Restaurant at Isle of Wight pier could become holiday home

Totland Pier Limited has applied for planning permission to retain the two‑storey pier‑head building “as built” and change its use from a restaurant to holiday accommodation.

The scheme would see the shell of the restaurant building fitted out as a four‑bedroom holiday home, with all the living space on the upper floor and bedrooms at deck level below.

A 4m-by-4m gatehouse is proposed along the pier to control access and provide guests privacy, while still allowing public access along the majority of the structure.

The restaurant building at the end of Totland Pier (Image: Les Lockhart)

The public can view the full plans on the IW Council planning portal under reference 26/00558/FUL. Comments must be submitted to the council by June 19.

• CLICK HERE to find details of Isle of Wight planning applications and other public notices near you via a clickable and searchable interactive map 

The pier head was last approved as a two‑storey restaurant with a gatehouse and pontoon in 2020, following earlier permission for a holiday home on the same site in 2011.

In their updated planning and heritage statement, the owners say they have already spent about £2.8 million restoring the pier and constructing the two new buildings – The Bay Cafe at the shore end and the shell of the pier‑head restaurant.

Totland Pier during the multi million pound work in 2020 (Image: David Oliver)

The cafe opened briefly but is described in the documents as having “limited success,” with the applicants arguing that high running costs meant the business was not viable in its current form.

The owners say they have “tested the market” for a single high‑end holiday home at the end of the pier and believe that income from letting the property could underpin the pier’s running costs and make reopening the cafe a realistic prospect.

Totland Pier was built in the late 1870s and early 1880s as a landing stage for steamers bringing tourists to the Totland Bay Hotel and later supported regular services from Lymington and beyond until the early 20th century.

Services ceased, and parts were demolished during the Second World War.

Totland Pier during the construction of The Bay Cafe (Image: Steve Mew)

By the 1980s, the pier was declared unsafe and closed to the public, and the amusement building at the shore end was wrecked in the Great Storm of 1987 before being rebuilt as a cafe.

Restoration over the past 15 years has seen the deck largely rebuilt, the main pier structure repaired or replaced, and a new cafe and pier‑head building constructed as part of a multi‑million‑pound regeneration scheme.

The owners say the new scheme would deliver “one of the most unique holiday accommodation units on the Isle of Wight” while helping to resurrect an “iconic” landmark, boost tourism and support local jobs.

The restaurant building at the end of Totland Pier (Image: Les Lockhart)