Brighton i360

Brighton i360 is a 162-metre moving observation tower on the seafront in East Sussex. It stands at the landward end of the ruined West Pier, replacing the old pier’s Italianate ticket booths with new ones for tickets and tea. The tower was designed by Marks Barfield, the architects behind the London Eye. A circular viewing pod carries up to 200 people from beach level to 138 metres above the shore. From the heated and air-conditioned pod, visitors see 360-degree views across Brighton, the South Downs and the English Channel. The project was engineered by the same team that built the London Eye and won awards for structural excellence. The tower’s slender steel column, 3.9 metres wide, rises with a height-to-width ratio of 41 to one. Plans once included a wind turbine and rainwater harvesting, but these were dropped before construction. The pod itself, 18 metres wide, offers bench seating, a bar and full wheelchair access. At the base, a beachfront building houses a café and gift shop beside the tower entrance. The i360 opened in 2016 and later entered administration before reopening under new ownership in 2025. The ruined West Pier arches remain visible nearby, adding to the seafront’s layered history.