Popular English beach to get new 160ft-tall ride in time for summer dubbed a ‘big crowd-pleaser for people of all ages’

A POPULAR beach in the UK is set to install a new 160ft-tall observation wheel in time for the summer.

The huge wheel – dubbed the ‘Sky Club' – will be perched on the seafront in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

Council bosses believe the installation will “light up” the town's economy.

Locals and visitors can enjoy the fresh attraction from April 5.

“The observation wheel is such a big crowd-pleaser for people of all ages,” An Eastbourne Borough Council (EBC) spokesperson said.

The council added that the promenade would be temporarily shuttered between Treasure Island car park and the T-junction near Splash Point Café from 7am on 31 March until 4 April to finalize construction.

The town's eye-catching wheel promises to offer punters “panoramic views” of the of the seafront towards Sovereign Harbour and the town's pier.

“Pre-pandemic we used to have a big wheel on the Western Lawns during the airshow each August,” said a council spokesperson.

“Then in 2020, due to events being cancelled up and down the country, the operators came back to Eastbourne in the summer as a temporary measure.

“However due to its success, they returned again in 2021, 2022 and 2023.”

A standard ticket will set customers back £8, while juniors can enter for £6.

A family stub, which includes admission for two adults and two juniors or one adult and three juniors, will cost £23.

GRAND OPENING

This comes after news that a major seaside tourist attraction is set to reopen after a Dragon's Den judge saved the iconic building.

TheBrighton i360, which suddenly closed in December 2024, was bought over by Nightcap Ltd in February.

The company's CEO and Dragon's Den judge Sarah Willingham welcomed in punters to the tower's pod and gift shop on Saturday.

Customers flocking back to the attraction will still need to fork out £18.50 for a pre-booked ticket.

However, the i360 has introduced £5 tickets for adults and £2.50 for children who live in BN1, BN2, BN3 and BN41 postcodes.

Mrs Willingham said: “This is very much a phased opening.”

At the end of last year, the i360, which provides visitors with incredible panoramic views of Brighton and Hove, filed for insolvency.

Interpath Advisory, the viewpoint's administrators, needed to act in the best interests of creditors.

As the building's largest creditor, the council had to agree to release the debt owed by Brighton i360.

The Brighton beach attraction, dubbed “i-sore” by locals, first opened in August 2016 with the help of £30 million's worth of funding from the council.