Blackpool North Pier to reopen after £1m storm damage repairs

The sea-end of the North Pier was closed for health and safety reasons

Blackpool's North Pier is to reopen on 5 April, five months after damage caused by winter storms forced it to close.

Repairs to the 150-year-old pier have cost about £1m, the owners said.

The Sedgwick family were "devastated" by the broken duckboards, smashed windows and snapped pylons on the Grade II-listed building.

Operations manager Dominic Herdman said: "It's been a big challenge both financially and physically."

He said: "We're very lucky that we have a team of maintenance men on the pier who are a lot braver than I am.

"They have worked tirelessly six days a week all the way through the winter when the weather was truly horrible."

The sea-end of the pier was closed for health and safety reasons in November but the arcade area stayed open.

The North Pier was purchased in 2011 by local family firm Sedgwick's.

It first opened on 21 May 1863.