term plans would involve reinstating the other pavilion building destroyed by fire in 2010. He said in the short term he planned to build an ice cream kiosk as well as various other outlets selling souvenirs and other merchandise. The kiosk did materialise fairly quickly, and has since been granted retrospective planning permission but is currently only open sporadically.

When asked again by HIP this week about his future plans he responded: 

“It’s none of your business. The pier belongs to me, it doesn’t belong to the people…er, it belongs to me. It’s in my ownership and I will look after it to the best of my ability.”

Meanwhile Community Group Friends of Hastings Pier, who agreed at a public meeting directly after the sale to act as a watchdog on behalf of the community and try to build a positive working relationship with Mr Gulzar, said that so far, their aims had met with mixed success: 

“It is particularly disappointing that we have not been able to obtain any indication from him of what his long term plans for the Pier are.”

“The most remarkable thing about the first year of the Pier’s new ownership is that very little has really happened, other than the sad three -month closure.”

There has been very little sign of the kind of long-term investment that the administrators, Smith & Williamson, said they had found in Mr Gulzar.”

The group has been in touch with Council leader Peter Chowney to ask him to look into holding an annual safety maintenance review of the infrastructure.

“It is vitally important that the Pier should be properly maintained for the future. We very much hope that the Pier owner will agree to co-operate with this suggestion.”

Young people gathered in Hastings once again on Friday 24th May to mark the 4th UK and 2nd international Youth Strike 4 Climate. Inspired by activist Greta Thunberg, in response to increasingly alarming news on climate and ecological crises, these young people have chosen to fight for their futures. One home-made placard read: “You Will Die of Old Age, I Will Die of Climate Change.”

PICTURE:  Chris Broughton

The turnout was an impressive demonstration of commitment and determination with young people continuing to demand urgent and drastic action from the government. The march drew around 150 participants from local primary and secondary schools and colleges, as well as home educated children. Some travelled from as far afield as Ashford, St John’s Cross, Battle and Bexhill. There were even youth strikers visiting from Germany who joined in the march to Hastings Pier.

PICTURE:  Chris Broughton

A number of local schools had shown their support for the strikers by giving permission for their participation. At other schools however, young people reported that they had been threatened with Saturday detentions and fines if they chose to join in. With the next Youth Strike 4 Climate scheduled for Friday 21st June, young people are calling on adults to join with them, and support them in getting their voices heard. One banner at the march on Friday declared their intentions: “The Oceans are Rising: So Are We.”

PICTURE: Dave Young

A number of objections had been raised, with arguments that there is already a surfeit of such machines elsewhere in the town, that their advent on the pier would lose it much of the character that had won the RIBA Stirling Prize less than two years earlier, and that further stoking of gambling addictions should not be encouraged. At the planning hearing Cllr Ruby Cox endorsed these objections to vote against grant of permission. She also pointed out that the arcade use would forestall other community activities which had been conducted there before the pier went into administration. But the other committee members voted in favour. The pier, they said, needed income to survive. 

“If you go to Eastbourne pier or to Brighton pier”, declared Cllr Matthew Beaver. “the one thing that attracts people are the amusements”.

In the aftermath, over the bank holiday weekend of 4th/5th May, at least half the length of the pier was barred to the public while facilities were set up to host two music events –“Pier Jam” on the Saturday night and “Garage Nation” on the Sunday, with an influx of party-goers arriving from out of town. 

Adverse weather conditions on the Saturday – high winds and hail showers – caused the first of these events to be cancelled late in the afternoon. Organisers One UK Events issued a statement explaining that wind speeds had reached “dangerous levels”, that the temporary structures had become “unstable” , and that proceeding with the show would have “posed a risk to public safety”. “Garage Nation” went ahead on the Sunday as planned.

There was no suggestion that the condition of the pier itself contributed to the safety risk. But news of Saturday’s late cancellation won’t have encouraged future promoters to gamble on better weather next time. 

Visitors to Hastings pier were able to stroll on the deck for the first time in nearly four months when the gates reopened to the public on Monday. Owner Sheikh Abid Gulzar bought it – restored with £14 million of Heritage Lottery and public funding – in June last year for just £60,000, but closed it for “essential repairs” following a small, accidental electrical fire in the Pavilion restaurant in November. 

While the restaurant remained closed on Monday along with the visitor centre, kiosks and upper deck café, visitors could walk as far as some orange barriers, blocking off the seaward end. 

A couple who had travelled from The Ridge to visit two commemorative plaques situated beyond the barriers were told that this part of the pier was closed. They were forced to turn back and go home. “We’ll just have to wait a bit longer” said the lady, disappointedly walking back towards the gates with her husband. A staff member could be seen in the distance with a mop –possibly attempting to clean the deck which was caked in nearly four months of seagull mess.

Puzzlingly, one of Mr Gulzar’s vans was parked in the centre of the pier. A piece of yellow tape ran from the van to one of the picnic tables, though its purpose was unclear. Meanwhile behind one of the closed kiosks a tap had been left running into an overflowing bucket, with no sign of any staff members nearby to turn it off. 

Following its closure in November, Mr Gulzar had given a succession of dates when the pier would be reopened: Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, the end of March and May Bank Holiday were all cited. April Fool’s Day turned out to be the operative occasion. But, as people strolled in the April sunshine, questions remained unanswered about why the pier had been closed for so long and whether it is now going to be open to the public for the rest of the year.

In a letter to residents of 21st March MP Amber Rudd said she understood the extended closure was due to fresh structural damage, but urged Mr Gulzar to carry out repairs as a matter of priority. She also asked for improved communication between the pier owner and the community. “The pier belongs to our town and we must always remember that.”

Mr Gulzar, who stated on Hastings Pier’s official Facebook page on 26th March that he has now advertised for staff and people interested in hiring units ready for the reopening, had given a number of reasons for keeping it closed. 

Initially he said it was for essential repairs and improvements. He also blamed vandalism and thefts, while telling the BBC One Show in January that even partially opening it to the public “costs a lot of money.”

Most recently, on the BBC TV show Sunday Politics on 30th March, he said there had been “serious repairs” but went on to blame delays by Hastings Borough Council in considering his planning application to put up five temporary sheds. This scheme was approved by the planning committee on 7th March, however Mr Gulzar claimed that in the meantime the price of the sheds had gone up.

