West Pier

¶ Brighton’s West Pier, opened in 1866, is described England’s finest seaside pier and is the only one to be Grade I listed. It has been closed since 1975 and thoroughly ravaged by the elements, as these wonderful photos show. [via Adactio]

Despite its state of disrepair, the West Pier holds a certain magic (especially if you’re a starling or a cormorant) and endures as an essential feature of the Brighton seafront. Quite rightly there are plans afoot to repair the pier and, as is the case with things people hold dear, they are proving somewhat controversial.

The main bone of contention is that, in return for repairing our pier, Big Business gets to build a commercial complex on the seafront. This will, of course, obscure the view of the nicely renovated West Pier; a concern shared by Jonathan Glancey of the Guardian who asserts that Brighton’s magnificent West Pier must be saved – but not at the expense of the seafront. Local group, Save Our Seafront, is piling on the pressure to make sure this doesn’t happen. Both sides of the arguments are presented in the West Pier portal on the Argus website.