Brighton Pier

...People who have never visited Brighton may not have even heard of the Pavilion, Clock Tower or Preston Manor, however I would lay odds on the fact that they would be able to tell you that Brighton has two piers and probably even that one of them is falling into the sea. Without the aid of a time machine, I am unable to deliver to you a review on the West Pier that would be of any value, so instead this review is of the one that is still very much ...
...born, in my childhood days, Brighton sea front, the two piers and even the Royal Pavilion were regarded strictly as the preserve of tourists. Of course these people that came to "our town" - tourists - were regarded as a lower order, under no circumstances to be mixed with. Good job my parents were not employed in the tourist industry then I guess!

Fortunately, in adulthood, I have, I hope, taken a more enlightened view of ... more

FOR: Splendid by day. Beautiful by night. Free Admission and deckchairs. Open all Year.

AGAINST: Can be crowded in summer.

Think English seaside resort, think sand, sea and ice creams and, of course, the good old pier! People who have never visited Brighton may not have even heard of the Pavilion, Clock Tower or Preston Manor, however I would lay odds on the fact that they would be able to tell you that Brighton has two piers and probably even that one of them is falling into the sea. Without the aid of a time machine, I am unable to deliver to you a review on the West Pier that would be of any value, so instead this review is of the one that is still very much alive and kicking - Brighton Pier!

Now as you all know by now, I am a born and bread Brightonion and, as it happens, increasingly proud of it. However, I am also of such an advanced age that I still catch myself referring to this construction as "The Palace Pier" sometimes, forgetting that for the last decade and a half it has been renamed simply as "Brighton Pier".

Due to my upbringing, my parents moved to this town in the mid 1950's from London, several years before I was born, in my childhood days, Brighton sea front, the two piers and even the Royal Pavilion were regarded strictly as the preserve of tourists. Of course these people that came to "our town" - tourists - were regarded as a lower order, under no circumstances to be mixed with. Good job my parents were not employed in the tourist industry then I guess!

Fortunately, in adulthood, I have, I hope, taken a more enlightened view of the City in which I live, indeed Mrs R. and I regularly play the role of tourists in our own town. One may also take the view that, after all, the facilities and attractions are here, we pay Brighton & Hove City Council substantial rates each year and therefore might just as well make best use of just what is on offer in this colourful city.

The above statement is not actually intended to imply that the architecturally listed Grade 2 Brighton Pier is owned or managed by Brighton & Hove Council. Since 1984 it has been in the very successful ownership of the Noble (amusements) Organisation.

You will probably laugh at this, but as this is a fun attraction review anyway, why not?! I discovered The Palace Pier as it was then, not by walking to the bottom of the A23 and thus to Brighton sea front, but by walking into the local library and borrowing a book all about British Piers! At nineteen years old, ok I was a freak; my interest was not in the "amusement" side of these things, but in the wonderful Victorian, design, engineering and construction. The book about piers informed me, that right here in my home town (City status only came with the dawning of a new millennium!), was situated one of the most notable of all pier constructions, designed by one George Moore.

In all it took eight years to construct this magnificent iron pier. It opened to the public on 20th May, 1899. During the course of the following years the pier underwent continuous development as its popularity increased.

From a historical point of view it is interesting to have a look at the facilities then provided - prior to the First World War. Foreign holidays in those days were very strictly the preserve of the elite and nobility, pleasures for the masses being much simpler then, than in our modern electronic age. From an aesthetic and constructional point of view, by 1914 the pier, apart from the latest fun fair rides on the sea end, looked pretty much as it does now.

How then do I describe to you how it looks? Well the photographs below will of course help, but for those of you having this review read to you by Aladdin, I will give you as brief a description as I can. Brighton Pier is constructed of very intricate black Victorian iron framework, rising from the sea bed to support teak decking, bounded by superbly ornate wrought iron balustrades. The various constructions on top of the pier, halls, domes and kiosks are again constructed from an iron framework and then clad in white painted wooden barge boarding.

Of late some of the wood has started to be replaced with UPVC, bearing in mind the battering it takes from the wind and sea, this would appear to be an eminently sensible use of a modern material, preserving the smart overall appearance of the palatial white structures. Apart from the much smaller - sea end structures, which are replicas, the main deck "halls" date from 1901.

Bearing in mind the very recent sad news of yet another Pier fire - this one on the world's longest at Southend, the replacement of wood with a less combustable material would appear to be all the more sensible.

These are very large, tall and ornate buildings, originally used as theatres, café's and a concert hall. The central Pavilion is the largest construction on the pier, indeed there is still a small café to be found inside - toilets upstairs too. The primary function of this particular building now is as an amusements arcade. The design of this structure was very clearly influenced by the Royal Pavilion, the grounds of which are in sight from certain points on the pier, the design themes both in the ironwork and in the building itself are primarily Oriental.

