Brighton’s West Pier Ballroom (image by Elsie esq)

Once upon a time, pleasure piers were the jewel in the crown of Victorian seaside resorts.  In the days before package holidays, these elegant structures reaching out into the bay were at the forefront of entertainment, with their funfairs, ballrooms and cafes hosting hundreds, if not thousands of people, each day.  Sadly, many have long since been demolished, while others cling to life dejected and abandoned.  Here are some haunting examples…

The West Pier, Brighton

Before the fire… (image by Pauldc)

Admittedly my dancing skills are virtually non-existent, and barring the occasional foray onto the floor several times a year after one too many, I tend to steer well clear of this humiliation.  I’m better than my dad, but that’s absolutely nothing to be proud of.  For that reason, I probably wouldn’t have been a regular down at the local pier ballroom (above), but can’t deny that these fabulous structures tell the story of an era sadly lost (although, as this article points out, such venues could be making a comeback).

The building above (and below) is the historic West Pier Pavilion at Brighton, built in 1866 and closed in 1975.  The West Pier Trust was established in 1984 to save the structure.  Tours were conducted regularly until December 2002 when a storm caused the partial collapse of the walkway connecting the concert hall and pavilion.

From that point on it was all downhill for the historic landmark.  Another storm caused the concert hall to fall into the sea and a fire gutted the building in March 2003.  Firefighters were unable to reach the blaze due to the collapsed walkway, and two months later another fire – thought to be the work of arsonists – destroyed what was left of the pavilion.

The pictures (below) show the extent of the devastation, with the grand old pavilion reduced to a mere skeleton.  The Trust has made several attempts to secure funding from Heritage Lottery to completely renovate the structure, but have unfortunately been unsuccessful on each occasion.  Now, finally, there is reportedly a plan in the works to build an observation tower on the site – a welcome addition for sure, but nevertheless a disappointment to those who would like to see the West Pier returned to its former glory…

Brighton West Pier Ballroom almot completely destroyed (image by maz hewitt)

The Decaying Piers of Weston-super-Mare

Decaying Birnbeck Pier (image by rbrwr)

Birnbeck Pier (image by me’nthedogs)

Designed by Eugenius Birch and opened in 1867, the pier was more a bridge to connect Birnbeck Island to the mainland, although it nevertheless came with all the attractions of a pleasure pier – such as pavilion, amusements, funfair and the like.  It also had a steamer landing station, and passengers would often disembark onto the pier but not cross the bridge to the town!  These buildings were destroyed by fire in 1897, after which point the structures that can still be seen today were added.

Birnbeck Pier fell into dereliction in 1994 when it was closed for safety reasons.  It has since been sold to Manchester based Urban Splash, which has a strong track record of rejuvenating crumbling old buildings and bringing them back to life for the 21st century.  It’ll be interesting to see what they come up with, although the pier’s future reportedly continues to hang in the balance…

Grand Pier before the fire… (image by chillihead)

…after the fire (image by mattbuck4950)

Even the skeleton of the Weston-super-Mare’s Grand Pier – which opened in 1904 – barely survives today after its second brush with fire in 2008 (first in 1930).  The 600 pillars supporting the 400 metre structure have amazingly remained standing, but the grand old pavilion is nothing more than a twisted metal frame.  As one of the piers that survived “modernization” of Britain’s grand seaside towns after the 1950s, it’s a crying shame to see it destroyed by fire so recently.  Happily, a new pavilion is set to be built on the site, although it’s probably fair to assume that the art deco elegance will have gone with its predecessor…