West Pier

What remains of the West Pier is one of Brighton's most recognisable images: the skeletal ironwork of a Victorian pleasure pier standing in the sea, slowly dissolving. It opened in 1866 and was once the more fashionable of Brighton's two piers, with a concert hall and theatre at its far end. Now only the iron frame remains, rusting in the Channel tides.

At high tide the structure seems to float free of the shore. At low tide it stands on exposed legs in the shingle. Starlings roost in the framework on winter evenings and the murmurations that form at dusk are spectacular. The British Airways i360 observation tower, opened in 2016, stands next to the pier on the seafront promenade.

things to do sight
A story
The West Pier closed in 1975 after storm damage. A series of restoration efforts collapsed when arsonists set the derelict structure alight twice in 2003. The second fire, in March, destroyed the central pavilion that had survived everything else. Investigation concluded both fires were almost certainly deliberate — an act of sabotage against the restoration project. No one was ever charged.