Brighton Christmas Festival
The Brighton Eye
Brighton used to have a Brighton Eye the same as this one but it had to go when Brighton and Hove City Council agreed a deal with British Airways to build the i360 on the site of the old West Pier. The attraction cost £46 million, with £36 million being funded by a Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) loan through B&H City Council.
Formerly known as the "Brighton i360", the project aimed to attract up to 800,000 paying customers every year. The owner of the site, the West Pier Trust, hoped in 2014 that a successful i360 would lead to the rebuilding of the historic West Pier.
In June 2018, disappointing visitor numbers forced the owners to ask B&H City Council and the LEP for better loan repayment terms. The local paper reported that "in the first full year, from August 2016, the i360 had just over 500,000 visitors, significantly fewer than the 800,000 predicted." The shortfall in visitors was blamed on “poor weather and the unreliable train service to and from London”.
The i360 made a loss of more than £5 million last year, the latest financial reports have revealed. B&H City Council are now owed almost £48 million as the attraction suffered another successive year in the red.
Brighton Christmas Festival
The Brighton Eye
Brighton used to have a Brighton Eye the same as this one but it had to go when Brighton and Hove City Council agreed a deal with British Airways to build the i360 on the site of the old West Pier. The attraction cost £46 million, with £36 million being funded by a Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) loan through B&H City Council.
Formerly known as the "Brighton i360", the project aimed to attract up to 800,000 paying customers every year. The owner of the site, the West Pier Trust, hoped in 2014 that a successful i360 would lead to the rebuilding of the historic West Pier.
In June 2018, disappointing visitor numbers forced the owners to ask B&H City Council and the LEP for better loan repayment terms. The local paper reported that "in the first full year, from August 2016, the i360 had just over 500,000 visitors, significantly fewer than the 800,000 predicted." The shortfall in visitors was blamed on “poor weather and the unreliable train service to and from London”.
The i360 made a loss of more than £5 million last year, the latest financial reports have revealed. B&H City Council are now owed almost £48 million as the attraction suffered another successive year in the red.