British Airways i360: Craftsmen recreate the West Pier toll booths

Anyone driving past our site cannot fail to have noticed the pair of West Pier toll booths flanking the tower, which are returning as a pair for the first time since the 1970s.
Designed by Eugenius Birch in 1866, the square ‘Italianate’ toll houses were far grander than any other pier to date and marked the West Pier out as ambitious and innovative.
Recreating the toll booths has been a labour of love using traditional British craftsmanship. When the last remaining toll booth (the Rock Shop) was removed in 2006, each piece was carefully dismantled and numbered to salvage for the new structures.
Last year, the Swan Foundry cleaned 150 years’ worth of rust and paint off the pieces but discovered that unfortunately none of the salvaged structure could be reused. Instead their skilled pattern-makers had to ‘reverse engineer’ the 28 salvaged pieces, first measuring them accurately to create moulds to pour perfect cast iron pieces, which is exactly how the original toll booths were built in the 1860s.
The impressive structures will become our ticket office and heritage tea rooms; the tea rooms will be open to the public (not just British Airways i360 visitors) and licensed for weddings.
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Photo credit: Kevin Meredith