A further application for change of use to turn the £1.5 million visitor centre into an amusement arcade – described on the planning application as a ‘family entertainment centre’ – awaits consideration. 

HBC’s Marketing and Major Projects Manager, Kevin Boorman gave it his support on 29th March stating: “I support this application. Many, if not most, seaside piers have such entertainments centres, as indeed did Hastings Pier until it closed down (prior to the fire) in 2007. The amusement centres on the pier in 2007 were far larger than that being proposed….Such an attraction will provide entertainment for visitors and will also help to create an income stream which should help make the pier’s operation viable.”

However, one objector, Michael Savage, commenting on the plan on HBC’s website, writes: “In the present climate of concern about gambling and addiction, I think it is inappropriate to add to the possible access to machines of this type. There are plenty of amusement arcades already in the town, and to locate another one in an area frequented by children and families is not acceptable.”

• On 6th March the planning committee of Hastings Borough Council approved the application made by Sheikh Abid Gulzar, owner of Hastings pier, to erect five sheds on it. Three committee members, Cllrs Beaver, O’Callaghan and Webb, declared prejudicial or personal interests in relation to Mr Gulzar or his agent ‘Lord’ Brett McLean, and barred themselves from taking part in the hearing. The chair Cllr Alan Roberts opted not to do so, despite having apparently close acquaintance with the applicant, including being his Facebook friend. An objector, Chris Hurrell, has lodged a formal complaint requesting review by the council’s Standards Committee. Meanwhile the pier remains closed.

• At the same planning meeting the committee also approved Flamingo Park’s application to proceed with various improvements to the amusement park on the seafront, including raising the roof to accommodate an additional floor for office use and storage, the installation of a new ride in the form of a swinging pirate ship, renewal of the ghost train and, most controversially, narrowing the footpath across it. The park’s landlords, the Foreshore Trust, made no objection nor, so their chair
Sue Beaney has confirmed, have they sought any rent rise or other modification of the existing lease. 

• On 11th March the cabinet of Rother District Council confirmed awards of funding under its Community Grants Scheme, including £25,000 to Battle Local Action Planning to create a “healthy walk/cycle pathway” at Battle Recreation Ground, and another £25,000 to Westfield Parish Council as contribution to the building of a new cricket pavilion.

• The national charity Music for All is promoting a day of free music lessons to all-comers as the feature of its Learn to Play Day across the country this weekend. St Peters Church, Bexhill is the nearest participating venue. Instant tuition is being organised there this Saturday 23rd March by the Royal School of Church Music.

• On the basis of data supplied by the Food Standards Agency and released by online training company High Speed Training, the town of Hastings has the second highest rating of any town in the UK for food hygiene (topped only by Harrogate). Over 94% of food establishments here (including not only restaurants and cafes but take-aways, bed-and-breakfasts etc) were given “good” or “very good” ratings in management of food safety. High Speed were careful to admit that this does not imply any quality in food content. 

By Emma Harwood

Hastings Pier owner Sheikh Abid Gulzar was fined thousands of pounds last week for breaching tax regulations along with two of his companies which had been ‘trading illegally’, according to HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service.

The Eastbourne-based hotelier pleaded guilty at Hastings Magistrates Court on Wednesday 27th February to failing to pay £61,873 up front in security bonds for Albany Lions Hotel Ltd and Mansion Lions Hotel Ltd.

HMRC had issued a notice of requirement in March 2017 demanding that both companies, which were incorporated in December 2015 and registered with PAYE in early 2017, pay £39,686 in PAYE and £22,187 in National Insurance contributions in advance, because previous and existing companies owned by Mr Gulzar had run up six-figure debts under this heading.

The 73-year-old businessman’s appeal against this notice was dismissed by a tribunal last July 2018.  

Hastings Magistrates Court heard that Mr Gulzar had not paid any of the sum owed so far. 

He was fined £8,000 as sole director of both companies, while each company was also fined £4,000. He was given until 13th March to pay the total of £16,680 imposed in fines, court costs and victim surcharges on top of the debts due.

During the hearing speaking for the Crown Prosecution Service, Elizabeth Green told magistrates that “the seriousness” of Mr Gulzar’s offences was that, as director, he had previously taken the national insurance and PAYE out of employees’ pay packets and not handed it over to HMRC. “The money not paid was money which did not belong to Mr Gulzar or his companies.”

“It was money which he had taken to pay on behalf of these employees, so it affects these employees in respect of their national insurance contributions, she said.

Looking uncharacteristically dishevelled and wearing a long dark overcoat, Mr Gulzar was flanked by his adviser Manasdeeph Singh. He was repeatedly asked by magistrate Peter Dass to explain why he still had not paid the bonds ahead of trading, as required by law. 

Mr Gulzar stressed that he wanted to pay the minimum fine required within 24 hours, and that he had lived and worked in the country since the age of 19.  He said that he had been in touch with Amber Rudd MP because he was not receiving a state pension. Mr Dass asked him to keep to the point. 

Mr Singh was also asked to explain why the money had not been paid. He replied that he and Mr Gulzar had taken legal advice and been advised on Monday that they should pay the bonds. “Why didn’t you pay on Monday then?” asked Mr Dass.

In handing out the fines, Mr Dass said he had taken into consideration Mr Gulzar’s guilty plea but that the court took a serious view of the offences. 

“You have taken money from employees and you have not given it to HMRC who it belonged to.” 

“You made things worse because you delayed for a lengthy period of time,” he added.

Richard Wilkinson, Assistant Director of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said: “HMRC made numerous attempts to engage with Gulzar, who was trading illegally as he failed to pay the security bonds and then tried to thwart the prosecution. It’s only right that we tackle those businesses who fail to play by the rules.”

A history of tax liabilities 
HMRC issued its notice of requirement in March 2017 demanding the upfront payments because two companies, Boship Farm Hotel Limited and Albany Lions Hotels Ltd had taken over from predecessor businesses which owed combined sums totalling over £144,000 in PAYE, NIC and VAT. Mansion Lions Hotels Ltd had meanwhile taken over from its predecessor, Lions Hotels Ltd which went into liquidation in January 2017 with a PAYE and NIC debt of £260,013.05.

