OUR petition calling on the new owner of Brighton's most iconic attraction to rename it as the Palace Pier again has reached 1,500 signatures.

All three city MPs have now backed our campaign as well as hundreds of readers.

Pressure is now growing on new pier owner, Luke Johnson, to remove the Brighton Pier signs and put Palace Pier back in lights.

Mr Johnson, who heads the Eclectic Bar group, announced he had bought the pier for £18 million on Friday from the previous owners, The Noble Organisation.

While he said he would not be making any sudden changes, he told The Argus he was not opposed to rebranding and renaming the pier.

Paul Kemp, director of Brighton Pride, is one of those calling for the pier to be renamed.

He said: "There would be a real opportunity to capitalise on the kudos of renaming it to the Palace Pier, and rejuvenating a little bit of glamour."

Peter Kyle, MP for Hove, was another who signed up to our campaign yesterday.

He called for any changes to the pier to be evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

He said: "Investment in new rides, some space for street food and street performers and live music, yes, but I wouldn’t chuck the chippy overboard for a trendy vegan restaurant just yet."

Broadcaster and Stonewall founder member Simon Fanshawe also backed the campaign and heralded the pier for being a successful business.

He said: "Unfortunately whenever we did anything like the city bid or the economic partnership, we never could get Noble involved. I always felt they were semi-detached.

"I hope under Luke Johnson, who I think is terrific and his buying of the pier is excellent news, he will get all the staff to get involved more and not stand apart."

Mark Brailsford, creator of the Treason Show, said the depth of feeling over the name is clear every time he performs his song It’s a Pier Called Palace, to The Jam's A Town Like Malice.

He said: "Also Albion fans would find it fun to see the old name up in lights again. For while there was a great photo doing the rounds of the Palace Pier sign with a flock of seagulls perched on top of it, dropping guano all over the word Palace which was most amusing. Bring it back I say."

The Palace Pier was renamed Brighton Pier by The Noble Organisation in 2000.

However, The Argus, The National Piers Society and others refused to recognise the name and have continued to call it the Palace Pier.

Back in 2011 we launched our Put The Palace Back in Our Pier campaign. Despite huge public support Noble bosses refused to rename the attraction.

Five years on, with the pier under new ownership, we have resurrected the campaign in the hope new owner Mr Johnson will see the proper name restored.