History of
Skegness Pier
In 1877, the Earl of Scarborough, who had brought the railway to
Skegness, formed the Skegness Pier Company. Clarke & Pickwell's
design was chosen from the 44 submitted, and work began in 1880.
The 1817 foot pier had cost £20,840 when it opened on 4th June
1881. It included a 700-seat saloon/concert hall at the 'T' shaped
head. Steamboat trips began in 1882.
The pier-head saloon was
extended in 1898, and new refreshment rooms were built at the
pier-head. In March 1919 the schooner 'Europa' breached the pier.
A temporary gangway was completed by August but the pier was not
fully restored until 1939.
The north and south entrances
were built in 1929/30. The entrance was modernised in 1936/9 by
incorporating a cafe and shops on either side of the archway.
Sectioned during World War II,
the pier re-opened in 1948 after £23,528 had been spent on
repairs. Erection of a steel-framed canopy was begun at the
shoreward end at this time and completed in 1949. The 1953 East
Coast Floods damaged the pier-head which was rebuilt at a cost of
£3,000.
The pier entrance and archway
were demolished and a new building containing shops, cafes and
amusement arcades was built in 1971. In addition, extensions to
the theatre took the seating capacity to over 1100.
On 11th January 1978, a severe
storm washed away two large sections of the pier and left the
theatre isolated at the seaward end. Plans to link the two
sections by monorail, and to build a new 1200 seat theatre and a
250 foot tower all fell through later that year when an
application for financial assistance was rejected.
Work began on dismantling the
theatre in October 1985 but, while this work was taking place, a
fire gutted the building.
Developments then focused on
the shoreward end which was substantially modernised. A ten-pin
bowling alley opened in 1991 and other facilities included bars,
shops, stalls, a children's soft play area and high tech arcade
attractions such as Laser Quest.
In 2005/2006 a phased
re-decking and refurbishment of the pier head was completed at a
cost of approximately £250,000.
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