At the time the notice was issued, other businesses in the ownership or under the control or influence of Mr Gulzar also owed tens of thousands to HMRC: Lions Cub Nursery which owed £16,534.68 PAYE and NIC, Lions Pier Ltd,  owed £46,565.81, while Chatsworth Hotels Ltd, went into liquidation in January 2017 with a PAYE debt of £39,217.98.

HMRC can require new companies to pay a deposit, or security, where there is a serious risk the tax will not be paid, based on their history. The amounts required by HMRC were calculated as four months average NIC and PAYE payments from predecessor businesses.

 It is understood that another of Mr Gulzar’s companies, Boship Lions Farm Hotel Ltd, also incorporated in 2015, may be subject to separate prosecution.

It is not clear whether his most recent company Hastings Lions Pier Ltd, which was incorporated in 2018 shortly before Mr Gulzar bought Hastings pier and has been the operating company for trading purposes there, has also been required to produce security bonds up front as protection against further defaults in NIC and PAYE contributions. 

Meanwhile a further company Lions Cub Nursery Limited has applied to be dissolved, but the initial striking off from the companies register was suspended in January this year after an objection was raised. The normal reason for such an objection is that a creditor, which may or may not be HMRC, seeks payment of a debt that would
not be collectable following dissolution.

More Company Debts, Another Court Reverse
Three of Sheikh Gulzar’s companies, Lions Pier Limited, Albany Lions Hotel Limited and Boship Farm Hotel Limited, were back in Hastings County Court on Monday, purporting to dispute debts – not owed to HMRC this time but to their gas suppliers Opal Gas.  

Combined judgments totalling £11,372 in respect of unpaid debts had been entered by Opal in separate amounts against the three companies in December, and they were making applications to set each aside. However Judge Venn gave the applications short shrift, pointing out to the companies’ advocate that the paperwork presented to her failed to submit any admissible evidence as to why the debts were not correctly calculated. After some legal argument the applications were withdrawn, and a costs order of £1,500 made against the companies to add to the existing debts.

The companies were given a maximum of seven days to submit fresh applications if Mr Gulzar, who is the sole director of each, chose to do so.

Disappointingly this account fails to set out any further explanation of the decision to prefer Mr Gulzar’s offer to those of other prospective bidders that included local community group Friends of Hastings, nor any justification of the knock-down sale price. The administrators have merely repeated their previous insistence that it “represented the highest offer” and “was in line with” the requirements of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). Nevertheless there are some eyebrow-raising contents.

The price of the pier itself was confirmed as £60,000 plus VAT of £12,000 paid in the name of Mr Gulzar. In addition there was a sum of £10,450 stated to be for the “chattel assets, stocks, contracts, intellectual property, goodwill, business name and cash float”  purchased by Lions Hastings Pier Limited (LHPL), a company of which Mr Gulzar is sole director and shareholder. No explanation or significant breakdown of this latter figure is given, but all contracts, including those of all staff then employed, can be assumed to have been taken over by LHPL.

‘Reversion Clause’
The sale is said to have been “subject to a reversion clause, which means that in the event that the Pier is resold in the next two years, there are certain provisions which are in favour of Hastings Borough Council acquiring it.” However it seems highly doubtful whether, even if such a clause did appear in the sale document, it can have any ongoing meaning or effect. The transfer of the pier to Mr Gulzar has since been registered at the Land Registry without any provision that would restrict his right to sell it on to anyone he chooses. Furthermore Barbara Browning, Communications Manager for the council, when asked what it had done to protect this supposed right of acquisition, told HIP last week: “We don’t want or need to protect an interest; if we had wanted to buy and operate the pier, we could ourselves have bought it from the administrators.”

Trading Losses
A net trading loss in excess of £358,000 is calculated to have been incurred in the period of the administration despite considerable work on the pier being undertaken throughout by unpaid volunteers. Of this sum nearly £130,000 accumulated in the period between 24th May and 23rd November – but presumably all, or virtually, all in the three weeks up to the date of sale, 16th June, since everything thereafter was the responsibility of LHPL. And these calculations don’t include the administrators’ own professional fees, for which they claim time costs of over £435,000, though it is not clear whether they will receive this full amount. No wonder the HLF, who were bankrolling them, became keen to rush the sale.

Mr Gulzar and his company will have enjoyed the benefit of summer months’ trading in the immediate period after June, and presumably raked in higher bar and restaurant takings accordingly. Autumn weather was relatively kind too. But if the administrators’ accounts are any guide to the economic realities of pier management out of season, no wonder that he has subsequently sought a different way to balance the books: shutting it down.

‘An Orderly Queue’
On Saturday 12th January there was a gathering of over 200 local citizens outside the locked gates. The organisers – not the formal pressure group Friends of Hastings Pier but an impromptu social media offshoot – insisted that it was a love-in, not a protest demo: a brief march along the seafront from the Goat Ledge cafe to the pier was led by local drumming band Sambalanco, with followers asked to form ‘an orderly queue’ as if filing past a body lying in state. They were invited to ‘hug’ the pier as they arrived. 

Mr Gulzar turned up, flanked by Amber Rudd MP for reasons which were not explained, and made a few incoherent remarks about the pier being closed while necessary works were undertaken for ‘public safety’. Leader of the council Peter Chowney also made an appearance, perhaps to assure political balance – but surely not to suggest that the council might take any interest in what is going on.

There was no indication last week of any works being undertaken beyond the gates.

ALL PICTURES: Owen Price

PICTURE: Susan McFie

At a packed meeting at the White Rock Hotel on Saturday 1 December, with over 100 supporters present, Ms Steele explained to them that she needed to focus her current energies on development of the Observer Building. Mr Wide, who had been heavily engaged in developing strategies for investment in the pier in support of the Friends’ bid, was also stepping down from any active role, though he was ready to renew his involvement if and when community ownership was attained. However James Chang, who chaired the meeting, then invited others present to join him in keeping the group alive and active, and 12 individuals put themselves forward there and then to form a new leadership team.

Ms Steele explained to the meeting that the council had last month accepted re-registration of the pier as an Asset of Community Value; the original registration had lapsed, after the previous owners, Hastings Pier Charity, went into administration. That meant that, if current owner Sheikh Abid Gulzar should put the property up for sale at any time, there would be a six-month window for FoHP, to put in a bid: “We’ll be here when the time comes” she said.

