Brighton's new i360 tower - a ' giant dildo with a cock-ring'

[Indeliblelink]

I suppose I should finally get round to going on it before it shuts.

There's also the fiasco of the helicopter landing pad on top of the hospital. Cost £14million and was meant to open in 2019, five years later no helicopter has ever used it. We don't seem to have much luck with tall structures in Brighton.

Brighton hospital helipad opening delayed until 2025

The £14m platform at the Royal Sussex County Hospital was originally meant to open in June 2019.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Boo Radley75]

I went up it in September. Found it ok, other than my ears popping at the top. Oh, and it pissing down with rain and not getting a great view. Oh, and them keep trying to flog me overpriced champagne at every opportunity. Other than that, though, it was great!

 

[mod]

I live in Brighton and had no idea about any of this. i just assumed (probably like they did when it was first designed / proposed) that it would be like the big wheel on the thames. that was initially only meant to be there for a a few years (to mark the millennium wasn’t it?) but proved so profitable it’s still spinning tourists around 24 years later.

The funding of the i360 is scandalous and again something i was completely ignorant about. No wonder my council tax bill is so fecking high.

i won’t be sad to see it go but surely there is something innovative different owners could do with it to make it profitable and pay us back some more of that debt? The millennium Dome was initially an expensive flop but is now a very successful (and soulless imo) music venue and chain restaurant park. Maybe turn it into a restaurant or club? But i guess there’s a reason the BT tower didn’t succeed doing that.

It’s an absolute eyesore but does act as a handy marker when you are in various parts of brighton and can see exactly where the coast and main touristy bit of the city are. A bit like the communist tower / thingy in Alexandra Platz in berlin.

Ive been on it 3 times and luckily the weather was glorious on each occasion and i have to admit the views are quite spectacular and the you can’t see the ugly thing you are on!

 

[mod]

Debts of £51 million. How on earth did they manage to blow all that
BBC News - Brighton's debt-hit i360 files for administration

Brighton's i360 enters administration over £51m debt

The tourist attraction blames rising costs, unfavourable weather and the cost-of-living crisis.

www.bbc.com

covid maybe? it went unused longer than most businesses a it’s an enclosed space i no which social distancing would be impossible as walking around it is naturally what you do once up there

 

[cupid_stunt]

Maybe turn it into a restaurant or club?

Not sure about turning it into a restaurant, there's such limited space for installing a kitchen., etc

Maybe some club nights, Fatboy Slim did a set on it, but capacity is only 200, which is limiting.

 

[mod]

Not sure about turning it into a restaurant, there's such limited space for installing a kitchen., etc

Maybe some club nights, Fatboy Slim did a set on it, but capacity is only 200, which is limiting.

you are right….there isn’t enough space unless food is served when it’s at ground level. Build a kitchen at the bottom and sell off the rest of the land it’s currently using (a lot). Each ‘flight’ as they call it, is only 30 mins long. And it already has a large bar that goes all around the post / pole. Also…..there’s a posh restaurant very very close to it which would object. I suspect they’ll suffer if it’s closed and dismantled as it currently brings 1000s of tourist a year to their front door.

I can remember the first time i seen it up close and said aloud to my then partner ‘How the fuck did they manage to win planning permission for that?!’

It’s directly opposite Regency Square / Queensbury Mews that is one of those beautiful very Brightonesq 3 sided residential squares / gardens that doesn’t have any buildings on the main road so there’s unobstructed views of the sea.

Blimey. Just looked at the wiki page for the millennium dome….

“It cost £789 million (£1.73 billion in 2024 pounds).

The exhibition was open to the public from 1 January to 31 December 2000. The project and exhibition were highly contentious and attracted barely half of the 12 million customers its sponsors forecasted, and so were deemed a failure by the press.[2]All the original exhibition elements were sold or dismantled.”

 

[cupid_stunt]

sell off the rest of the land it’s currently using (a lot).

The land is actually leased to them by the Brighton West Pier Trust, ironically they had hoped that a successful i360 would lead to the rebuilding of the West Pier.

