Eastbourne Pier

Eastbourne Pier stretches 300 metres into the English Channel from the seafront in Eastbourne, East Sussex. It stands on stilts that sit in cups on the seabed, letting the whole structure rise and fall with rough seas. The landward half was rebuilt after a storm in 1877, giving the deck a gentle slope toward the sea. At the seaward end sits a domed pavilion built in 1888, later enlarged into a 1,000-seat theatre and bar. Midway along the pier two saloons were added in the 1890s, and a camera obscura installed then fell out of use until 2003. The pier once hosted paddle steamers to the Isle of Wight and Boulogne before the Second World War. During the war the deck was stripped for machine guns and an anti-aircraft gun was placed midway. A mine exploded in 1942, damaging the pier and nearby hotels, and in 1943 engineers camouflaged the stilts from the air. A George Medal was awarded to two Royal Canadian Engineers who rescued a comrade from a cableway after a fall. A nightclub now occupies the old theatre site, while the landward half holds a fish-and-chip kiosk, amusement arcade and fast-food outlet. Further out are a café, restaurant, glassblower, clothes shop and ice-cream parlour. The tower at the end serves as a viewing point during the annual air show. Eastbourne Pier has appeared in Agatha Christie’s Poirot, the films Last Orders and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, and Brighton Rock. In 1997 it won Pier of the Year from the National Piers Society. A fire in 2014 gutted the central domed building but crews saved two-thirds of the structure. The pier was repaired and reopened, continuing to draw visitors for its mix of shops, shows and sea views.