A historic Victorian pier which has been closed to the public has been sold and is set to be turned into residential accommodation, according to reports.

Hastings Pier has been off limits to visitors for more than a year following concerns that parts of the structure were a health and safety hazard.

The Hastings Pier and White Rock Trust said it has been told the pier has been bought by two businessmen in a deal which will see the structure turned into housing.

A spokesman for the trust said it held a meeting with the men last week when they outlined their plans and confirmed the pier had been sold to them.

The trust had been in the process of formalising a bid to buy the pier itself. The spokesman said it believes the businessmen decided to act after hearing of their own plans to buy the pier.

The council and the pier’s former owners, Ravenclaw Investments, have made no public statement on the rumour but it has emerged that locks were changed on the pier overnight this week.

The pier, located directly opposite the White Rock Theatre, was considered one of the main centerpiece’s of Hastings after opening in August 1872. It was designed by Eugenius Birch, who also designed Brighton’s fire and storm-damaged West Pier.

In 1996 it was put up for sale but its future was placed in doubt due to the amount of money needed to improve the ageing structure. But in 2002, it was bought and reopened under new ownership.

The pier was condemned by the council in 2006 after officials suspected that part of its structure was unsafe.

Since then it has been subject to a long-running legal dispute and most of it has been cordoned off to the general public for more than a year.