Known to his critics as ‘Goldfinger’ because for his love of gold and gold painted things. Self-styled sheikh Abid Gulzar has been stopped in his attempts to repaint the historic Eastbourne Pier by authorities. The Indian-born hotelier attempted to paint the pier’s cupola gold without prior permission.
The rejuvenation of the pier is the latest in a series of plans by Mr Gulzar. He caused anger when he announced dogs, cycling, fishing and picnics would be banned from the pier. Mr Gulzar who own a chain of hotels bought Eastbourne Pier for a “knockdown” price of £1million after it was almost gutted by fire two years ago. Current protests began when he painted parts of the Grade II listed pier gold, inlacing the dome on the Camera Obscura and 40 lions adorning the original ironwork.
Michael Harris, who has led the campaign against the changes said “Mr Gulzar has got an ego bigger than the pier, and is hell-bent on getting rid of activities and pastimes which have been in place for more than century.” The principle inspector of ancient monuments at Historic England, Peter Kendall said, “The new owner is bound by the restrictions that apply to all Grade II listed buildings, but also by council planning laws. However piers are not ornaments and need to function and be viable to their private owners so changes that are reasonable could well be allowed.”
Eastbourne Pier opened in 1870 and is among Britain’s historic piers and the best example on the south coast. In August 2014 the pier was engulfed in a huge blaze, with fire fighters battling for days to keep the flames under control.