High hopes for South Parade Pier redevelopment
An artist's impression of the new South Parade Pier
OWNERS and residents have spoken of their high hopes for South Parade Pier.
The News reported on Tuesday that the famous attraction is facing a modern makeover by the architects who redeveloped Weston-super-Mare’s Grand Pier after it was gutted by fire.
Concept drawings showing what the pier could eventually look like were revealed at a meeting of the East Southsea Neighbourhood Forum.
Dawn Randall took over running the pier after the death of her father, David Moore, and now owns it along with Fred Nash.
She has spoken of her determination to revitalise the landmark.
She said: ‘I’m going to make the best of South Parade Pier even if it kills me.
‘The loss of my dad really knocked me for six but what he wanted more than anything was to make a really good success of the pier.
‘I’ve been working with my husband Barry – who has been a big part of getting me though the loss of my dad.
‘And we’ve had some great support from local people, our pier security guards.’
Mrs Randall said her father – who started out as a plasterer and died a millionaire aged 70 – was the reason she took over the pier.
‘He was my hero,’ she said. ‘And he made me promise to do the best I could for the pier. I really would love to see it buzzing just like Brighton Pier – that’s my dream.’
Responding to criticisms of the designs in the letters page of The News, neighbourhood forum committee member Leon Reis said the owners were asking for ideas to improve them.
He said: ‘Of the people who actually came along to see the plans the response was unanimously positive.
‘People will support the owners if they put in classy stuff on the pier, rather than just a load of slot machines.
‘It is time we demanded a better quality for this important part of Portsmouth and those at the meeting were reassured that Fred Nash and his partners feel the same.’
To subscribe to the forum’s mailing list email southsea.forum@gmail.com.
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Comments
There are 10 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
digicom
Monday, October 24, 2011 at 03:03 PMI trust taxpayer's money will not be put into (wasted) this project as it was in the Pyramids.
Scourge
Monday, October 24, 2011 at 12:50 PMCrookwatcher your points are valid and it might be of interest to you that MileEnder is the pseudonym of the MP for Portsmouth South (the grammar and spelling give it away), no doubt in it up to his neck as usual. By the way, why hasn't anyone beeen arrested yet for torching the listed Savoy Buildings? Another event in the endless corruption in Portsmouth.
bm
Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 05:19 PMI am with crookwatcher on this one. If Dave Moore "died a millionaire", why weren't the bills paid before Frenash Ltd went into liquidation? It's all a load of tosh and no matter that my previous comment on here was removed by the moderator (18th October re: £20m revamp plan for Southsea's South Parade Pier), I stand by what I said. Why is it The News, that you continue to run stories making these people to be whiter than white yet when asked to investigate (as long ago as the beginning of the year) then you are not interested. Someone needs to do some serious digging because there is a big story here, and the public need to be made aware.
G&G Milton
Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 12:50 PMNo one has actually commented on the design of this proposed development ? while I totally agree that South parade pier needs re building or to be totally refurbished are we going to have all the new builds in Portsmouth look like a scene from a futuristic sci fi movie ? like the extension of the theater royal for example and all the buildings in Winston C ave , and also why do the designs have to be all grey and box like with no visually attractive features or colour, this design really doesn't blend in with a Victorian sea front unless of course the new builds opposite will look like space ships !
Crookwatcher
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 09:16 AMMileEnder - One certainly has to be careful how points are written but in a nutshell the Pier continues to move from one Limited Company ownership to the next (all companies having the same directors of course so the ownership isn't really changing) and this is done (in my opinion so as not to be sued) to deliberately not pay their suppliers. My calculated guess is any investor in this project would see their money disappear into the wild Blue Yonder and the Pier remained unchanged!
grunt futtick
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 09:07 AMGreat place for Harry to build his affordable housing quota .
Sailor Sam
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 09:07 AM@1. Surely Southsea extends to Bransbury Park and Fratton, or at least that is what some residents claim, except when it came to paying the Southsea Council Tax. Southsea sounds so much nicer than Portsmouth!
MileEnder
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 09:01 AMHey crookwatcher - what are the real goings on then? Post all, dont just leave innuendo and half a story. Unless of course its not true and if you did post you'd be sued!!! I suspect the later but I await your next post with interest.
Crookwatcher
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 08:41 AMMore Spin to try and get some poor unsuspecting investor to invest their cash into the hands of crooks. This will never happen and it is a sad state of affairs that the local news keeps running these smokescreen stories instead of the real goings-on behind the scenes at South Parade Pier.
Dacar
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 07:45 AM"East Southsea" ??? Don't you mean Eastney!!!
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