In an open debate, there were some calls for FoHP to reconcile themselves with Mr Gulzar and pursue mediation. Concern was expressed that adverse reports (including in this newspaper) concerning  about his financial record and criticisms of his current planning application were causing him to refuse to meet with, or listen to, the Friends or anyone else representing community interests. However,  the more popular overriding opinion of the meeting was clearly that Mr Gulzar’s behaviour, since he took over the pier, did not merit any reconciliation or support. 

Moreover, Peter Wheeler, until the previous week the chief maintenance engineer but now “no longer on the pier” (his words) told the meeting that, since the takeover, necessary maintenance of the sub-structure was not being undertaken. Mr Wheeler is, apparently, intending to bring a legal action against Mr Gulzar for constructive dismissal.

He blamed Mr Gulzar for failing to fund the purchase of requisite materials. He also said that there was evidence of deliberate and criminal damage being perpetrated, by a person or persons unknown, including tampering with a sewerage pipe and unscrewing of bolts.  With regard to the recent outbreak of fire in the pavilion Mr Wheeler said he believed there was no custodian monitoring of the fire alarm. He was concerned that, if the incident had happened at night, it might not have been spotted at such an early stage.

There was an overwhelming show of hands in favour of FoHP continuing to take an active ‘watchdog’ role to ensure that Mr Gulzar sustains all appropriate maintenance and security provision while he has ownership. It was suggested that, given the pier’s listed status, any planning permission Mr Gulzar may be given, could be made subject to a term requiring requirement for him to supply an annual report of its condition.

Questions were also raised as to whether and how the pier’s structure is currently insured, though it was not clear how this could be monitored.

Since the meeting, James Chang has informed members of the group that the new leadership team will meet “in the new year” to plan their strategy.  In the meantime they want to ensure that, in the absence of any engineering team present on the pier, appropriate repairs are being undertaken. Anything that seems to need attention should be photographed and details sent on Facebook to FoHP. “We will log the problem and try to find out when it will be attended to”, he says.

The blaze, which started behind a wall panel before spreading up the wall, was caused by an electrical fault in the wiring. Four fire engines raced to the scene and the flames were quickly extinguished. No-one was hurt.

East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service Station Commander Dan Channon paid tribute to the staff for their swift action. “They noticed the fire alarms going off and recognised an electrical rubber burning smell. The pier was evacuated in a matter of minutes.”

He added: “Because of the glass facade of the cafe, we had a good view of the fire, and we quickly went in and dealt with it.”

It won the RIBA Stirling Prize for its sophisticated, contemporary design last year. Yet almost half of the £14 million Heritage Lottery and other public funding spent on its reconstruction went towards restoring the unseen, yet most important part of Hastings Pier: its sub-structure.

Battered constantly by waves and jetsam, damaged by storms, sand and shingle, the cast iron columns, steel beams, trusses and ties which make up the underbelly of Hastings Pier form a constantly evolving structure that requires ongoing surveillance in the face of the corrosive, abrasive elements.

Built between 1869 and 1872 after many delays in its construction, it has required meticulous, costly, yet vital maintenance ever since. National archives show a letter written to the Board of Trade in 1907 from a Hastings gentleman concerned about whether enough was being done to keep it safe.

Indeed, when Friends of Hastings Pier spokesperson Adam Wide queried the decision this summer by administrators Smith and Williamson to sell the rebuilt pier to Abid Gulzar, despite a number of other bids being on the table, they stated in their reply: “Several potential bidders fell away when they explained to us that they recognised the significant and essential maintenance costs of the fabric of the pier and the costs of keeping on the employees or making them redundant under TUPE legislation.”

In other words, the new owner needed to be someone who could afford the considerable and ongoing expense of maintenance beneath, as well as the bills associated with staffing and running the top part of the pier.

“The unfortunate thing about a pier is that you take a wheelbarrow full of money and you tip it off the end and nobody sees what’s happened to it.” Peter Wheeler, Chief Engineer of Hastings Pier discusses the complexities of maintaining the pier.

Columns and trusses
The most important parts are the cast iron columns on which everything stands. For the last 150 years they have been abraded by shingle and sand washed against them with every wave. ‘Sacrificial abrasion guards’ have to be put in place to protect them.  Cross bracing needs to be kept taut, to prevent sway, while horizontal bracing must be kept in place to prevent buckling of the columns.

The original pier in 1872 was supported by Warren trusses, composed of equilateral triangles and held together by iron rivets. The pier builders would have heated the rivets before bashing them into place. Over time these trusses all decayed and were replaced by Pratt trusses. These are now held together by the galvanised steel nuts and bolts giving them a design life of 50 years.

Meanwhile the beach end of the pier stands within an ‘accelerated low water corrosion zone’. This means that the nuts and bolts must be checked, tightened and replaced on a frequent basis so that nothing gets loose, because once this happens the parts start to ‘chatter’ and wear, and the structure becomes vulnerable to the power of the sea, with every surging wave impacting on it.

In the 21st century there is also increased amount of jetsam in the water, including metal fallen from the pier in years gone by, which might be smashed against the columns in a storm. During storm Eleanor in January, a piece of two metre steel on the seabed was tossed along the beach 300 metres to the lifeguard hut.

Chief Engineer
Peter Wheeler, a Royal Engineer, has been consulted on piers at Weston-super-Mare, Southsea, Eastbourne and Brighton and has worked on marine and engineering projects around the world.   He became the chief engineer for the Hastings pier in 2013, helping to design a programme for its reconstruction and ongoing maintenance.

“The great aspiration was for somebody to be involved with the entire reconstruction and carry that knowledge forwards”, he says. “There was never enough money during the reconstruction to replace it all, so all areas went into a carefully programmed schedule of work.”

A team of apprentices was trained to become assistant engineers in order to inspect, maintain and keep it safe.

For the first year of the pier’s new ownership, the estimated cost of ongoing work was £45,000, to be spent on steel nuts and bolts and the planned replacement of components, excluding the wages of the engineering team or extra work required in the event of storm damage.

