Brighton's ill-starred West Pier has suffered a second fire in as many months.

The latest conflagration broke out early on 11 May and affected the ballroom - badly damaged in a storm at the start of the year - at the landward end of the Grade 1 listed structure. Firefighters are reported to believe that the fire - which followed a similar incident on 28 March where the pier's Pavilion was reduced to its metal framework - was started deliberately.

The pier is currently the subject of a £30m redevelopment plan by St Modwen and the West Pier Trust, scheduled to commence in early 2004.