What is not strictly oriental though are the stained glass circular windows let into both sides of this building at a high level. They show local scenes, for example: Beachy Head, the Downs, sailing and early motoring holidays, and thus date from the art deco period in the 1920's. Strangely these port-hole windows, not even noticed my so many "promenaders" are probably my favourite feature on the whole pier.

The sea end of the pier, since 1932, when the first "big wheel" was installed, has played host to an ever more sophisticated permanent fun fair. This is now one of the most comprehensive of its kind - outside of Blackpool. Whilst both admission to the pier and deckchairs are free, here lays (and in the amusement halls) the answer as to how this splendid attraction is funded. Rather than, as would have been the case originally, paying attendants at each ride, now you exchange pounds for tokens and either hand them to a ride attendant or place them in a slot. Each ride is allocated a "token value" (50p per token), it is very easy to go through a lot of cash in a very short period of time here - especially with children in tow! Few of the rides are less than £2.50.

There are two distinct categories of ride - adult and children's, also trampolines which are supervised. I am not going to go into great detail on the rides, because for me they, along with the amusements arcades, pay for the pier, but are far from its most interesting feature. My 11 year old sister in law Klaudia has assisted us in test driving a lot of the rides over the course of her last 4 summer visits to England (she is Polish), and I am glad to say that her favourite is probably the same as mine - the good old fashioned helter skelter! She has grown up from the revolving tea cups and tiny car / train rides through the wonderful 100 year old prancers on the carousel (a favourite ride for all ages) to even trying out the white water rapid ride. There are a couple of big dippers, a traditional (recently restored) ghost train and the fearsome swinging "hammer" that people, not me(!) are strapped into and hurled high up in the air and "over the top"…..makes me feel ill just trying to explain it to you!

As we have found ourselves somehow at the sea end, it had been my intention to, rather more logically, walk you there from the entrance, we will take a stroll back to dry land, taking a look at some of the various features and attractions along the way.

Here, we are standing on the end of the pier, regrettably due to the big dipper ride - unable to look straight out to sea due south, 1722 ft (525 metres) away from the land end. The Victorians were fascinated with statistics of such things, the bigger the better - Brighton Pier varies in width from 45ft (13.7 meters) to 189ft (57.6 meters) at the sea end. Until the 1960's there was an operational landing stage here where pleasure steamers the last of which, the Waverly, still plies the Clyde in Scotland, used to call en route as it travelled along the south coast.

Ignoring, if you can, the rides here, the end of the pier on a clear day offers the finest views of this part of the south coast. An extraordinarily contrasting view from east to west in fact. Looking to your right (east) the town runs out with the elegant white terraces flowing into white cliffs and the much more modern development of Brighton Marina below, the view then stretching into the distance with more chalk cliffs topped with rolling green downs. Walk to the left side i.e the west and all you can see is coastal city scape, Brighton and Hove, City by the sea! Replacing the Marina as main man made protuberance into the sea on this side is the now forlornly desolate twisted, burned out structure of the once glorious West Pier.

The various fun fair attractions are semi-permanent, each winter they tend to be moved around a little to make way for new ones to be added, there are two new rides planned for 2006. The first permanent building you will see is circular and entitled The Offshore Entertainment Arcade. It is not a large building and this summer season plaid host to a Doctor Who exhibition. I am unable to tell you what you will find housed in here next summer.

Set around this building are an 'interesting' array of fast food franchises - thanks Noble for actually keeping the likes of McDonuts and Cholesterol King off of your pier, here you will find a Chinaman selling noodles, an Italian Pizza's etc, much more atmospheric. There are further fast food franchised outlets set into the wind break running down the centre of the pier, selling exactly what you would expect to find in such a location, candy floss and American burgers!

To the east side is the, all year round, very popular Horatio's Bar, most popular locally for stag and hen parties, it is a large traditional English Pub but in a unique setting and enjoying stunning sea views. Horatio's provide live entertainment free of charge on Saturday evenings.

In the centre of the pier, near to Horatio's is a very ornate (still operational - but modernised from the "plumbing" point of view!) Victorian ornamental wrought iron public toilet - Ladies east, Gents west!

Time to take a few steps towards dry land! Leaving the sea end we have a short promenade, divided by a wind screen down the centre of the pier. Here, if you are like us and enjoy "people watching", you can take a bench seat and while away the time seeing the cities very colourful society pass you buy……

……as people for over 100 years have done before you!

In the very last years of the Victorian era you would have seen gracious ladies in balloon skirts accompanied (always) by men in full "morning" dress wafting by, taking in the sea air. Now in the early years of a new millennium you can see the whole gamut of modern English society shuffle by, an almost non ending freak show, devil's horns, tiny micro-mini skirts - yes Brighton is a very colourful city and here you sit in the best place to observe it in all its……glory!

