Lottery cash award will be last event at Winter Gardens

Great Yarmouth's Winter Gardens will be restored with £12m of National Lottery Heritage funding

Lottery officials will be the last to tour a resort's Winter Gardens ahead of long-awaited restoration work.

The Great Yarmouth building closed in 2008 due to structural concerns, but it is expected to reopen in 2027.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has increased funding from £9.9m to £12.3m - in an announcement made on Thursday.

A further £4m of Town Deal cash, and additional funds from Great Yarmouth Borough Council and other sources, will also be invested in the project.

Open days were held to allow visitors to have their say on the future of the iconic Winter Gardens in Great Yarmouth

Councillor Carl Smith, leader of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, said: ''We are absolutely delighted the National Lottery Heritage Fund is providing the Winter Gardens project with this additional funding.

"Such an important and complex piece of work would simply not be possible without the Heritage Fund showing this level of support for the vision for the building.

''Great Yarmouth's Winter Gardens are an integral part of our history and loved by generations of people - not just in the town, but across the region and beyond.

"This exciting regeneration will be a stunning addition to what we are able to offer residents and visitors and demonstrates our commitment to regeneration in the borough.''

The Lottery visit will be the last time the building will be opened before restoration work begins

People visiting Yarmouth were enthusiastic about renovation plans.

"It's a pity to see it how it is," said Martin Alexander, 42, from Attleborough, Norfolk. "It will be nice to see it restored back to his former glory."

He said he was "looking forward to seeing how it progresses".

His partner, Susie Lane, 39, added: "We would use it if it was open and nice and new."

Martin Alexander, second left, and partner Susie Lane, third left, the Winter Gardens with their children

Kerry Townsend, 45, from Harwich, Essex, said "heritage" needed to be saved.

"It would be a lot of upkeep, I would think," she said, "but it would be worth it."

She added: "We need to save it so our kids can look at it."

Kerry Townsend said "heritage" like the Winter Gardens needed to be saved

In 2013, the council gave away the freehold of the neighbouring Wellington Pier to operator Family Amusements Ltd, which was pursuing an £800,000 loss of earnings claim, in exchange for the vacant possession of the Winter Gardens.

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In 2022 and 2023, open days run by community arts project Freshly Greated, in conjunction with the council, allowed locals and visitors to share their memories of the building, and influence its future use and design.

Great Yarmouth Civic Society hosted a presentation about the project and the council's team discussed the plans with the Great Yarmouth Local History and Archaeological Society, as well as involving younger people.

The restoration project will involve 95 people who are not in employment, training or education

Simon Thurley, chair of The National Heritage Lottery Fund, said: "The Winter Gardens holds more than a century of history within its soaring cast iron frame, and this award enables it to be conserved and valued, for now and the future.

"The renovation leads the way for the Heritage Fund's strategic ambition to champion large-scale and long-term innovative solutions to strengthening heritage to be adaptive, financially resilient and contributing to the community and economy of Great Yarmouth."

A huge scaffold has been built inside the Winter Gardens to support the cast iron structure while it awaits restoration

The project will provide skills and training for 95 young people, including those not in employment, education or training.

There will also be six paid placements in heritage and conservation, and six paid apprenticeships in hospitality, catering, business skills and horticulture.

Faye Davies, managing director for Burrell Foley Fischer Architects, said: "This stunning and iconic building holds national significance, yet it finds itself on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register, progressively deteriorating.

''Collaborating with Great Yarmouth Borough Council, we have embraced their vision of returning it to its former glory; a vibrant people's palace at the heart of the town's life, economy and historical legacy."

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