EVERY state school pupil in Brighton and Hove has been given the chance to ride the city’s tallest tourist attraction within its first year.

To mark its first birthday, bosses at the British Airways i360 will send free tickets to children starting reception in all city schools this autumn to add to the 39,000 free tickets issued to pupils in its first 12 months.

Chiefs at the £46.2 million attraction are in generous mood on their birthday and have also agreed to extend the one year resident memberships by a further 12 months.

So far 26,000 city residents have paid £1 to sign up to the membership which entitles them to half-price tickets.

Customers sharing their birthday with the 170 metre tall attraction on August 4 will be given a free flight, subject to availability.

All customers taking a flight on the special day will be offered a birthday cupcake while customers on the 2pm flight, marking the moment the attraction opened to the public last year, will also be welcomed with free drinks from the Nyetimber Sky Bar.

They will be adding to the impressive haul of 55,000 glasses of Nyetimber sparkling wine already sold to visitors to the attraction’s onboard bar.

A live band will also perform on site and there will be free face-painting for children.

The i360 restaurant will re-open on the celebration day following a refit and a renaming, changing from The Belle Vue restaurant to the West Beach Bar and Kitchen. Neon artist Andy Doig will be creating a bespoke piece for the bar while artwork by other Brighton artists will also be displayed for sale.

The venue has already made good on the £36 million loan Brighton and Hove City Council took out on its behalf to finance its construction.

The authority has received £2.6 million in loan repayments on top of £1 million set-up fees paid during construction.

The council will use £1.1 million towards restoring Madeira Terraces while £700,000 has been used for landscaping around the i360.

Under the terms of the financial agreement, the council earns around £1 million a year from interest on the loan, plus additional income from business rates and one per cent of the i360 ticket sales.

In its first 12 months, the i360 has won eight awards for design and innovation, hosted five weddings and 176 private events, supported seven charities, including its local charity partner the Trust for Developing Communities, and welcomed one royal visitor, The Duke of Edinburgh, who officially opened the attraction in October.

Executive director Steve Bax said: “A year after it opened, British Airways i360 is giving inspiration and delight to hundreds of thousands of people. Nearly 80 per cent of our customers rate us as ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ on TripAdvisor, and according to the Brighton Visitor Survey 2016, we are the most-visited paid-for attraction in the city.

“As we mark our first birthday next week, everyone at British Airways i360 will be celebrating the enormous achievements of the past year and the benefits the project has brought to Brighton and Hove. Most importantly, we will be thanking the city and our customers for their fantastic support.”

Chairman David Marks said: “Over the last year, British Airways i360 has paid £2.6 million to Brighton and Hove City Council in loan repayments, money the council is now using to regenerate the seafront. British Airways i360 has created 150 new local jobs, given away 39,000 tickets to the city’s school children and won eight prestigious awards for design and innovation.”