Work to start on £6.6m funicular restoration

The Leas Lift closed in 2017

Work has begun to prepare a Victorian funicular for renovation.

Hording has been erected around the former ticket office and cafe around the Leas Lift in Folkestone.

The carriages will be lifted off the tracks by crane for inspection at the end of the month.

The lifts are expected to reopen in early 2026.

The lifts, which were built in 1885 to take Victorian visitors from the top of the cliff to the beach below, were closed in 2017 after the braking system was deemed unsafe.

Now, £6.6m has been raised, including £4.8m from the Heritage Lottery Fund, to return the Grade II-Listed funicular to its former glory.

The Leas Lift connects Folkestone town to the seafront

Floortje Hoette, chief executive of Leas Lift Community Interest Company, said: "It looks a bit sad. The paint is not in good nick. It's been boarded up and is ready for its overhaul."

The funicular was built after the extension of the South Eastern Railway in 1843 bought hordes of Victorian visitors to the seaside.

"On the first day that they opened I think they had close to two and a half thousand passengers," said Ms Hoette.

It has carried more than 36 million people since.