History of
Bognor Regis Pier
Originally, St. George's Jetty was constructed here in 1857 as
part of a harbour scheme but it was damaged by a storm and
demolished in 1876.
Plans for a pier at Bognor
go back to 1835. The first pile, however, was not driven until
1864. The 1000 foot pier opened on 5th May 1865 to the design of
Sir Charles Fox and J.W.Wilson.
The local Board (later Bognor Urban District Council) bought the
structure in 1876 for £1200. A small bandstand was added in 1880,
followed by a seaward end pavilion which opened on July 9th 1900.
A small landing stage was added in 1903.
When the pier became
dangerous, it was sold privately, in 1909, on condition that
repairs were carried out. In 1910/11, the new owners built a
£30,000 complex at the shoreward end which contained a cinema, an
arcade, a roof garden restaurant and a theatre (which opened on
August Bank Holiday, 1912).
In World War One, 200 men
were billeted here and in World War Two the pier became HMS
St Barbara, an RN observation station.
Storm damage in 1964 and
1965 caused the pavilion to sink into the sea. The pier was sold
in 1966 to the British American Novelty (Pier) Company for £35,000
but, after two fires in three months, it closed in December 1974
and was eventually sold to J.Harrison (Automatics) Ltd.
By 1992, its condition was
very poor and restoration costs were estimated at a minimum of
£500,000. In 1994, an application was made to demolish the
decaying seaward end.
In 1995, a new company was
formed to bid for National Lottery funding. John Ayers became
owner in 1996 and, in 1997, it was reported that he was prepared
to commit £576,000 (one quarter of the total estimated repair
bill) towards re-development. However, the rejection of the bid
(in March 1998) put the derelict seaward end at great risk of
demolition.
On 27 June 2010 the Royal
Air Force Association marked Armed Forces Day by erecting a plaque
on Bognor Regis pier commemorating its use as a naval station, HMS
St Barbara, during World War II. The flag now hangs in the RAFA
building in Waterloo Square facing the pier. Click
here for photographs of the
event.
Each year, up to 2008, the
pier hosted the annual Birdman Rally. However, following the
removal of sixty feet of the remaining decking at the end of the
pier on safety grounds, the event was transferred to Worthing.
However, in 2010, despite initial concerns about the depth of
water, the event returned to Bognor and there are now annual
events at both Bognor and Worthing.
In August 2011 a fire in a
storage unit at the end of the pier caused several thousand pounds
worth of damage.
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