Eastbourne Pier is a seaside pleasure pier in Eastbourne, East Sussex, on the south coast of England.
The proposal for a pier was first mooted at the end of 1863, and highly favoured by the town’s major landowner, the seventh Duke of Devonshire. It was to have been 1000 feet in length and, at a cost of £12,000, would have been situated at the end of the town’s grandest avenue, Devonshire Place. However, the project was delayed and finally abandoned in favour of the present site at the junction of Grand and Marine Parades, thus creating the easterly end of what amounts to a shingle bay. The pier interrupts what would otherwise have been a ribbon development of buildings – to the west, high-class hotels, with modest family hotels and boarding houses to the east.
The Eastbourne Pier Company was registered in April 1865 with a capital of £15,000 and on 18 April 1866 work began. It was opened by Lord Edward Cavendish on 13 June 1870, although it was not actually completed until two years later. On New Year's Day 1877 the landward half was swept away in a storm. It was rebuilt at a higher level, creating a drop towards the end of the pier. The pier is effectively built on stilts that rest in cups on the sea-bed allowing the whole structure to move during rough weather. It is roughly 300 metres (1000 ft) long. A domed 400-seater pavilion was constructed at a cost of £250 at the seaward end in 1888. A 1000-seater theatre, bar, camera obscura and office suite replaced this in 1899/1901. At the same time, two saloons were built midway along the pier. The camera obscura fell into disuse in the 1960s but was restored in 2003 with a new stairway built to provide access.
Paddle steamers (such as the PS Brighton Queen and the PS Devonia) operated by P and A Campbell ran trips from the pier along the south coast and across the Channel to Boulogne from 1906 until the outbreak of the Second World War. These were resumed after the war, but the paddle steamers were gradually withdrawn from service. In 1957, the final season was operated by a motor vessel.
During the Second World War, part of the decking was removed and machine guns were installed in the theatre providing a useful point from which to repel any attempted enemy landings and a Bofors anti-aircraft gun was sited midway along the length of the pier In December 1942, an exploding mine caused considerable damage to the pier and nearby hotels; it had been tied to the stanchions by the local police, who were under the mistaken impression that it was fitted with a safety device. In 1943, a detachment of Royal Canadian Engineers fixed camouflage netting over the stanchions to conceal flotillas of small vessels, such as wooden assault landing craft. A George Medal and a British Empire Medal were awarded to two of the engineers who dived into the sea on 3 February 1943 to rescue a comrade who had fallen from a cableway which crossed a 30-foot gap in the structure.
Various traditional pier theatres were built over the years but after the last one was destroyed by fire in 1970, it was replaced by a nightclub and bar which remain to this day. On the landward half of the pier stands a fish and chip kiosk, an amusement arcade and a fast food outlet. Further out, as well as the club there is a cafe, a restaurant, a glassblower, a clothes shop and an ice cream shop. The tower at the end of the pier is often used as a viewing point during the annual air show.
In May 2009, the listed building status of the pier was upgraded from Grade II to Grade II*.
Six Piers Limited placed Eastbourne Pier up for sale in 2009, with an asking price of £5.5 million. The sale price included a tea room, two bars, an amusement arcade and a nightclub.
On 21 October 2015, Abid Gulzar, a local hotelier, bought the pier for an undisclosed price, although it is believed to be less than £5.5 million.
The pier suffered a fire on 30 July 2014 that ripped through a large amount of the central domed building. Sussex Police initially said that the fire was not to be treated suspiciously, though later the police said arson was suspected.
East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service deployed up to 80 officers to tackle the blaze, which allegedly started in wood panelling in the walls of the games arcade. After fighting the fire through the night, fire officers eliminated the main hotspots and saved two thirds of the pier with the main arcade being the only large building affected. The outer pavilion was not reached by the fire, which came just two weeks before Eastbourne's largest tourist event on the seafront, the airshow Airbourne
A few days after the airshow, a workman on the pier fell through the destroyed part and died hours later.
