National Piers Society
Welcome to the National Piers Society

The seaside piers around the coast of Britain stand as a powerful reminder of the achievements of Victorian engineers and entrepreneurs. At the turn of the last century, almost a hundred piers existed: now only half remain and several face an uncertain future.

Piers at RiskAt Colwyn Bay, for example, local people  are fighting hard to save the now dilapidated Victoria Pier from being demolished by the local council.

Birnbeck Pier at Weston-Super-Mare, unique in being built partially on an island, is also in mortal danger of being lost forever.

And at Hastings, the Hastings Pier and White Rock Trust are fighting a fierce battle to save their beautiful pier, a fight fully supported by the National Piers Society.

The National Piers Society was founded in 1979 under Sir John Betjeman, at a time when some of the finest piers were threatened with demolition. Over the years the Society has grown steadily and has become well established as the leading authority on piers. Through its efforts, several piers that would otherwise have vanished, remain for the enjoyment of everyone.

Brighton Palace PierThe Society's aims are to promote and sustain interest in the preservation and continued enjoyment of seaside piers. It publishes a Guide to British Piers and a quarterly magazine, and advises heritage bodies, lottery boards, local authorities and the media on pier matters. It maintains links with the British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions (representing pier owners) and the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society, whose ships operate excursions from pier landing stages.

The Society has instituted an award scheme for engineering achievement Clevedon Pierin pier restoration. It organises visits and talks and holds its Annual General Meeting in a different resort each year. In the longer term, the Society wishes to establish a network of regional branches and a National Piers Museum.

We organise visits and talks and hold our Annual General Meeting in a different resort each year. The 2010 AGM was held in Bournemouth.

We'd like to receive any feedback you may have about the website or our society, please email the website manager

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THE MAIN PIERS DATABASE

The National Piers Society website maintains a database of all seaside pleasure piers, both surviving and lost. Each pier has its own webpage containing a summary of the history of the pier and a series of links to other websites organised under the headings below.

Pier News
Listed in descending date order, these are links to websites, many of them operated by local newspapers, on which stories relating to the pier have been published within the past few months. These are in addition to the comprehensive News bulletins published regularly in our PIERS magazine for NPS members, and on this website.
Pier Gallery
The National Piers Society maintains a large library of pier images but there are many more available via the internet. This section thus provides links to some of the larger  photographic collections featuring the pier in question.
Pier Weblinks
This section contains links of a more general nature and includes the pier operators' own website, those created by pier trusts and 'Friends of the Pier' organisations, and other publicly available sources.
Pier Webcam
A number of resorts now feature webcams, some of them providing live video images of piers. These can be very interesting and we are actively seeking new webcams wherever possible.
Pier Weather

It's always wise to check on the weather before any pier visit and so here we provide up to the minute forecasts for all surviving piers.