Mr Wheeler explains: “There were very careful calculations made.  Bidders like Friends of Hastings Pier included it in their plans because they realised that this would be where all the money would have to be spent. Ignoring it has literally been the downfall of many piers.”

He sums up: “Nobody in their right mind would build a pier in a highly corrosive environment, which is subject to an earthquake 365 days of the year, 24 hours a day and is being ground away. It’s a bonkers thing – and that’s what makes it so magical”.

The original design by architects dRMM which won the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2017 made much of its recycling of timber from the original pier; the visitor centre adopts scorched wood cladding as a particular feature. Reclaimed timber was also used to create the pier’s new furniture, manufactured locally as part of an employment initiative. Mr Gulzar’s sheds, described in his applications as ‘contemporary log cabins’, are made by Skinners, the Bexhill-based timber building manufacturer. It is no doubt creditable that the new owner has also selected a local employer which assures its customers that all the redwood timber it uses is “from well-managed, legal and non-controversial sources which carry recognised and acceptable certifications”. HBC’s planners, with input presumably from Heritage officers charged with conservation of the site as a Grade II listed building, will have to decide whether the new sheds are consistent with the existing design materials.

It is difficult to see how they can do this effectively, however, without considering the full context of the applicant’s plans. For his PR consultant, ‘Lord’ Brett McLean has been explaining that he has rather more radical proposals still in the course of formulation. A separate application for change of use of the current visitor centre to a “family entertainment centre” has also apparently been lodged with the council and is expected to be validated for public scrutiny within the next week or so. Asked what this centre will house, Mr McLean has told HIP that this “is the term adopted by us when introducing free standing leisure machines that will provide amusement for children of all ages and adults through the use of sounds and lights, identical to those that have been installed in the former Atlantis Night Club based on Eastbourne Pier”. It must be assumed they mean an amusement arcade.

Other ambitions, which seem to be at a more (let’s say) conceptual stage, include the introduction of a second pavilion and the reinstatement of the former landing stage giving an opportunity for leisure travel by boat between Hastings and Eastbourne piers.

What may in the meantime puzzle, not to say infuriate, many Hastings residents and others who crowd-funded the alternative bid by Friends of Hastings Pier to take over management of the pier back in the spring is not only the length of time it has taken Mr Gulzar to put forward any plans to energise the enterprise he has bought for himself, but also the feeble value of the investment that has been made thus far. In justifying their strict timetable for conduct of the sale which produced him as their preferred bidder, the Hastings Pier Charity Administrators spoke of setting a deadline that would allow “sufficient time for the pier to be fully marketed and to give the new owner the benefit of the summer months trading period”. They also stated that respective bidders had been “asked to explain their plans for running the pier and demonstrate their ability to pay the running costs for operating the business and the upkeep”.  No one except the administrators themselves, and perhaps the Heritage Lottery Fund for whom they were effectively acting, knows what answers Mr Gulzar made to these enquiries.

Then what has happened in the four and a half months since the sale? Mr McLean summarises the achievements of Mr Gulzar’s regime as adding “value, character and interest and generating footfall to the pier” by the introduction of fibre glass animals, horticultural specimens, additional seating, and two golf buggies to assist those with limited mobility. But the fact is that very little cash is being generated, and even less is being invested. And now it’s winter. Is this the vision for which the Heritage Lottery Fund granted over £14 million pounds?

Sabina Arthur
Amber, it was a surprise to see your video at the weekend, but I wanted to give you a proper response, so I’ve brought along some friends to really highlight some of the things that you don’t seem to know about Hastings – because I’m concerned that you think that points that your own constituents are making about our town being left behind have nothing to do with Hastings.

As our council budgets continue to suffer from Conservative government cuts, we’re very fortunate to have received funding from other sources including the EU and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

I’m standing on one of the fantastic icons of Hastings, the pier. The award-winning pier, of which we’re all so proud, which was rebuilt and reopened in 2016 after receiving 12.4 million pounds of Heritage Lottery Funding and investment from 3,000
local people, only to go into administration and be sold off for a reported £50,000 two years later.

But you’re right, despite being one of the most deprived areas in the country, with 35% of households living in poverty, we have lots to celebrate in Hastings. We do have a phenomenal arts community, music community; but unfortunately, most artists are expected to create their work for very little, or no money at all. And with Conservative cuts to arts education nationally, we don’t know where our future artists will come from.

But enough from me, let’s hear from a few others about how Hastings is being held back from being so fantastic.

Chrissy Brand
That’s right, 44% of pupils in Hastings achieve expected levels in reading, writing and maths at Key Stage 2. That’s 10% below the national average.

George Loveless
And 50% of pupils achieve A* to C in both English and Maths GCSE compared with 63% in all of England.

Ian Stewart
And can I just add that we have 6% unemployment in Hastings compared with 3.4% in the rest of the South East.

Ann Kramer
And 17.5% of people who work are in receipt of in-work benefits compared with the South East average of 8.3%.

Andrea Needham
And I really love Hastings for its strong sense of community. Local people have continued to donate to our foodbank, which has seen an 82% increase in usage during your government’s universal credit roll-out.

Alfie Rolph
And as a commuter, I’m disappointed to see so many delays and cancellations on our train lines, with punctuality as low as 67% on some services to the capital this year.

Louise Hersee
And I love the £8m investment that East Sussex County Council has put into Hastings library – thanks to a community petition presented to the county council in 2006, four years before you became an MP.

Sabina Arthur
So there you have it. Lots of fantastic things have taken place in Hastings, really giving this town fantastic push, enthusiasm and potential for the future. But it’s not helpful to only acknowledge the good that’s going on in Hastings and ignore the problems here. We need a representative who will engage with us, recognise the difficulties we face, and take responsibility for working with us to improve them.

We agree with you Amber, we are not left behind; we are being held back by your Conservative government. It’s disingenuous to suggest that criticism of the devastating effects of underfunding in Hastings is the same as criticising Hastings itself. We too are proud and excited by our town and the opportunities we’ll have here when we elect an MP who is in touch with local issues. That’s why your majority was reduced from almost 5,000 to 346 in last year’s General Election.

So, if you’re still around for the next General Election, we’ll be happy to discuss all of this with you. But I fear you might be on your way back in the train studying how to make better propaganda videos.

