Hope has been expressed that fire-hit Eastbourne Pier could be reopened by next year as two-thirds of it was untouched by flames.
Up to 80 firefighters tackled the blaze at the 144-year-old, Grade-II listed structure, which left the dome-shaped arcade section a charred shell.
But as investigations continued into what caused the fire, Eastbourne MP Stephen Lloyd sounded a note of optimism about the privately owned pier's revival.
After talks with East Sussex's chief fire officer, Mr Lloyd said two-thirds of it remained untouched by fire and the structure appeared "pretty sound".
The Liberal Democrat MP has now called on the community to rally round the pier's stricken traders, amid fears that some had no insurance. Mr Lloyd said: "It's still very much still standing, and I'm very hopeful and confident that it will be reopening next year and be back in business."
The pier was evacuated quickly at around 3pm yesterday, and Sussex Police said the fire was not believed to be suspicious.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article