You have rested enough now, time for a short stroll and here in front of us, situated in the middle of the pier's span is another watering hole, a traditional English pub, but of a different flavour to Horatio's. Victoria's Bar is more of a daytime venue and is the area on the pier licensed for civil wedding ceremonies. You are probably all aware of this, but due to a strict "letter of the law" a venue can only actually be licensed in this way if it is undercover - hence in England a registrar is unable to marry you on a golden beach or at the top of Mt Snowdon. Brighton Pier and the nearby Royal Pavilion are extremely popular UK wedding venues - both offering a unique choice of setting.

If you are about to take the plunge and looking for somewhere unusual to tie the knot, details can be found on Brighton Piers' very good website.

Backing on to Victoria's Bar is the very old fashioned and extremely popular 250 seat Palm Court Fish & Chip Restaurant. Good fresh fish well cooked, but at a price, is available either to take away or to eat in. I'd eat in and savour the 1960's atmosphere with parlour palms, big white ceiling fans and those wipe clean, white a green checked "gingham" table cloths.

We are in the centre of the pier now, approaching the main "Palace of Fun". The decking narrows here but allows you to walk either side of this main building. This, for me I think, is the main attraction of Brighton Pier - if you wish to avoid the noise - and cost - of modern day electronic gaming and slot machines and enjoy a good old fashioned promenade taking in the views and sea air, then you are free to do so.

Again, not being a gamer I am going to avoid a detailed description of the attractions available inside this very large building. Just about the full gamut is covered: from simulators, rally driving machines to the traditional fruit and "pick up a teddy with a toy crane" type machines are here - something for everyone if you are so inclined - which regrettably I am not!

Incidentally if you are wishing to indulge in some gaming, or eating and drinking come to that, and are "caught short" (financially) there are cash machines located both in the main hall described above and in Horatio's Bar.

OK, side stepping the main amusements hall, to the east or west, the choice is yours, you will now find a couple of those wonderful seaside postcard stands where you place your head through the wooden cut outs and pose as mermaid - or the famous "Just Married on Brighton Pier" one. Yes we all have photographs of ourselves taken behind these things!

Whilst still on the main part of the pier - we are now reaching the land end and therefore entrance - you will find an excellent gift and souvenir shop. On first visiting this with my wife over four years ago, I was surprised at how reasonably priced the items were - a tip, if you are looking for London items, they are a fraction of the price that I have seen them in any such shop in the capital. A huge range of post cards obviously, but also items of clothing, memorabilia and the usual cuddly toys and pencils etc are all packed into this shop. Adjacent to it is the old fashioned Fudge Shop, the products of which are fairly obvious from the title! Last in this little "parade" is a very good coffee bar, again, bearing in mind its situation, the prices charged could be much higher.

There are various other little "unit" outlets - palm readers, cheap jewellery, "Secrets in your Signature" and the like, but these tend to be rather transient in nature and may well not be there if you are planning a visit in summer 2006 or beyond. Currently, according to their website, the Pier organisation is seeking a franchisee for the Gypsy Caravan - if there are any budding Ciaoers out there who fancy giving palmistry or fortune telling a go (I do have one or two suitable names in mind!) - then you can apply for the franchise on the piers' website!

And so we alight on terra firma, through the Victorian iron gates and now redundant turnstiles - admission is completely free, and to the frankly rather unsavoury forecourt area. Here you will find ice cream bars and fast food outlets, none of which with due respect I would be inclined to risk eating from.

Before running away from the smell of onion and fat frying, do spare time to look above your head and at the very attractive clock tower mounted over the entrance way.

Brighton Pier is a huge asset to our city, one of the most visited visitor attractions in the whole country, and justifiably so. The fact that it offers free entry - we very rarely spend a single penny there and visit often, several times a week sometimes in the summer, as well as free deck chair loan, means that it is popular even with locals.

I cannot really end this review without commenting that it is by dusk and in darkness that aesthetically at least, Brighton Pier is really at its magical best. The silhouette of the pier is picked out in white lights, the only non white lights being the colourful ones on the funfair at the sea end and the red "Brighton Pier" signs at the entrance and to both sides of the palace of Fun.

A further free attraction, provided by the pier throughout the month of August, is the spectacular Saturday night fireworks display. These are not actually on the pier but launched from a barge adjacent to it. The display starts at 9.30 and is well worth seeing either from the pier itself, or as we usually do from the main coast road above. These displays are lavish, lasting around 20 minutes, using the beautifully lit pier as a backdrop.

No this city certainly would not be the place that it is without the pier, probably a greater attraction even for the majority than the Royal Pavilion.

Brighton Pier is open every day of the year:

July to Sept.: 09.00 to "Late"
Sep. to June: 10.00 to 22.30  

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