But we won’t be interested in that, we’re interested in our wonderful town and its huge opportunities, marching forward.

Chrissy Brand
Yeah, bye-bye, Amber  (All laugh)

• See Amber Rudd’s video Tweet here: https://twitter.com/AmberRuddHR/status/1020661045474537472

• See Sabrina Arthur’s response here: https://youtu.be/7m_6ndQbvXk

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Sheikh Abid Gulzar, recent controversial buyer of Hastings Pier, told HIP in an interview which we published last month (Issue 106) that he was spending his own ‘good hard-earned money’. When our interviewer pointed out that two of the  companies of which he was sole director had gone into liquidation in January 2017 owing hundreds of thousands of pounds to creditors, he excused himself by stating that he had also lost a substantial amount of personal money. ‘If I show profit, that means I’m not investing’, he boasted.

What Mr Gulzar did not reveal is that Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs have been taking a less generous attitude to over £144,000 worth of tax debts incurred by him while trading as unincorporated sole proprietor of Eastbourne hotels Boship Lions and Albany Lions and to similar debts of over £260,000 run up by a company Lions Hotels Limited of which he was sole director prior to its liquidation in January 2017.

These debts did not arise from a failure of Mr Gulzar to meet his own income tax or other personal tax liabilities. They represented deductions which he either made or should have made, by way of PAYE and National Insurance contributions (NIC) from wages paid to staff, but failed to hand over to HMRC ; and, in the case of VAT, presumably from failure to account to HMRC for tax charged to and paid by the hotels’ customers.

Powers of HMRC
Businessmen like Mr Gulzar may sometimes consider that the tax man should be kept at the back of the queue when cash is in short supply. But, unsurprisingly, HMRC take the opposite view – and they have powers which poor unsecured creditors do not. Where there has been what they regard as ‘serious non-compliance’ in handing tax over, and there appears to be a serious risk of future non-payment, they get tough. On 1 March 2017 they served Mr Gulzar with a notice requiring him to give security in respect of his ongoing businesses: the two companies Boship Farm Hotel Limited and Albany Lions Hotel Limited, which had taken over the respective unincorporated businesses since the debts had been incurred, plus Mansion Lions Hotels Limited, another company of which he was sole director which had taken over the business of Lions Hotel Limited.

Mr Gulzar also by that time owed over £16,500 in PAYE and NIC as sole proprietor of the Lions Cub Nursery, and over £135,000 in VAT (including interest and penalties for non-payment) as partner of the Lions Group Shop. Another company of his, Chatsworth Hotels Limited, had gone into liquidation owing over £39,000 in PAYE, while another existing company Lions Pier Limited owed over £46,000.

It is difficult to imagine a clearer case to justify HMRC taking protective action to secure collection of future tax revenue, and they duly demanded advance payments representing four months average PAYE and NIC payments for each ongoing business. However it didn’t suit Mr Gulzar to pay up. He appealed against HMRC’s rulings to the First-tier Tribunal Tax Chamber.

Court Hearing
The case was eventually listed before Judge Philip Gillett at a hearing in Brighton on 24 May this year. Mr Gulzar, who must at that point have been in serious negotiation with the administrators of Hastings Pier Charity for prospective purchase of the pier, clearly wasn’t keen to have it determined then.  According to the Judge’s Decision, which was released only two months later on 23 July, Mr Gulzar contacted the court in advance to request an adjournment on the grounds that – ‘(1) he had six broken ribs; (2) he thought a member of his office was attending; and (3) he thought the hearing was the following week.’

The judge proceeded to hear the appeal in his absence and dismissed it.

It is not clear what sums are now owed personally by Mr Gulzar, what by his companies, and how quickly HMRC will move to enforce payment.  In his appeal document dated June 2017 he argued that payments in excess of £216,000 had already been paid towards the personal tax debts and that his existing companies were not in any arrears. The court did not investigate whether these claims were true, since it was essentially only concerned with the position as at 1 March 2017. However time may tell quite quickly: HMRC don’t usually hang about when they’ve established that there is tax revenue due to them in PAYE, NIC or VAT.

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Former staff have described how the swiftly completed sale of Hastings Pier last month precluded any formal communication from either the administrators or the new owner Sheikh Abid Gulzar about their future roles and rates of pay.

PICTURE: COLIN GIBSON

While some believed that the sale contract required them to be retained at their existing rates under TUPE (transfer of undertakings, protection of employment) law, many were told by Mr Gulzar and his team that, while they would all be keeping their jobs, their rates of pay would be need to be reviewed.

Furthermore, without any planned formal handover period, staff uncertainty was increased when the pier closed for more than a week while legal and insurance issues were allegedly being finalised.

At least two long term senior members of salaried staff who resigned following the sale are still awaiting, at the time of going to press, payment from Mr Gulzar of holiday pay accrued and work carried out after the sale.

Former Sous Chef Dan Crease, who had been working as part of the pier’s catering team to develop and improve the menu featuring vegan and locally sourced fish dishes as well as developing the ‘gourmet’ fish and chip takeaway with triple fried chips and his own pickles, told HIP that up to and immediately following the sale, there was no formal communication between either the administrators or the pier’s new owner and its staff, concerning their future work roles and pay.

“Our rights were not explained to us”, he says. “We had to work them out for ourselves. And from that point it struck me that they (the administrators and Mr Gulzar) had no interest in what we were achieving, they had no interest in us as people or in how we would benefit them in the future with our ideas”.

Mr. Crease, who had been working on a 40- hour week contract before the pier closed in June, says that due to the uncertainty he decided to leave and accept another job offer. According to Mr. Crease’s and other staff reports, more staff members in salaried positions also resigned for similar reasons, with money still being owed to them for holiday pay and hours worked.

The chef claimed last week that he is still owed £1,000 in hours worked and holiday pay accrued and that he has written to Mr. Gulzar’s assistant Manasdeep Singh several times asking when he will be paid and who is responsible for his holiday pay, but has not yet received a reply.

“Any other business might have taken a day or two to hand over, but it seemed like they had no plan, no structure in place for any kind of transition.  The staff of course were not at the front of their minds, that was plain to see, but to disrespect staff’s legal rights as well, especially when it comes to payment, it’s shocking, it’s a travesty.” said Mr. Crease.

