Last year’s £1 admission fee to go on Brighton’s Palace Pier will increase to £2 this summer as the operator tackles the threat of rising costs, a struggling economy and maintaining one of the UK’s most important attractions. Meanwhile, CEO Anne Ackord continues to take on the seaside sector’s toughest challenge – to reduce reliance on good weather.

The admission fee to go on Brighton Palace Pier is to increase from £1 to £2, but there’s good news for all paying visitors, they will receive a £1 voucher for the pier as part of the entrance deal. 

The biggest tourist attraction on the south coast introduced an entry charge in May last year, citing an increase in the cost of maintaining, repairing and operating the structure. The fee, which is in place until September and will not apply to those with a local residents card, is to rise to £2 from 8 March.

“The admission fee is critical in helping to meet the unique challenges and costs of preserving the pier’s structural integrity, as well as continuing to remain as an all-year-round attraction,” said a spokesperson for the operator when the £1 fee was introduced last year. “In the last five years alone, the cost of maintaining, repairing and operating the pier has increased 31 percent, an additional £2.7m, taking the overall annual cost to £11.6m.”

And maintenance costs for the attraction keep rising. Meanwhile, revenues for operator Brighton Pier Group slipped in 2024 as poor weather and a turgid economy took its toll.

“The Group experienced disappointing trading conditions during the first half of [2024]”, said CEO Anne Ackord in the group’s latest financial report dated September 2024. “While a warmer weather spell during August and the successful implementation of a £1 admission charge on the pier for non-residents offered some respite, the overall demand across the estate has remained subdued as consumers continue to closely manage discretionary spend.”

The pier’s chief also explained how the group is focusing on disciplined cost management,  an issue every pier around the country is facing up to recently with Brighton ever so conscious of the travails suffered by Southport, Llandudno, Worthing, Mumbles and Hastings piers to name but a few. 

And all operators understand only too well the harsh pressures facing the UK hospitality sector. The warning signs have been signalled for some months now by the industry’s trade associations who have been united in condemning the Autumn Budget and the impact that a failing domestic economy, coupled with cripplingly high, and rising, costs are having on businesses in the sector.

With increasing costs already forcing immediate protective action in the amusements sector, most notably at Clacton Pier and Adventure Island in the past weeks, Brighton’s task is not aided by major upheaval of the transport system around the entrance to the pier. And what will irk even more is the decision of the hapless council wasting  – and losing – £51m on the i-360 folly just down the promenade – when even a fraction of that money could have been put to quality use at Brighton Pier, the city’s main attraction.

All that said, the increased fee over the summer may provide more short term relief, but Ackord noted that the operator is “looking into longer term options that will reduce the pier’s reliance on good weather” – a challenge that all seaside attractions face, and one that is not easily overcome.