THOUSANDS of people watched in disbelief as Eastbourne Pier was ravaged by fire on a scorching summer’s day last year.

More than 140 years of history went up in smoke as a blaze in the arcade reduced the Victorian structure to a gaunt skeleton. The Grade II* listed attraction hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

But while tourism-reliant Eastbourne braced itself for a hefty clean-up operation, one pier trader said the fire might have been “a blessing in disguise in some ways” as business from tourists has grown.

Myke Beckhurst, boss of The Glass Studio, said the pier had seen a huge spike in interest from tourists since partly reopening in mid-September.

Speaking to The Argus before the first anniversary of the fire today, Mr Beckhurst said: “People have been curious about how we’re getting on and what’s here now. There has been an increased interest. It’s been very good. I hope it continues. Maybe the fire was a blessing in disguise in some ways for traders.”

Mr Beckhurst has been making glass sculptures of animals and flowers for more than 47 years on Eastbourne Pier. While working with glass is always a delicate task, he admits his entire business looked equally as fragile when he watched flames rip through the structure on this very day one year ago.

“I remember it well of course,” he said. “When the fire was going through the pier I just remember wondering whether I had a business left at all. I didn’t know whether this place had gone. In the end the fire never got to the shop, but if it had, we had oxygen tanks and all sorts here so it would have completely blown up.

“Within the fortnight the council gave us pop-up shops along the seafront, about eight or nine of us in a row. Then eventually they put scaffolding along the side of the pier and allowed us to get the stock off so we could sell it.

“But we couldn’t make glass products because all our equipment was stuck on here. For two months we couldn’t make anything. We were sitting there every day selling but not making anything. It got to a point where we more or less ran out of stock.”

Part of the pier reopened just two months after the devastating blaze. But none of the traders could have predicted what happened next.

Mr Beckhurst revealed: “The response was incredible. It was a bit like Airbourne – the air show we have here that’s one of our busiest four days. People were curious about how the pier had recovered. There was a lot of curiosity value.

“This summer’s been not too bad so far either. The schools have broken up now so we’re expecting another good season.”

Despite the good numbers over the winter season, Mr Beckhurst and his fellow traders do have one gripe. Plans were mooted this summer to deliver a range of children’s rides and games on the new decking at the front end of the pier. The rides would have remained for 18 months during the rest of the rebuilding phase – all in an effort to attract even more people on to the attraction after last summer’s fire.

A helter skelter, carousel, waltzers, dodgems and stalls were all set to kick-start the season.

But council planning kill-joys weren’t feeling the vibe. They rejected the idea because they were unable to restrict ride opening and closing times.

Pier general manager Christos Stylianou said the decision by Eastbourne Borough Council’s planning committee last month “beggared belief”.

Mr Beckhurst said: “With regards to the rides, it would have been brilliant. All the traders wanted the rides. Any attraction always helps business. They could have stopped the rides at 7pm – they weren’t going to go on all night. But there’s a nightclub that runs until 3am on here anyway so I don’t know what the problem was really.”

While some traders reap the rewards of tourist curiosity, for other traders the fire was the beginning of the end.

Jeff Sparkes, owner of a pick ’n’ mix shop on the pier since 2006, was “devastated”

after being given two weeks to leave in February. His lease was not being renewed by pier bosses for “commercial reasons”.

Essentially pier management wanted to take the sweet business in-house.

Ian Gardner, head of operations, said: “As part of our ongoing rebuild of the pier, we plan improvements including the development of our sweet shop offer. Our research identified an opportunity to try something different so we will open a bigger and more comprehensive, new outlet in coming months.

“We decided on a purely commercial basis not to renew Mr Sparkes’ annual contract when it runs out later this month, met with him to discuss this and are happy to meet with him again to talk about this further. We would like to thank Mr Sparkes for providing the pick ’n’ mix concession on the pier.”

Things may have gone badly for Jeff and his shop, but the future of Eastbourne Pier looks much brighter than it did after the huge blaze 12 months ago.