Beachy Head landmark for sale at knock-down price

3:07pm Monday 7th January 2008

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A famous Sussex landmark has been put up for sale at a knock-down price.

The owners of the Belle Toute lighthouse at Beachy Head have put it on the market for £595,000.

The price has been slashed from the £850,000 being asked in September.

Owners Mark and Louise Roberts had accepted a bid for the 175-year-old lighthouse from a mystery buyer.

But the offer appears to have fallen through and the Grade II listed building is now up for sale again at a massively reduced price.

It is being marketed by property specialists Strutt and Parker at Lewes, and agents Rager and Roberts at Eastbourne.

The move offers new hope to the Belle Toute Lighthouse Preservation Trust which wanted to convert it into a bed and breakfast hotel.

The trust was days away from putting in an offer last year when the mystery bid was accepted.

Eastbourne Borough Council had given the trust conditional planning permission for the conversion.

Trustee Rob Wassell said at the time: "It is difficult to put into words how disappointed we are.

"This is a huge blow to the trust as we had invested so much time and effort.

"I was shocked to hear an offer had been put in at this late stage.

"It is so frustrating because we were so close to putting in a bid for the lighthouse.

"We wanted it to be bought for the public by the public."

Mr Wassell was not available to say if the trust will again try to buy Belle Toute.

In April it launched a £1 million campaign to buy the property.

The trust hoped to raise a further £1.1 million to pay for repairs and renovation work.

Owner Louise Roberts was also not available when The Argus tried to contact her yesterday.

She and husband Mark, a former Eastbourne councillor, are moving to Australia.

Mrs Roberts said in September: "We had an offer on the property which we have accepted but it has not been sold.

"Lots of people have looked at it for different reasons."

The couple bought the leasehold of Belle Toute in 1997 for about £200,000.

Two years later the 850 tonne building was moved 50ft back from the edge of the cliff to protect it from coastal erosion.

The Roberts' raised the £250,000 needed to pay for the move themselves.

The lighthouse featured in the 1986 television drama The Life and Loves of a She Devil and also in the BBC's Changing Rooms show.

The family bought the freehold from Eastbourne Borough Council in 2001.

The original wooden structure built in 1826 was replaced by a permanent stone lighthouse in 1834.

It was sold by Trinity House in 1903 and became a tea-house.

It changed hands several times before it was bought by a surgeon in 1923.

He added an extra floor to the building and turned the lantern into a solarium.

It was badly damaged by shelling during the Second World War and was then given to Eastbourne Borough Council.

Tim Page-Ratcliffe, of Strutt and Parker, said: "Belle Toute is in a breathtaking position.

"It has spectacular 360 degree views over the English Channel and the South Downs.

"The sale of Belle Toute offers a wonderful opportunity for someone looking for a home with a genuine difference."

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