Britannia Pier

Britannia Pier stands at Great Yarmouth on the Norfolk coast, a long narrow deck of iron and timber stretching out over the North Sea. The first pier opened in 1858 after a single season’s building under Alfred William Morant, but storms soon shortened it and it was taken down in 1899. A second pier, designed by the Mayoh brothers, opened in 1901 and still carries visitors seaward today. Its Grand Pavilion, completed in 1902, was twice destroyed by fire and rebuilt, while the Floral Hall Ballroom burned in 1932 and the Grand Ballroom in 1954. The pier is worth the journey for its endurance and colourful past. Wartime removals and three major fires have shaped its story, yet it reopened each time and reopened again after the Second World War. Hilda Burkitt and Florence Tunks set the third pavilion alight in 1914, and both served prison sentences for the arson. The present pavilion, opened in 1958, houses the Britannia Pier Theatre and the Ocean Ballroom, though the ballroom itself was never rebuilt after the 1954 blaze. A visitor walks past food stalls and amusement arcades before reaching the deck’s end. The Britannia Pier Theatre stages live shows through the season, while fairground rides spin and dip beside the track. The iron railings carry the wear of more than a century, and the deck still sways slightly underfoot. Beyond the pier the North Sea stretches to the horizon, and on clear days the beach and the town’s tall seafront buildings frame the view.