More than ten years ago, Ian Stuart tried to buy Brighton's West Pier but was foiled.

Now, the self-made millionaire is back in Sussex to show that one resort's loss is another's gain.

Last month, he signed on the dotted line as the new owner of Hastings Pier, sister attraction to the derelict West Pier.

While Brighton's ailing attraction continues to rot, Hastings Pier is on its way to becoming one of the county's premier tourist hot spots.

But you won't find video games and fruit machines on Mr Stuart's pier. He plans to pull in the punters with cream teas, ball room dancing, buskers and deck chairs.

For the past week, the 50-year-old tycoon who lives in Andorra, a small principality bordering France and Spain, has been revelling in throwing out the new in favour of the old.

The bleeping arcade machines have been ritually smashed by the self-confessed traditionalist.

The high-tech games could easily have fetched a small fortune, but to find a buyer would have taken time, something Mr Stuart says he cannot spare.

He said: "Arcade machines are an easy way to make money and that's why so many piers are filled with them, but that's not how I want to do it."

For Mr Stuart, money is no object even if it means the rejuvenated pier operates at a loss.

The British-born businessman left home at 15, sleeping rough around Charing Cross Station.

He got into retail three years later and finally headed abroad to make his fortune in properties.

He plans to give visitors a unique experience, one that has become a distant memory in most resorts.

Mr Stuart said: "The new pier will have buskers and cafes instead of high-tech amusements. It will be very much a Covent Garden by the sea.

"I want it to be a place where families can go 365 days a year without having to part with their hard-earned cash.

"I'm lucky to be in a position where I don't have to worry about people having to spend money here. I just want to restore the pier to what it once was. That's what I do."

Mr Stuart's company has done just that all over the world. His last project was even more daunting than Hastings Pier.

He said: "We have just finished work on No Man's Land, a disused fort off the coast at Portsmouth."

What the pier will look like remains something of a mystery because Mr Stuart does not work from drawings and refuses to submit any plans to Hastings Council.

Councillors visited the site last week, but none have voiced objections to his scheme.

Mr Stuart said: "We haven't got time to talk to people about what should or shouldn't be done. I have told the council we will build the pier and if they don't like it we will change it.

He said: "I've always been a bit of a pier fan. A few years ago I tried to buy the West Pier but that didn't work out.

"The people in Brighton are still tied with their grants while we in Hastings are building a new pier right now."

Built in 1873, Hastings Pier was designed by Victorian engineer Eugenius Birch, creator of the West Pier and Eastbourne Pier.

Mr Stuart expects the first sections of Hastings Pier to open in spring.