Happy birthday for the London Eye

THE FUTURE of the London Eye is on the brink of being secured on the fifth anniversary of its public opening. After three years of negotiations a deal is close on restructuring the attraction's crippling £130m debt.

Despite a healthy operating profit the Eye last year made an overall loss of £18m because of debt interest payments running at 25%.

The debt to British Airways, which put £48m towards the £70m cost of the project, cost the London Eye Company £29m last year but the Evening Standard has learned of a breakthrough in the refinancing talks.

A new investor is expected to take over BA's shareholding, write off much of the debt and refinance the rest at a much lower interest rate. The Eye's co-designer David Marks, who owns a third of the company, said: 'We have presented an elegant solution which will leave the London Eye Company in charge of the attraction. I am hopeful a solution will be agreed.'

With 18m visitors, more than 40 awards, and 153 couples married in its pods, the Eye is universally recognised as a success. Tomorrow it celebrates the fifth anniversary of its public opening by handing out champagne to visitors.

It is a landmark that looked unlikely when Marks and wife Julia Barfield drew up plans for a giant Ferris wheel 12 years ago. The designs were for a competition whose judges finally dismissed all the entries as rubbish. But the couple campaigned, recruited the Evening Standard and raised the £70m needed to build the Eye without public funds.

Even then they faced scepticism and when Lambeth council granted planning permission it reserved the right to pull the Eye down after five years. Its position on the South Bank is now guaranteed until 2027.

Currently the UK's top paid-for attraction, the Eye is viewed by Marks, a father-of-three, as his 'fourth baby'. He said: 'We really do burst with pride at our part in bringing the wheel to reality.'