£280k Piel Island visitor centre boost

Plans for a £280,000 visitor centre on Piel Island have been welcomed by the community.

The refurbished Ship Inn on Piel Island will soon feature a visitors centre in the south wing of the pub, with the aim of providing information about local heritage and orientation for walkers.

Piel is one of seven coastal resorts in the UK that will benefit from a substantial government grant. The Sea Change programme, funded by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, is designed to invigorate England’s seaside towns through investment in culture and heritage.

Nicola Chattaway, daughter of Steve Chattaway, the King of Piel, believes it will attract more tourism to the island. She said: “It’s a great opportunity for people to learn more about the island. We’re hoping it will attract more people to Piel.”

John Murphy, who leads walks across the sands to Piel, said: “I’ve always been a passionate believer that Piel could be part of the regeneration of Barrow, it’s such a beautiful and unique place and anything at all that encourages people to come down to the Furness Peninsula has got to be something very positive. It’s good that Piel is being recognised as the gem that it is.”

John Woodcock, Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Barrow, said: “This will be an enormous boost for Piel and great news for the whole of Furness. Like so many thousands before me, I found Piel Island to be a magical place when I walked over the sands to see it with my family on John Murphy’s guided walk this summer.

“The plans for the pub and heritage centre are really ambitious and it is absolutely right that they are being recognised in this way."

“Thanks to this investment, many future generations will be able to experience the unique atmosphere of the island and learn its history.”

Barrow council in £200k boost for Piel revamp

The custodians of Barrow landmark The Ship Inn have found most of the cash to bring it back to life.

The pub on Piel Island closed more than three years ago, needing major repairs.

Contractors for Barrow Borough Council started improving the grade II listed building last year. But the council didn’t have the cash to finish the job and work stopped in November.

Now £200,000 of the £300,000 needed for the rest of the work has been found. That money is to come from a pot of council cash set up for projects in rural areas. The council hopes to get the other funding required for the refurbishment – about £100,000 – from outside sources.

The council’s plan on how to pay for the outstanding work emerged in a report by its regeneration director, Phil Huck, set to go before the council’s executive committee meeting tomorrow.

In the report, Mr Huck said the council obtained a tendered price of £636,500 in 2008 for complete internal and external restoration of the building.

The first stage, which involved making the exposed and weather-battered building wind and watertight, was completed last November and cost the council £290,000. But the internal work still hasn’t started.

Mr Huck said: “Officers are currently examining the submitted tender with a view to reducing the overall cost of internal refurbishment to around £300,000. Officers are also trying to source external funding to support this work, but there is currently no approved external funding available.

“I am aware there is considerable public interest in completing the project as soon as possible and can advise members that you could commit a further £200,000 from your capital programme without affecting currently approved projects.”

Mr Huck is recommending the executive committee earmark £200,000 of yet unallocated cash in the council’s rural regeneration fund to the restoration.

Mr Huck told the Evening Mail that if the executive committee sets aside the £200,000 and the council can secure the rest of the required cash, it will let a contract for the whole job. He said: “We’ve got a number of organisations that we’re talking to about it (the funding).”

Mr Huck added: “The members’ wish is to get at least the second phase done by spring 2010.”

King of Piel, Steve Chattaway, who will run the pub with wife Sheila when it opens, said it was “brilliant” the council had found the £200,000.

Mr Chattaway said: “It’s a step in the right direction. We’re passionate about getting this thing finished. It belongs to the people of Barrow and it needs to be finished.”

He added: “There’s only so much money to go round. We’re in the middle of a recession and I think they’ve done well to come up with the funding they have.”

Even though the Ship Inn remains closed, visitors to Piel can still get a drink on the island at Bunk House Bar – a temporary pub in an outbuilding at the back of the Ship.

Source: North West Evening Mail