Wellington Pier, Great Yarmouth

Wellington Pier stands at the edge of Great Yarmouth’s sandy beach in Norfolk, jutting 210 metres into the North Sea. Built in 1853 from timber, it was designed by P. Ashcroft and cost £6,776 to construct. The pier quickly proved popular, earning £581 profit in its first year. Competition from a second pier soon hurt its finances, and by 1899 the town council took over. A new Pavilion opened in 1903, followed by the addition of a Winter Gardens bought from Torquay. The pier has seen many changes. In the early 1970s major steelwork kept it standing, and in 1996 entertainer Jim Davidson leased the site. He spent £750,000 on the interior but could not fund the outside. The theatre closed in 2005 and was partly demolished. By 2008 the front section had become an amusement arcade, while the old theatre became a bowling alley with bars. The Winter Gardens, once a children’s play area, now stands empty after structural concerns closed it in 2008. Visitors find a lively amusement arcade at the entrance, leading past restored ironwork to the bowling alley inside the old theatre. An 80-foot stained-glass picture of ships in Great Yarmouth’s port has been saved and now greets guests. The Winter Gardens’ futuristic aluminium trussing remains, though the space is unused. The pier still carries the marks of its past, from 19th-century girders to Davidson’s modern touches.