 

[mod]

The land is actually leased to them by the Brighton West Pier Trust, ironically they had hoped that a successful i360 would lead to the rebuilding of the West Pier.

Again you are educating me. But like most locals….we tend to avoid that stretch of beach between the two piers and only go there when i have visitors down. Surprised they were thinking of resurrecting the west pier as the other one is hardly flourishing. It’s quite a depressing experience as it’s got quite dilapidated but maybe that was their rationale. Building a new, modern structure that’s less tacky. More like the pier in Worthing. And close the east one.

Do you live down here too? Or do you just have a memory (unlike me).

 

[cupid_stunt]

Again you are educating me. But like most locals….we tend to avoid that stretch of beach between the two piers and only go there when i have visitors down. Surprised they were thinking of resurrecting the west pier as the other one is hardly flourishing. It’s quite a depressing experience as it’s got quite dilapidated but maybe that was their rationale. Building a new, modern structure that’s less tacky. More like the pier in Worthing. And close the east one.

Do you live down here too? Or do you just have a memory (unlike me).

Been in the Worthing area for 20+ years now, I was invited for a 'flight' before it officially opened to the public, thanks to my accountants having booked it for a corporate event, Francis & I were a bit out of place TBH, being the only small business people invited, it was just down to our accountant liking us on a personal level, anyway we had a presentation on how it all came about before the actual 'flight'. So, that sort of got me interested enough to follow reports about it on the Argus website, over the years since.

I wasn't impressed with it TBH, but then it was a night 'flight' so all you see is the city's lights, and those on the pier, at least we didn't have anyone keep trying to flog us overpriced champagne, because that was free as was other drinks at the bar, and luckily for me, Francis was driving.

 

[Derek S-H]

Well, I've just found this delightful Thread!

Many of the comments suggesting it would be an expensive disaster on the first few pages were very prescient, I must say. And you wouldn't believe the mountain of grumbling and complaining on Nextdoor, though it's a family-friendly site so there's no swearing, alas.

cupid_stunt - did you go on the ferris wheel in Worthing? Tickets only £6, which is quite reasonable.

Observation wheel - Adur & Worthing Councils

Find out more about the observation wheel on Worthing's seafront ...

www.adur-worthing.gov.uk

City Observations

cityobservations.co.uk

 

[cupid_stunt]

cupid_stunt - did you go on the ferris wheel in Worthing? Tickets only £6, which is quite reasonable.

Observation wheel - Adur & Worthing Councils

Find out more about the observation wheel on Worthing's seafront ...

www.adur-worthing.gov.uk

City Observations

cityobservations.co.uk

Nope, we had planned to go on the original one, which had enclosed pods, but covid closed it when my niece and family were down for the intended trip.

The current one has open pods, being scared of heights, I don't fancy that TBH.

 

[mod]

Been in the Worthing area for 20+ years now, I was invited for a 'flight' before it officially opened to the public, thanks to my accountants having booked it for a corporate event, Francis & I were a bit out of place TBH, being the only small business people invited, it was just down to our accountant liking us on a personal level, anyway we had a presentation on how it all came about before the actual 'flight'. So, that sort of got me interested enough to follow reports about it on the Argus website, over the years since.

I wasn't impressed with it TBH, but then it was a night 'flight' so all you see is the city's lights, and those on the pier, at least we didn't have anyone keep trying to flog us overpriced champagne, because that was free as was other drinks at the bar, and luckily for me, Francis was driving.

try to do it on a sunny day before it’s demise. I know it’s not cheap but you’ll never get a chance to see that view again (if it comes down).

I was seeing a woman from worthing for 3 or 4 months early in the year so got to know it much better and grew to like it. your seafront and pier are a lot more chilled than here (i go to hove if i feel like going to the beach).

you have a theatre on your pier. Very civilised and cultured. We have 1000 london day trippers paying exorbitant prices for fair ground rates that sound like they are on the verge of collapsing. And these are being manned by people on zero hours contracts who really don’t wanna be there. When i first started coming down here most weekend (about 10 years ago) if i had my daughter (who was only about 4 at the time) she always wanted to go to the pier as you would. even i was keen the first time with her as hasn’t been for decades. But id come away about £30+ poorer and a bit depressed so that only happened a few times..even she lost interest very quickly.

