Eastbourne Pier

Victorian pier that has survived fires and storms since 1870, still serving ice cream and amusements

Eastbourne Pier stretches 300 metres into the English Channel from the town's seafront, a structure of iron and wood built in 1870 and rebuilt several times since. It has the full complement of Victorian pier attractions: amusement arcades, a bar, fish and chips, ice cream, and a camera obscura in the dome at the end. The pier is more pleasantly intact than many English seaside piers — neither too shabby nor too commercialised.

Walking to the end in rough weather, when the Channel churns grey and the spray reaches the decking, is one of those genuinely bracing experiences the English coast specialises in. On a calm summer day it is instead a mild, pleasant institution where retired couples eat ice cream and children spend coins in the arcades. The seafront promenade on either side of the pier is well maintained and good for long walks.

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Eastbourne Pier has burned down twice — in 1917 and again in 2014, when fire destroyed the Victorian domed pavilion at its head. The second fire was watched by hundreds of people from the promenade. The pier was rebuilt and reopened within two years, which says something about the English relationship to seaside piers: they are understood to be irreplaceable parts of the townscape, whatever their aesthetic merits.

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