The West Pier was the finest pier in the UK by a very wide margin, with the most elegant pavilions, the best ornamentation, and just the right amount of profitable amusements of the period. The pier began as a straightforward promenading pier, with seating and sheltering screens, being a venue regarded as improving one's health. The construction of the Palace pier in 1891-99 introduced a threat to the pier's success, prompting the pier to develop its amusements (including the construction...

Visited April 16, 2019: Something about destruction and memory that conjures up vivid mental images of what was and what could have been, remnants standing (and trying) the tests of nature and time. The pier really does capture the eye and imagination, sticking out like a blot due to its appearance, and yet it doesn't at the same time. If anything, it becomes even more captivating, its beauty rising from the ashes of disrepair and rust. It's like a ghost, an enchanting one, one that, by...

I understand that the West Pier is part of the past, and I respect the work that was done before. To be fair, the ruin we see today is not fascinating at all. It’s strange how our culture admires a destroyed structure that has no real value and gives nothing back. To me, it ruins the environment and landscape, making the coast even uglier. I would have much preferred if the whole West Pier had been rebuilt after the fire. The fact that we accept everything, even when it is visibly ugly,...