Clacton – More Politics on the Pier
Political appearances at our seaside piers continues in the weeks approaching the 2024 election. This week, much news coverage was made from Nigel Farage’s visit to Clacton Pier, to launch his candidacy as the leader of Reform UK. The Telegraph reported positively of this circumstance, whilst The Guardian retorted with a characteristically aggressive (and artistically very good!) political cartoon.
ITV, however, reported on the effect of this political event on Clacton Pier itself. In an age of boycotts and extreme political opinion, the pier did well to remain entirely neutral in the matter and were quick to assert that the event was not sponsored or organised by the pier. The event was decided, in fact, initially without consultation from pier management, which left the announcement a surprise to them. They were later contacted by the Reform UK team on the morning of the event and, aside from an assault involving a milkshake, it passed as smoothly as could be expected.
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Southend Pier – A Change in Direction
The administration of Southend City Council has recently changed and it appears that the decision to outsource pier operation to a private company has been abandoned. The pier had previously been reported to be operating at a £190,000 annual loss, provoking the previous plans, but the new Council believe that there is much unutilised potential with the pier that may reverse this trend. Recently reported events over the last year have demonstrated the deployment of these efforts, with life at Southend Pier seeming to be somewhat more lively than before. Whether or not these efforts succeed in reversing such substantial annual losses, it is encouraging to see the council investing in the pier’s operation with such confidence. The pier’s upcoming events are shown in the Events section of this newsletter.
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Worthing Pier – Its Relationship with P.S Waverley
A well-written article which relates to the Waverley’s past sailing schedule around Sussex and a past era when it docked at Worthing Pier. The paddle steamer does not appear to dock at Worthing Pier today, however it does so nearby at Shoreham-by-Sea during cruises to Beachy Head, The Solent and the Isle of Wight.
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Hunstanton Pier – The 1939 Fire
A Hunstanton resident records his and his family’s recollections of the fire which destroyed Hunstanton Pier’s pavilion just prior to WWII. Newspaper research which followed led to a detailed timeline of events at the pier as it recovered from the fire damage and continued to develop after the War. It was recorded that a replacement pavilion was reconstructed during the mid-1950s, this time at the shoreward end and spanning the North Promenade below. The concrete decking structure for this pavilion appears complete, but without the pavilion itself, in scenes of the 1957 film “Barnacle Bill”, which was filmed largely at the pier (shown in the header image). The former site of the old pavilion was used as a skating rink; a 1960 cine film of this activity is available on Youtube.
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Skating Rink Film
South Shields Pier – Proposed Repairs
The South Pier at the mouth of the River Tyne, notable for its substantial length and very much a landmark for the local area, saw severe damage to the lighthouse and parapets during a storm in 2023. The Port of Tyne have since battled with issues of vandals and trespassers disrupting repair works, but now Listed Building Consent has been applied for towards the replacement of the Grade-II listed lighthouse’s dome and some of the pier’s stone parapets and balustrades.
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Folkestone Victoria Pier – Foundation Stone Recovered
Folkestone Victoria Pier opened in 1887 and succumbed to the commonly-seen sequence of damage inflicted during WWII, followed by terminal neglect from Post-War austerity. While it disappeared in 1954, its foundation stone was recovered and preserved in a local salvage yard. It has since been restored and installed within the Lower Leas Coastal Park, adjacent to the original position of the pier.
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“The Timeless Appeal of Clacton Pier”
Perhaps more so than most articles which appear on this newsletter, this item from The Spectator is a *Real* article; a fine piece of journalism! Conscientiously and artfully written, it indeed produces a vivid picture of Clacton Pier, amongst all the social troubles of its surroundings. Readers will certainly be able to confidently decide whether such an environment (with ham, egg and chips; flashing lights and fruit machines) will be their idea of a day out, but what the pier does do, it is undoubtable that it does exceeding well.
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Weston Birnbeck Pier – A New Interpretation Board
The recent news of North Somerset Council’s progress and timescales for the Birnbeck Pier Project have been displayed for the benefit of visitors at the pier viewpoint on Birnbeck Road. Paired with the existing Birnbeck Pier Regeneration Trust’s Information Hub, visitors to Weston will now be well-informed as to the future of the pier, which is gladly finally coming into focus after many years of uncertainty.
A reproduction of the new interpretation is shown below
A New Pier for Kyrgyzstan!
Britain is certainly home to the finest legacy of seaside piers in the world, although it is undoubtable that many countries elsewhere have produced some very original contemporary designs. Kyrgyzstan is now included in this category, with the completion of a new pier overlooking the Issyk-Kul Lake, as part of the Rukh Ordo cultural complex. It is modelled on a “Komuz”, a traditional Central Asian stringed instrument. Whilst the article is mostly restricted to subscribers, the attached picture surely tells one almost everything they need to know of this whimsical new structure…
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Southend Pier – Rising and Falling Figures
A newly released financial report from Southend City Council has established that visitor numbers to Southend Pier during 2023-24 fell to 375,000 from 412,300 in 2022-23. This statistic is balanced by the fact that an additional £190,000 in admission fees was received this this same period, following a 25p increase in admissions. Various methods of cutting costs allowed the pier to receive £300,000 more profit than the previous year. Despite this, £1.6 million was invested in the pier with much designated to preliminary repair works to the substructure. The council has denied suggestions that the increased admission fees are the cause of the reduced visitor numbers. The noticeable efforts to expand the usage of the pier this Spring and Summer will hopefully lead to a turnaround in visitor numbers for 2024-25.
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Hastings Pier – The Best for Football Screenings?