The pier appears in the Agatha Christie's Poirot episode "Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan" (although ostensibly, the story is located in Brighton) and in "Curtain: Poirot's Last Case". It was also featured in the 2001 film Last Orders and the 2008 film Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. The 2010 film Brighton Rock used Eastbourne Pier to stand in for Brighton's Palace Pier.
Eastbourne Town FC supporters club "Pier Pressure" are named in homage to the pier.
(Wikipedia)
Der Eastbourne Pier ist eine 300 m lange Seebrücke in der südenglischen Stadt Eastbourne in East Sussex.
Er wurde zwischen 1866 und 1872 von dem Architekten Eugenius Birch erbaut. Der Pier wurde am 13. Juni 1870 durch Lord Edward Cavendish eröffnet. In den folgenden Jahren wurden auf der Seebrücke stilvolle Aufbauten errichtet, die für Vergnügungsstätten, Cafés und Imbissstände genutzt wurden. Das am hinteren, seewärtigen Teil befindliche, aus der Zeit der Jahrhundertwende (1899–1901) stammende Gebäude mit Theater sowie einer Bar und einer Camera obscura brannte im Jahr 1970 ab. Nach dem Wiederaufbau des Gebäudes wurde es u. a. für einen Nachtclub genutzt. Die Camera obscura wurde im Jahr 2003 rekonstruiert und durch eine neue Treppe zugänglich gemacht. Die Anlage steht unter Denkmalschutz. Der Pier gehört der privaten Six Piers Ltd.
Am Nachmittag des 30. Julis 2014 brach gegen 15 Uhr Ortszeit ein Feuer in der „Blue Saloon“ genannten Haupthalle, die seit vielen Jahrzehnten als „Spielhalle“ mit „Slotmaschines“ und anderen Geräten diente, aus. Diese sowie einige kleinere Stände wurden durch den Brand zerstört. Der Pier konnte rechtzeitig evakuiert werden, so dass keine Personen verletzt wurden. Ca. 80 Feuerwehrleute des East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service aus Eastbourne und den umliegenden Städten sowie der Besatzungen der Lifeguard des Seebades und der Coastguard waren an dem Einsatz beteiligt, der bis in die späte Nacht dauerte. Dabei behinderten ein geringer Wasserdruck und die fortschreitende Ebbe die Löscharbeiten. Erst fast zwei Stunden nach Brandausbruch wurde ein Hublift zur Bekämpfung der Flammen von oben eingesetzt.
Die Zerstörungen betrafen ungefähr ein Drittel des gesamten Piers. Lediglich das Metallgerippe der Halle, z. T. mit durch die Hitzeeinwirkung stark verbogenen Trägern, blieb stehen. Der Eingangsbereich des Piers sowie der seewärtige hintere Teil mit dem Teesalon und dem großen runden Endgebäude mit der Diskothek „Atlantis“ blieben erhalten, waren danach aber nicht mehr zugänglich. Erste Instandsetzungsmaßnahmen führten dazu, dass der Pier seit Oktober 2014 wieder betreten werden kann; weitere Wiederaufbauarbeiten sind abgeschlossen.
Auch andere alte englische Seebrücken sind Bränden zum Opfer gefallen. Zum Beispiel brannte 2003 der etwa 150 Jahre alte West Pier in Brighton komplett ab.
In Southend-on-Sea (Grafschaft Essex) wurde 2005 die längste Vergnügungsseebrücke der Welt („Southend Pier“) bei einem Brand schwer beschädigt.
Die 1904 gebaute Seebrücke von Weston-super-Mare wurde 2008 ein Opfer der Flammen, wurde aber bis 2010 wieder aufgebaut.
Auch die 1872 errichtete Seebrücke in Hastings in East Sussex wurde im Oktober 2010 durch einen Brand fast vollständig zerstört. Die Wiedereröffnung ist für 2016 geplant.
(Wikipedia)
