Our Pier Burned Down Again (Part 3)

The buildings at the end of the world’s longest pleasure pier were destroyed by fire the other week. We residents of the seaside town of Southend-on-Sea (and its boroughs) are rightfully proud of our pier, as it’s not often you can boast about having the world’s longest anything…

Unfortunately, the tourist attraction is rather accident prone and this is the fourth time in 40 years that it has caught fire. In 1959 the shore end burnt down to be replaced by a bowling alley. The bowing alley itself caught fire and burnt down in 1995. In between, the pier head burnt down in 1976, and the pier was completely severed by a wayward trawler in 1986.

You can read all about our historic pier, all one and a quarter miles of it, here.

[PHOTOS TO COME]
The pier head in 1976
The pier head in 2005