Cleethorpes Pier is 150 years old today, having opened on August 4th 1873, six years after planning had begun.
Costing £10,000, it was funded through donations from the town’s businessmen, designed in London by J.E. and A. Dowson and built by Head Wrightson of Thornaby on Tees – and it’s only a third of its original length.
The pier was officially opened by Mr A.W.T. Grant-Thorold, Chairman of the Cleethorpes Promenade Pier Company, and on the first day almost 3,000 people paid to walk on it.
To mark the 150th anniversary of the opening of the pier, a free commemorative brochure and postcards have been produced, with copies available from The Resort Hub on Central Prom, Cleethorpes Library, or Papa’s Fish & Chips on the pier itself.
A concert hall was built in 1888 on the new pier head, and was home to a myriad of concerts and variety until a fire destroyed the hall in 1903. However, the benefits of the pier were well known, and a new pavilion building was built closer to the shoreline, along with a café at the head of the pier to attract visitors.
The pier was sold to Cleethorpes Borough Council, and in the early part of WW2, a large section of its walkway was dismantled to stop enemy invaders from using it as a landing stage if they made it between the Humber forts. The salvaged timber wasn’t wasted – it was used to build a new stand at Leicester City’s former home Filbert Street.
North East Lincolnshire Council celebrates the pier’s birthday on its web site, saying: “The current pavilion had around £50,000 spent on it in the 1960s, to make it one of the most modern pier buildings on the East Coast. Since then, the pier has been owned by many different people and organisations. It remained as a club and concert venue for many years, and in the 1970s featured family favourites such as The Nolan Sisters, Cannon and Ball, Tony Christie and Mike and Bernie Winters and was a key venue for Northern Soul.
“In the 90s and 2000s, it’s the musical heydays of the previous century revived as the likes of Blur, Five, A1 and Billie Piper pack out the pier building.
“After a major renovation in 2015, the pier reopened as a high-quality restaurant and tea room and was named national “Pier of the Year” in 2016 by The Piers Society
“Later in 2016, Papa’s Fish & Chips, bought the pier, retaining the food theme, and created the world’s biggest fish and chip restaurant, which now attracts around 2 million visitors a year and employs more than 100 staff. Fish served at Papa’s is processed through Grimsby Dock and the potatoes which make the chips are grown in here in Lincolnshire.
In September, there are two exhibitions to mark the special occasion:
- A two-day exhibition taking place titled ‘A Prince, a Pier and a Castle’ at Cleethorpes Town Hall on Friday 8 and Saturday 9 September, part of Heritage Open Days and supported by the Townscape Heritage Project
- The following weekend, a new exhibition opens at the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre entitled ‘Tracks, Smacks and Sunhats’, which looks at the impact of the early years of the railway on Grimsby and Cleethorpes. It opens to the public from Friday 15 September.
Cllr Hayden Dawkins, Cabinet member for heritage, said: “The pier stands as a marker of great Victorian architecture and is one of the focal points of our resort. It’s rich history mirrors that of the whole resort, and we should be very proud to have it still standing!”