Hastings Pier has been identified by Betway as being one of the most appealing public venues to watch televised screenings of the ongoing “Euro 2024” events. The pier has become known for its effective application of outdoor seating on a wide scale, becoming known most concisely as “the largest beer garden in the UK” (or something to that effect). Other competing venues are most commonly large public squares and parks in the cities of the UK; it is certain that for the unassuming football fan, the spectatorship setting at Hastings will be quite unique!
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The History of Torquay and its Reluctant Pier
Seaside piers, especially when judged in the context of Victorian society, were seemingly in an unusual position of public opinion, being sometimes described as displays of grandeur and also as vulgar, low-class attractions. The situation at Torquay encapsulates this, with the town being one of relatively few to be sufficiently wealthy to develop a pier if it wished to, and yet such a development was scrapped due to the negative social influence it was feared to attract. The wider development of Torquay is expanded further in the article and is overall a remarkable short history of the town.
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Clacton Pier – A Course of Safety Training
Nine senior members of staff at Clacton Pier have received a course of additional safety training by ADIPS (Amusement Device Inspection Procedures Scheme) over three days. ADIPS is notable for being the inspection body for the pier’s amusement machines, and offers the safety record for its inspected machines freely to anyone who requests them.
Following this, over the last weekend, the pier offered free ride acccess to members of the emergency services and their families.
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Weston Grand Pier – 120 Years of History
The Grand Pier opened 120 years ago this month, and across its four successive owners its history is long and complex. This article attempts to reveal some of these details, and many are quite rare and surprising facts – even, perhaps, to those who are familiar with the pier.
For even more historical detail, Sharon Poole’s 2009 book “The Grand Pier at Weston-Super-Mare” is well-written and comprehensively illustrated. It is presently not in stock at the NPS shop but is available second-hand at several online book sellers.
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Ramsey Queen’s Pier (IOM) – Steel Update
It has been reported on the Queen’s Pier Restoration Trust’s Facebook page that the steel for bays 7 and 8 have been delivered and installed over the last two weeks. An exciting set of photographs on their page show the new steel members installed and sealed in a black protective paint. Other photographs recently posted show the completed deck being enjoyed by the public, now having extended to a most satisfying length and with the Pier’s “Planet” locomotive forming a notable focal point.
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Ramsey Queen’s Pier (IOM) – Treasurer’s Update
Committee members of the Queen’s Pier Restoration Trust regularly give progress updates on the pier’s reconstruction in interviews with Manx Radio. Most recently, the treasurer estimates that expenses towards steel orders have doubled since the early years of the project. Meanwhile, the railway inspection and training process is coming to an end and it has been assured that the pier train will soon be able to move during public openings.
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Ryde Pier – Marine Wildlife Expedition
In an article which would be most at home amongst the glossy pages of a national wildlife trust’s magazine, The Guardian reports of the attraction of Ryde Pier to a diverse range of marine wildlife and, in turn, an equally diverse range of wildlife enthusiasts who seek such things. The attraction of seaside piers to molluscs, crustaceans and all other beasts of the sea is fairly well-understood, but the shallow shore of Ryde evidently makes it even more richly populated than usual.
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Hythe Pier – A Successful “Rock the Pier” Event
This annual music event has been organised by Hythe Pier since 2018 and is primarily intended for ongoing fundraising towards the maintenance of the Pier and its railway. Whilst it is not held on the pier deck itself, it was reported to be witnessed and enjoyed by passengers on the local cruise liners and the Steamship Shieldhall. Casual opinion after the event suggested a turnout at least as successful as the 2023 event, although official statistics on footfall and fundraising values are still to be released.
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Llandudno Pier – Photographs of P.S Waverley’s Visit
The P.S Waverley visited Llandudno Pier for the first time in numerous years in 2023, and returned for 2024 last Monday. The weather on this occasion was exceptional and allowed for some remarkable photographs and videos to be produced – all available in the attached article.
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Lowestoft Claremont Pier – Summer Operations Attacked by Petty Crime
Commendable efforts to restore the seaward end of Claremont Pier are ongoing through the committed efforts of the pier management, and donations towards this work have been gratefully accepted through donation boxes on the pier. The pier reported that one such box in the amusement arcade had been swiftly stolen. Meanwhile, an online competition had been launched by the pier, with a very large and valuable Teddy Bear as the prize. The pier later warned of the competition being manipulated by online scammers; the Teddy Bear was subsequently stolen from its display in the amusement arcade and the competition cancelled.
Despite all of this, operations into the Summer continue unimpeded and it is hoped that the season will be a happy and successful one.
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The 2024 Bournemouth Pier to Pier Swim
The 33rd annual charity swimming event took place between the piers of Bournemouth and Boscombe last Saturday. Numerous photographs show the event to have been livelily attended and enjoyed good weather. £270,000 was raised for the British Heart Foundation.
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Blackpool Central Pier – A Minor Fire Incident
Evacuations from the pier took place last Thursday due to an electrical fire which started in the amusement arcade. Due to the proficient action of the fire service and, presumably, the various fire-prevention precautions set up by pier management, there gladly is little further to report and the incident was promptly resolved. Since then, of course, Blackpool’s piers resumed their Summer-season operations as normal.
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Ryde Pier – Railway Closure for Maintenance
Ryde Pier has recently benefitted from considerably refurbishment investment and the recent completion of a segregated pedestrian walkway, in between the roadway and the railway, has considerably improved the public amenity of the pier. Network Rail now propose a substantial schedule of rail refurbishments along much of the Island Line network, and the Ryde Pier railway will thusly be closed from the 6th September until May 2025. No mention of the closure of the pedestrian/vehicular pier access is evident; these being independent structures is beneficial in minimising disruption during repair works.
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