epw036622 ENGLAND (1931). Southend Pier, Southend-on-Sea, 1931

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Details

Title [EPW036622] Southend Pier, Southend-on-Sea, 1931
Reference EPW036622
Date September-1931
Link
Place name SOUTHEND-ON-SEA
Parish
District
Country ENGLAND
Easting / Northing 588986, 183087
Longitude / Latitude 0.72400178447071, 51.514565673884
National Grid Reference TQ890831

Pins

Southend Pier The second pier which replaced an earlier wooden pier, completed in 1889, with an extension in 1897. Further extended in 1927. Reputed to be the longest pleasure pier in the world at 1.34 miles. The single track electric railway was made double track in 1931. During WW2 the pier was "HMS Leigh" The shore-end pavilion was destroyed by fire in 1959 trapping several hundred on the pier who were rescued by lifeboat. The pier head suffered much fire damage in 1976, with firemen working from the pier, boats and an aircraft. By 1977 the shore end pavilion had been replaced by a bowling alley which was damaged by fire that year. It was proposed to close the pier in 1980 but a grant was forthcoming by 1983. The structure is Grade 2 listed. The electric railway was closed in 1978 and reopened as a diesel-operated railway in 1986. Between 1986-1989 the pier head was severed from the rest of the pier by a boat collision which destroyed the lifeboat house. In 1995 the reinstated landward bowling alley was destroyed by yet another fire. By 2005 it was again the turn of the pier head to suffer destruction by fire- destroying the Old Pier Head including the railway station, pub, shell shop, snack bar and ice cream shop. The final 15 metres of the railway track was lost. The pier reopened again in 2007. In 2012 a new pier head pavilion to a contemporary design (eg odd) was built to hold 185 people and serve as a theatre / exhibition space.

totoro
Wednesday 9th of March 2016 09:45:15 PM
One of the 2 speedboats is the 40knot "Silver Bullet" which was owned, I believe, by well-known racing driver Kaye Don. It could seat 8 passengers and the Pilot. For anyone not old enough to remember, such speedboats traveled so fast at a time when the fastest RN Destroyers could only reach 35 knots, - that people likened them to "flying" and so the helmsmen were spoken of as "Pilots" by everyone.

bargee1937
Sunday 5th of April 2015 05:49:59 PM
The big open motorboat is the Southend Motor Navigation Co.'s "San Toy 1", which was commandeered for the evacuation from the Dunkirk beaches, and never returned to her owners, Albert Brand, and W.H. (Bill) Wilson my father.

bargee1937
Sunday 5th of April 2015 05:46:31 PM

User Comment Contributions

I have remembered that the other speedboat was almost certainly owned and operated by Mr. Don Ronan, who lived in a house on the east side of Hartington Road, about half-way up. I wish I could recall the boat's name though.

bargee1937
Sunday 5th of July 2015 11:20:25 AM
One of the speedboats is the 40knot silver bullet which was owned, I believe, by Kaye Don. It could seat 8 passengers and the driver.

The big open motorboat is the Southend Motor Navigation Co.'s "San Toy 1", which was commandeered for the evacuation from the Dunkirk beaches, and never returned to her owners, Albert Brand, and W.H. (Bill) Wilson my father.

bargee1937
Sunday 5th of April 2015 05:50:11 PM