Piers

The Brighton Marine Palace and Pier, generally known as the Palace Pier before being unofficially renamed by its current owners as Brighton Pier in 2000(something not recognised by the National Piers Society), opened in May 1899 after costing a record £137,000 to build. The theatre wasn’t ready for opening until 2 years later. This theatre was controversially removed, on the condition that it was replaced. This never happened, and the seaward end building looks out of place compared to the rest of the structure. The pier suffered a large fire on 4 February 2003 but the damage was limited and most of the pier was able to reopen the next day.

The older West Pier, built in 1866 by Eugenius Birch, has been closed and deteriorating since 1975, awaiting renovation. The West Pier is one of only two Grade 1 listed piers in the UK, the other being Clevedon Pier. Plans by The West Pier Trust to renovate the pier with help from Heritage Lottery Fund were opposed by some local residents. Owners of Brighton Palace Pier, originally supporters of the restoration scheme(the 1996 “Year of the Pier” was launched from there by then Culture Secretary Virginia Bottomley) went on to back the objectors who claimed subsidised rebuilding, were it to happen, would be unfair competition. This was a short-sighted attitude, as the piers would have appealed to a different clientele. More people would have been attracted to Brighton, which was already seeing a sharp increase in tourism.