A weekly newspaper has published a special supplement in the wake of a blaze which largely destroyed its local pier.

The Hastings Observer has produced the eight-page pullout after a major fire caused serious damage to the 138-year-old structure last Tuesday.

It has also printed 3,000 extra copies of paper following the fire, which was one of the biggest stories for the title in recent years.

The Observer had been running a campaign to restore the pier to its former glory, which was hailed a success in the summer, but the fire caused a massive blow to this bid.

The Hastings Observer has produced an eight page supplement following the major fire.

Content editor Angela Gallen said: “It is such huge news for Hastings. It is one of the biggest stories of the last few years for us and there’s an awful lot of feeling about it in the area and we wanted to tap into that.

“Partly we wanted to look back over the years – it has been with us for over a century – and we wanted to look to the future as well.

“We had lots of pictures and letters sent in by readers. It was an ideal time for us to do something like this. We hope the sales figures will reflect the interest that there has been.”

The supplement includes reaction to the fire, a feature on how the emergency service handled it, pictures sent in by readers of the blaze, a first-person piece from chief reporter Richard Morris on covering the pier’s story over the last five years and a look back at the history of the pier.

Angela praised Richard and fellow reporter Rob Alderson for their hard work in writing stories and Sam Woodman for the layout of the supplement.

A structural engineer is due to assess the pier this week to assess how bad the damage is but members of the Hastings Pier and White Rock Trust hope their plans to restore it may still be able to go ahead.