Brighton i360 may be renamed after it reopens

Plans to rename the Brighton i360 are under consideration, the new manager has confirmed.

The attraction closed in December amid a series of financial problems, with hospitality group Nightcap Limited signing a 115-year lease last month to run the site.

Brighton & Hove City Council wiped £51m in debt to secure the sale for an as-yet undisclosed fee.

On the eve of its reopening on Saturday, Nightcap founder and CEO Sarah Willingham said she senses that "a lot of people locally want us to rebrand it".

She said: "There's a big part of me that thinks that it might not be a bad idea to rebrand it; I don't know...I've got all these ideas in my head.

"I definitely need to speak to a good IP [intellectual property] lawyer to make sure that if we wanted to rebrand it, we can."

Declining to rule out a public competition, Ms Willingham expressed a preference for giving people the choice from "a little shortlist" of options.

With the reopening mere hours away, the founder and CEO praised her team for getting the attraction "up and running within three or four weeks of us taking over".

Asked how Nightcap would make a success of the i360, Ms Willingham admitted she could not offer guarantees but said the foundations are in place.

She said: "One, we've got the structure right. This tower goes up and down, this view is amazing.

"The pricing for the locals is really important, but also it's about activating the hospitality, that's the bit that's not really been done before."

Ms Willingham said she hopes that future visitors "will feel the difference in the warmth" of the venue.

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