- Indoor play area is set to re-open shortly under five-year lease at seafront site
- The outdoor climbing frame is to be moved along the seafront
- An environmental scheme in partnership with the Eden Project could still be the long-term aim
Prominent seafront site Fort Fun is on the verge of partially re-opening with the revamped indoor play area.
The company developing the site is about to finally sign a five-year lease with Eastbourne Borough Council.
The refurbishment has been dogged by legal delays and repeated anti-social behaviour at the former fun park. Vandals have broken fences, trashed the mini golf area and sprayed graffiti on the building.
Ben Porter, above, is a director of hospitality group Wingrove House, the company which will hold the lease.
He told the Eastbourne Reporter: “It has been very frustrating and challenging. We are facing a real headwind down there.
“I am not doing this just to make money – I really care about the town. We are very nearly there: we will get it open.”
Mr Porter said there were teams of plumbers and electricians plus a specialist play company at the site this week to prepare the building for re-opening.
An Eastbourne Borough Council spokesman confirmed that Wingrove House, as the tenant, was bringing the building back to use with an opening date in mid-August.
He added: “The tenant has a lease for up to five years which will provide time for the council properly to consider the future of the site.”
Who is revamping Fort Fun?
Wingrove House, the company behind the redevelopment, operates other seafront attractions such as Treasure Island and the Beach Deck restaurant as well as a restaurant and hotel in Alfriston and pubs in the area.
It is currently fitting out the indoor soft play area with a plan to re-open within the next couple of weeks.
The large outdoor climbing frame at Fort Fun, above left, will be dismantled and moved to Treasure Island, where it will be installed as part of the wooden pirate ship, above right.
Mr Porter says he employs a total of about 350 people in the Wingrove House business. “That is really important – I take my responsibility to those people and their families very seriously.”
He added: “I think Eastbourne is a fantastic town.”
How long has it taken?
It is eight years since the site went into liquidation and two years since the council gave a “licence to occupy” to Wingrove House to work on refurbishment.
The council had said that Defiant Sports could lease part of the site to run inclusive activities. But in January, the council withdrew this permission and found them premises elsewhere.
The large former water park area is now grassed over, above, but it is unclear what, if anything, this section will be used for.
Why the long delays?
Fort Fun was scheduled to re-open nearly two years ago but there have been legal delays with finalising the lease to be signed.
In January this year, the council’s strategic property board of both Lib Dem and Conservative councillors said: “With a view to reopening Fort Fun in spring 2024, the board decided that Wingrove House is best placed to focus its resources on achieving this and terms for a five-year lease have been agreed with them.”
Mr Porter said there have been continual problems with vandalism and anti-social behaviour from large groups of youths.
Fort Fun was recently defaced with graffiti tags so had to be repainted. Vandals continually break into the miniature golf area, pictured above last summer, and £2,000 of damage was recently caused to roller shutters.
“We are fighting vandalism. There is a lot of anti-social behaviour,” he said, adding that glass panels and a window were broken at The Beach Deck recently and a food kiosk was ransacked in the early hours.
What about the future?
The short-term arrangement is understood to be in place because the council hopes that the Eden Project will eventually create an environmental feature on the site.
The planned project at various sites in and near the town, including Fort Fun, was first revealed four years ago.
An outline has been put forward by Eden, which operates an innovative global garden in a former Cornish clay pit, but it has not been costed.
Eastbourne Borough Council has launched a consultation about the future of the town’s seafront and how it should look by the year 2050.
Mr Porter said he accepted the council would only commit to a five-year lease at Fort Fun. “They want flexibility and I understand that. But there is only a certain amount we can do within that time – we cannot put in new buildings because that would be throwing money down the drain.”
Fort Fun timeline:
January 2016: Fort Fun goes into liquidation
May 2021: The council confirms it will not re-open after the pandemic
July 2022: Wingrove House says it will re-open in September that year after being granted a temporary licence
December 2022: The council says it will grant a five-year lease split between Wingrove House and Defiant Sports. The site will, the council says, be “a magnet for family fun” as people “flock to the venue in 2023”.
July 2023: Wingrove House works on refurbishing the indoor play area and Defiant Sports clears its section, awaiting power and water supply connection. The council says quotes to install a new electricity feed are being gathered.
January 2024: The council withdraws permission for Defiant Sports to use the site but signs a five-year lease with Wingrove House. The council finds premises at Archery Recreation Ground for Defiant to use. The site is scheduled to partially re-open at Easter.
August 2024: Eight years after the site went into liquidation, Wingrove House is poised to finally sign a five-year lease and re-open the indoor play area.
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