“The thing that baffles me was the haste from the administrators to be done with it. It was quite unfair really, the communication of all this, and indeed the whole saga has been absolutely appalling. Not only from Mr. Gulzar but from the administration.”

Staff were informed of the sale on the night of 15th June following a busy Friday night shift. Mr Gulzar, his assistant Manas Singh and ‘Lord’ Brett McLean were there to meet them. Some, like Dan Crease, did not stay to hear what the new regime had to say. However, others have reported that they were shocked and offended by the way they were addressed, claiming they were told they looked ‘scruffy’ and unhappy.

Former catering assistant Danielle Castelino says that Mr McLean, who spoke to them alongside Mr. Gulzar, ‘reeled off local poverty statistics and told staff that language students were the only thing keeping the town’s economy from collapsing entirely. He told us he was keen to keep us employed so that we didn’t become one of the many in the area “who can’t even afford a first class postage stamp at the end of the week”. This was obviously insulting, patronising and presumptuous, but also insincere, as we already knew that Gulzar had been forced to take on all staff, partly due to TUPE regulations and partly because the administrators wanted it to be a condition of the sale’.

She said many staff walked out of the meeting when they were asked to pose for a photograph with Mr Gulzar and his team, and that ex-staff had now been banned from going on the pier.

Josh Wright, who had worked as catering supervisor for just under a year before resigning after the sale, said that, having heard in advance that they might all be made redundant, staff were told on the night of the sale their pay would have to be reviewed.

“We spoke about how the contract stated that it was going to have to be the same, but he (Mr Gulzar) said, ‘no, it will have to be reviewed’.”

“He’s changed the food, and the fish is now frozen and pre-battered, he’s changed the pay rates, and offered anyone salaried 30 per cent less.”

According to Mr Wright, “he offered the head chef 30 per cent less, and the head chef walked, because of this and the frozen food.”

Ms Castelino, who had worked on the pier since it reopened in 2016, has also described how the uncertainty and lack of communication during and immediately following the sale prompted further resignations.

Prior to the sale, she said, staff had worked hard as a team to make business profitable, exceeding the ambitious sales targets set by administrators. However, she describes how Catering General Manager Debbie Grant who had worked for the former Hastings Pier Charity and was promoted to her position in March, felt unable to continue under Mr. Gulzar and resigned shortly after the sale.

“His management team weren’t clearly communicating with her or answering any important concerns about how to keep business running smoothly,” she says.

A total of 19 staff are believed to have ceased working at the pier since the sale.

HIP asked Mr Gulzar and his team to respond to the descriptions of events given by staff.  They had not done so at the time of going to press, other than a brief rejoinder from Manas Singh, the Chief Operations Officer of Mr Gulzar’s companies (the Lion Group), saying that the comments were ‘intense’ and it would ‘ take me some time to get you a full response!’

However, Mr McLean whose letter to HIP can be read in full on page 9 of this issue, claims that staff were informed immediately that the sale had taken place: “All employees were told at that time that their positions of employment were safe and they were welcomed to the Lions Hospitality Group family.”

It is fair to add that last weekend, in hot and sunny weather, crowds were flocking onto the pier to watch a fly-past by the Red Arrows and enjoy music, with long queues for the bar and fish-and-chip takeaways.

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The process which resulted in Hastings pier being sold like a “a cheap pub” has been slammed as ‘shambolic’ by a successful entrepreneur, whose bid was turned down by administrators.

Roger Wade, founder and CEO of pop-up street food and events company Boxpark had submitted plans to invest £10 million to restore the pier to its former glory as a major events venue, HIP can reveal.

The bid was the only one which had the full backing of Hastings Borough Council and involved further renovation, the creation of a food and drink retail area and plans to build a major events area.

However, administrators Smith and Williamson told Mr. Wade – whose bid was submitted by the stated deadline and whose company is involved in large regeneration projects in Croydon, Shoreditch and Wembley – they would not give him a six week period to do proper due diligence.

The company had already carried out extensive consultation with HBC and had been in touch with rival community bidders Friends of Hastings Pier to gain their backing, should their bid be successful. But despite having plans to spend £100,000 on carrying out further consultation regarding planning, licensing,  structural surveys and community consultation, administrators told Mr. Wade they just wanted bids that were subject to no due diligence.

“We were really motivated by the past and the fact that people like The Who had played there and we thought it had an incredible future, never mind the fact that
it was the Stirling prize winner.” Mr. Wade told HIP.

“They just wanted to sell it off to the quickest bidder without any consideration for the future use, without any consideration for seeing whether their plans were sustainable, which I think is disgraceful.”

“It’s just sad that a structure as architecturally important as the pier, as important to the people of Hastings as the pier has been sold off like a cheap lot.”

Mr. Wade, whose company Boxpark was launched in 2011, has heavily criticised both the administrators and GVA, the agents responsible for marketing the pier and has written to both expressing his concern about the administration process.

“What was really important was that before we put our name to anything we wanted to do proper due diligence, and that is to speak to the council about your plans, you discuss about licensing, you discuss about planning, you meet with community groups and check that you’ve got their support, and you also get a proper structural survey, this is a normal major development process.”

“No credible firm would go into a development without doing this, certainly when you’re looking to spend a seven figure sum like we were.”

“I think the process has been appalling and if I was a resident of Hastings I would be furious, I really would.”

“Jess Steele and the Friends of Hastings Pier also have the right to feel disgusted at the way the administration process was handled.”

He added that questions remained unanswered as to why the main creditor, Heritage Lottery Fund, allowed the sale to take place without consultation.

“What I don’t understand is that the Heritage Lottery Fund were effectively in charge of that process. They had first charge over the assets and the administrators would have had to report back to the HLF.”

“What completely baffles me is how did they spend £14 million on the structure and let somebody come along, and buy it for £50,000, who didn’t even consult with the council, didn’t even consult the local community groups and actually, when he was asked if he wanted to consult with the council, refused to
do so.”

“You should be absolutely disgusted at the process.”

‘It’s the Stirling Prize winner for God’s sake. They were not selling a cheap pub; they were selling a major building that matters to that community and the due diligence should have included what is best for the people of Hastings.”

