It’s heartbreaking to see the skeletal remains of the once-grand Brighton West Pier slowly rusting into the English Channel.
I’ve been a bit obsessed with the pier ever since I saw the original artwork for the Who’s Quadrophenia album, and it sucks that I’ll never be able to retrace the footsteps of the character featured in the album’s artwork.
I’ve documented the various calamities and highly suspicious fires that led to the West Pier Trust’s dream of restoring the pier being abandoned for good in 2004, and now the Grade I listed structure has been left to slowly collapse into the sea.
All hope of restoration has now gone.
Here’s some photos of the sad remains, as seen in December 2014.
Work has now started on the i360 Tower, which has been touted as a vertical ‘successor’ to the West Pier.
This has involved the demolition of some of the remaining parts of the pier, and where once people would walk out to see along the wooden decking, they can now pay for the trip up the tower and enjoy a new”exciting retail quarter.”
More about the pier:
Remembering the Brighton West Pier in photos, part one
Remembering the Brighton West Pier in photos, part two
The Brighton i360 tower: ‘successor’ to the West Pier
The tragedy of West Pier, Brighton beach, Brighton [2011]
The Brighton Wheel, a Steve Coogan-powered, third-hand alternative to the West Pier [2013]
Related posts:
Brighton West Pier sunset – photos of the autumnal sun setting over the doomed Victorian pier
Remembering the Brighton West Pier in photos, part two
The tragedy of West Pier, Brighton beach, Brighton
Brighton’s derelict West Pier in the winter sun and storms – in photos
Brighton’s i360 tower under construction -photos
The Brighton i360 tower: ‘successor’ to the West Pier
Remembering the Brighton West Pier in photos, part one
The Brighton Wheel, a Steve Coogan-powered, third-hand alternative to the West Pier
Thanks so much, these are beautiful photos of a very sad ending indeed. I’ve shared this post with a group in West Sussex where I grew up, Flashback Littlehampton, many of us were familiar with the old pier.
“All hope of restoration has now gone.”
Yes. You’d effectively be building a new pier, and if that isn’t going to happen they really should demolish it quickly and have done with it.
Sadly because demolition is going to cost money, it might not be the highest priority if there are no other plans for the site, so it could be a long, sad goodbye