On a more positive note….theres a nice bar / restaurant just to the right of the pier (if you are facing inland) called Loading Bar which is great if you have kids as it has all the old skool games consoles on l large TVs along the walls that they can play for free. And adults too of course.

 

[cupid_stunt]

I was seeing a woman from worthing for 3 or 4 months early in the year so got to know it much better and grew to like it. your seafront and pier are a lot more chilled than here (i go to hove if i feel like going to the beach).

you have a theatre on your pier. Very civilised and cultured.

Yeah, it's not a bad town, it has changed a lot in the last 20 years, very much moved on from being a retirement town, with a lot of people moving over from Brighton, and when Alex Bailey, formerly of your manor became Joint Chief Executive of Adur and Worthing Councils in 2013, and being a musician himself, he went on a mission to improve the cultural offering, which helped.

Anyway, shame you missed out on the Worthing Urban meet-up back in 2018 (ignore the updated thread title, there wasn't another one last year), it was a cracking weekend, you'll see the photos from that page I linked to, and over the next few.

 

[mod]

Yeah, it's not a bad town, it has changed a lot in the last 20 years, very much moved on from being a retirement town, with a lot of people moving over from Brighton, and when Alex Bailey, formerly of your manor became Joint Chief Executive of Adur and Worthing Councils in 2013, and being a musician himself, he went on a mission to improve the cultural offering, which helped.

Anyway, shame you missed out on the Worthing Urban meet-up back in 2018 (ignore the updated thread title, there wasn't another one last year), it was a cracking weekend, you'll see the photos from that page I linked to, and over the next few.

Looks like a laugh. Be nice to come along to the next one. thanks

 

[Silas Loom]

. Maybe turn it into a restaurant or club? But i guess there’s a reason the BT tower didn’t succeed doing that.

It’s about to be reopened as a restaurant IIRC, a hotel chain has bought it.

I have eaten there loads of times because I used to be in a professional community that had frequent contra deals with BT to use its conference centre near St Pauls and then dine people in the revolving tower in return for sponsorship. There must have been hundreds of similar arrangements, so I expect that the revolving restaurant was in use most nights.

 

[mod]

It’s about to be reopened as a restaurant IIRC, a hotel chain has bought it.

I have eaten there loads of times because I used to be in a professional community that had frequent contra deals with BT to use its conference centre near St Pauls and then dine people in the revolving tower in return for sponsorship. There must have been hundreds of similar arrangements, so I expect that the revolving restaurant was in use most nights.

Didn’t the IRA bomb it and it never reopened ?

 

[Silas Loom]

Didn’t the IRA bomb it and it never reopened ?

Presumably that’s when they stopped letting the public in.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Didn’t the IRA bomb it and it never reopened ?

I seem to remember there was some confusion about that bomb, so I checked wikipedia, only to be amazed that 'The Top of the Tower' was operated by Butlins!

A bomb exploded in the roof of the men's toilets at the Top of the Tower restaurant at 04:30 on 31 October 1971,[26] the blast damaged buildings and cars up to 400 yards (370 m) away.[30] Responsibility for the bomb was claimed by members of the Angry Brigade, a far-left anarchist collective.[31] A call was also made by a person claiming to be the Kilburn Battalion of the IRA.[32] That act resulted in the tower being largely closed to the general public.

The restaurant was closed to the public for security reasons a matter of months after the bombing in 1971. In 1980, Butlins' lease expired.[33] Public access to the building ceased in 1981.

BT Tower - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[hash tag]

I can't see them taking the tower down; people have invested far to much in it for that. Someone needs to take a hit on the debts and I reckon a restaurant would work. Everyone would have to sit at the same time, serve a course, go up, go down, serve next course, repeat.
Another off the wall idea; a half hearted observatory. Ok, there is light pollution to the north but none to the south. I'm sure it could work for something, somehow.