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So how did the Sheikh with a string of failed and failing companies get his pier bid approved? “The aim throughout the process was that the heritage asset be sold to the party which demonstrated the highest probability of sustaining it financially into the future, and maintained the benefits for Hastings and the wider community”. So stated the administrators of Hastings Pier Charity in their press release of 20th June, five days after the sale announcement, explaining the basis on which they had rejected the purchase bid made by the crowd-funded community group Friends of Hastings Pier in favour of one from the self-styled Sheikh Abid Gulzar.

“As administrators” they continued. “we cannot prefer one bid over another on emotional or other, non-commercial, grounds”.

Well, perhaps Adam Stephens or Finbarr O’Connell, the two directors of insolvency firm Smith Williamson who have been performing this role at the rate charged to the Heritage Lottery Fund of £600 (inclusive of VAT) per hour, should explain why they regarded the following facts about Mr Gulzar’s company dealings, open to universal public scrutiny in the register of Companies House, as merely emotional or otherwise non-commercial grounds of objection 

1. Mr Gulzar was sole director of two companies, Lion Hotels Limited and Chatsworth Hotel Limited, which in January 2017 went into liquidation owing creditors irrecoverable sums amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds. Chatsworth Hotel Limited had filed an account in March 2015 showing its principal asset, the Chatsworth Hotel on Grand Parade, Eastbourne as worth in excess of £3 million.  Less than two years later following sale of the hotel there were allegedly no significant assets in the company.  So what happened to the proceeds? In March this year the liquidator,
Alex Dunton of Greenfield Recovery Limited, an insolvency firm in Birmingham, filed a Progress Report in the liquidation stating that he was making further enquiries of the relevant parties “to determine the nature” of transactions made by the company following the sale. The liquidator also indicates that he is investigating and reporting to the Department of Business Innovation and Skills in respect of the conduct of Mr Gulzar as director, however his report and disclosures “are confidential”.

2. None of the six companies of which he remains (in each case sole) director, including those that own Eastbourne Pier and three other hotels in and around that town, show a balance sheet, as filed at Companies House, which is in profit;

3. The company through which he appears to have bought Eastbourne Pier in 2015, Lions Pier Limited, transferred it some time before 31 March 2017 to another of his companies Golden Lions (Eastbourne) Limited leaving an unpaid tax bill in excess of £200,000 and creditors altogether in excess of £1.274 million.

4. Both companies and all their assets, including both freehold and leasehold interest in the pier have been charged to Barclays Bank; all the hotel assets and respective businesses are charged to the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The following further facts might also, you would think, have been regarded as having a bearing on Mr Gulzar’s suitability as maintainer of heritage assets:

5. In September 2013 he pleaded guilty at Hastings Magistrates Court to causing damage to a protected conservation site on Pevensey Levels. He was fined £45,000 with £90,000 costs. He is reported to have continued to dispute the restoration programme required of him by the site authority Natural England for another 17 months before caving in and paying up in full.

6. After buying Eastbourne Pier, which is a Grade-II listed structure, he started by having the cupola on its principal building plus up to 40 lion statuettes adorned in a garish gold. Only retrospectively did he apply for planning permission.

It is noteworthy that, according to Peter Chowney, leader of Hastings Borough Council, Mr Gulzar unlike other potential bidders made no approach to the planning department prior to the sale announcement.  The reasonable inference to be drawn was that Mr Gulzar either didn’t have any plans worth discussing, or else did but doubted, prior to securing the asset, that they would meet with approval. Either way it is surely another reason why the administrators might have questioned his fitness to take control.

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I never expected my investment to make a return.  It was enough to be part of a community effort to save a historic artifact.  There was the added bonus that as the regeneration took place I felt a sense of personal pride.  And I could boast to friends that I owned Hastings Pier – or at any rate a small part of it.

So, when the Hastings Pier Charity went into administration I was more fearful for the future than I was upset that I’d lost a hundred quid.  I understood that we shareholders were now unsecured creditors and that any money that could be recovered would go to Heritage Lottery Fund who had invested some £14 million in the renovation.  I hadn’t been unduly impressed by the way that the Hastings Pier Charity had run it and believed it needed many more attractions to entice visitors to spend money and help keep it going.  But at least the charity ensured that it was owned by the community.

Which is why I am so incensed that the administrators have now sold it to this businessman Abid Gulzar.  I’ve nothing against him personally.  I’ve met him and he seemed pleasant enough – though if Eastbourne pier is his business model for Hastings it could be pretty tacky. 

No, what angers me is that the administrators seem to have completely by-passed the Friends of Hastings pier who had raised £470,000 of the half million that they were told was needed to make their bid viable.

But hang on just a minute.

Gulzar has bought it for £50,000. The Friends had £450,000 on the table and available.  How on earth does that make sense?  It sounds like a complete stitch up to me.  The administrators argue that it would need at least £1m investments to make it viable, but if the Friends crowd-funded nearly half that sum in just a few weeks, then surely they could raise the rest?  Possibly by going back to the original shareholders and asking for a new investment.  And this is the point.  The sale to Gulzar means that my share certificate isn’t now worth the paper it’s written on.  Had the friends taken it over, the shareholders would have remained in place – albeit with little prospect of any return.

As the Friends say, a “publicly owned asset that was created by £14 million of public investment has been sold off at a bargain price to a private investor … this cannot be right.”

And what are our elected representatives doing or saying about this travesty?  Not a lot.  Council leader Peter Chowney is ‘disappointed’. MP Amber Rudd is pleased free access seems to be ‘guaranteed’ and thinks that a meeting will ‘ensure community concerns (are) addressed.’  Well, take it from me, they won’t be – meeting or no.

The people of Hastings have every right to be incandescent with anger over what’s happened and how they have been by-passed in favour of big business.  The stink of cronyism hangs in the air and if the administrators were a public body I’d have thought that they could be judicially reviewed for their patently ‘unreasonable’ decision.  The question remains whether I and my fellow shareholders have the locus – or could raise the money – to mount a legal challenge in the civil courts.

Perhaps Hastings’ best hope is to boycott the new Gulzar pier when it re-opens under his aegis. The Administrators say that the sale is subject to a reversion clause, giving Hastings rights over acquisition if it is sold again within two years.

I hate to say it, but all we can do is hope it fails again.

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