AT LAST! SOUTHEND TOPS THE PIER POLL
World's longest pier receives the ultimate accolade

Pipped at the post in 2005 and second runner-up in 2006, SOUTHEND has finally topped the poll to become PIER OF THE YEAR 2007. CLEVEDON pier in Somerset came second, with Yorkshire’s only surviving pier SALTBURN in third place. 13 other piers were nominated in this year’s poll of the Society’s 600 members.

Loved by Sir John Betjeman and recommended for the George Cross by A.P. Herbert in recognition of its wartime service as HMS Leigh, SOUTHEND’s “new” pier has been giving sterling service in times of war and peace for nearly 120 years. Designed by James Brunlees (who also built piers at Southport and Llandudno) it opened in 1890, replacing an earlier wooden structure that had been worn out by the hooves of the horses used to convey passengers and their luggage to and from the steamboats by truck. A single track electric railway was installed alongside at a cost of £10,000. The pier was extended to 7,080 ft. in 1898, making it the longest in the world. Ten years later an upper promenade deck was added, followed by the doubling of the railway track and the Prince George steamer extension in 1929. The newly enlarged pier was now attracting a million and a half visitors every year. It had become a popular entertainment venue in its own right with tea dances, celebrity concerts and summer shows in the Pavilion.

Seaside piers have always been susceptible to fires and ship collisions, and Southend, positioned as it is in the busy Thames estuary, has proved no exception. Starting in 1898 and as recently as 1986, no fewer than nine ships or barges have collided with the mile-long structure, but even more devastating have been the series of fires, beginning in 1959 and as recently as October 2005, which destroyed several key buildings and caused millions of pounds worth of damage. With the decline in visitor numbers to fewer than a million in 1970, the future of the landmark structure came into doubt. Train services were withdrawn in 1978 and the council voted to close the entire pier at the end of the 1980 season. The campaign to save it was led by the then President of the National Piers Society Sir John Betjeman, who coined the memorable sentence “The pier is Southend, Southend is the pier”. In 1983 the Government, via its Historic Buildings Committee, awarded the Council a grant of £200,000 towards the cost of repairing the pier. To this was added the fire insurance money and a new 3ft gauge railway was commissioned and opened by Princess Anne in May 1986, with one of the new diesel engines being named after Sir John.

Almost one hundred years after the pier opened a museum dedicated to its history was inaugurated in 1989, occupying redundant workshops directly beneath the shore railway station. The museum, which is run by a charitable trust and staffed by volunteers, opens four days a week from May to October and houses numerous artefacts including restored carriages from the old railway, a working signal box and temporary displays including a history of Punch & Judy. In 1996 the pier head superstructure was blasted, cleaned and painted and at the turn of the 21st century a new RNLI Lifeboat Station and Gift Shop with a sundeck above was constructed. A new waste water transfer system was installed in 2001 and a £1.9 million entrance built on contemporary glass lines completed in time for the 2003 summer season, funded by SSHAPE (the Southend Seafront High Street and Pier Enhancement programme).The pier now offers visitors full disabled access from the pedestrianised High Street above via a new overhead bridge and a series of landscaped walkways and lifts. The Tourist Information Office is housed in the entrance hall and sells tickets for admission to the pier on foot or by train, rail services having been restored following the major conflagration of October 2005, which destroyed the pier head station. Over 5,000 visitors paid the toll to stroll down the pier over Christmas and the New Year. A new pier head café is being fitted out in time for the 2007 summer season and from late June the historic ships Waverley and Balmoral will once again be bringing trippers from London and further afield.

Commenting on the award, Southend Council cabinet member Ann Holland, who has responsibility for the Pier and is a member of the Southend Pier Museum Trust, said: “We are delighted and honoured to receive this prestigious award for our pier, which we are wholly committed to restoring, enhancing and redeveloping in the future. It is the heart of Southend and an icon much loved by the town’s residents.”

NPS President Gavin Henderson said: “The heroic survival through fire and tempest of our longest and possibly most tenacious pier makes it fully deserving of this accolade.”

This is the first time Southend has won the Pier of the Year award, which was instituted in 1987 following the success of Year of the Pier. Last year’s winner was Worthing in West Sussex, and previous winners have included Eastbourne, Brighton Palace, Clevedon, Cromer, Weston-super-Mare Grand, Southwold, Southport, Blackpool North and Llandudno.

The award will be presented at the Society’s Annual General Meeting in Southend on Saturday 26 May.

Press Enquiries: The Media Office (Southend-on-Sea Borough Council) 01702 215939