Buyer dims hope of lighthouse B&B

The lighthouse has been on the market for £850,000

Hopes of opening a lighthouse as a tourist attraction look to have been dashed as an offer has been accepted from a private buyer.

The offer for Belle Toute lighthouse, on the cliffs at Beachy Head in East Sussex, has been accepted subject to negotiations over the contract.

Estate agents Strutt and Parker said it would be some weeks before completion.

Belle Toute Lighthouse Preservation Trust, which wanted to turn it into a bed and breakfast, said it was "upset".

Belle Toute, which was a working lighthouse until 1902, was moved more than 17m (50ft) inland in 1999 because coastal erosion threatened to send it crashing to the foot of the cliff.

I was very, very confident we would have had enough money to meet the asking price Rob Wassell

Its owners, Mark and Louise Roberts, put it on the market at £850,000 earlier this year.

Last week Eastbourne Borough Council granted planning permission for the 175-year-old Grade II-listed building to be used as a B&B.

The preservation trust, which made the application, had also hoped to open it to the public and hold events for the local community.

Spokesman Rob Wassell, from Redhill in Surrey, said the trust discovered another offer had been accepted last Friday.

"We are upset and disappointed," he said. "It couldn't have come at a worse time."

He said fundraising had gone very well, with many pledges of donations being made and many people wanted to pre-book rooms.

Buyer unknown

Plans were under way to feature the lighthouse on national TV.

"I was very, very confident we would have had enough money to meet the asking price by the end of this week," he said.

He had no details about the other buyer but he understood the intention was to keep it as a private home and not to open to the public.

Tim Page-Ratcliff, of Strutt and Parker in Lewes, said he could not disclose who the buyer was or how much had been offered.

"An offer has been accepted subject to contract and negotiations are under way," he said.

Mr Wassell said the trust would remain in existence as a point of information about the lighthouse, its history and the cliff erosion.