Law firm Howes Percival has acted for Amy and Charles Barwick on the acquisition of Southwold Pier.
The pier was purchased by the Barwicks for an undisclosed sum from previous owner Curious Pier Limited, part of the Gough Hotels group, which also runs the Angel Hotel in Bury St Edmunds and the Salthouse Harbour Hotel in Ipswich.
The husband-and-wife team are the co-owners of Pineapple Events Solutions, which manufactures bespoke chalets and provides food and drink solutions and event management for visitor destinations such as Christmas markets, music festivals and sporting events across the UK.
The original Southwold Pier was built in 1900 as a landing platform for the Belle steamships, which carried passengers to seaside destinations from London Bridge. The present main building dates back from major refurbishment in 1937 but most of the pier itself is modern having been rebuilt between 1999 and 2001 to a length of 623ft.
Amy Barwick, new co-owner of Southwold Pier, said, “Charles and I are so excited to become the new custodians of the pier and we look forward to running it alongside the fabulous team we’ve inherited, for many years to come.”
Charles added, “We are looking at an initial light refurbishment in places, but this will be phased, as we plan to keep the other areas open to the public as we go. We have great plans to invest in the pier and its facilities.”
Howes Percival advised the buyers on all the legal aspects of the deal, bringing in expertise from the firm’s specialist Leisure & Tourism sector team to advise on commercial property, employment, planning, licensing and regulatory.
The team was led by Richard Turner (corporate) with support from Guy Houldsworth and Katherine Channell (Commercial Property), Laura Brown (Employment), Jamie Childs (Planning and Licensing) and Robert Starr (Regulatory).
Howes Percival’s Richard Turner commented, “This was a great transaction to be involved in. We know it is a challenging time at present for many businesses in the leisure, tourism and hospitality sector and so it was even more rewarding to be able to support our client who has great plans to invest in the pier and enhance its reputation as being one of the best loved tourism destinations in East Anglia.”
