Seaside Nostalgia Is Unavoidable. Here Are Some Old Photos Show 200 Years Of Britain’s Iconic Coastal Piers

Summer is about to end, this is really sad. But it’s about to getting sadder. Here are some vintage photos for people who constantly suffer from nostalgia.

This Saturday it will be 200 years to the day since the first ever pier was opened in UK.

1. Beaumaris Pier:

Originally opened in 1846, this pier in Angelsey in North Wales was rebuilt in 1872 to make it better equipped for the arrival of pleasure steamers from places such as Liverpool and the Isle of Man

2. Central Pier, Blackpool:

This pleasure pier was built 30 years after the North Pier

3. Birnbeck Pier, Weston-super-Mare:

The grade II-listed Birnbeck Pier, here at low tide, in on the Bristol Channel with a lifeboat station at the end. It’s the only pier in the UK that connects the mainland to an island. Below a paddle steamer passes the pier in a typical scene from 1920

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5. South Pier, Blackpool:

Two brass bands, a choir and an orchestra gave this a grand opening on Good Friday in 1893. The shortest of Blackpool’s three piers it had 36 shops, a bandstand, an ice-cream vendor and a photo stall

6. North Pier, Blackpool:

The longest and oldest of the three piers in the seaside city, a later addition was this tramway which aided access to the end of the promenade

7. Sandown Pier, Isle of Wight:

Fun for the family has always been the order at this pier, which has a golf adventure playground and ten pin bowling among its attractions

8. Paignton Pier:

The town Devon relies heavily on tourism and Paignton Pier has been at the heart of its waterside attractions since it opened in 1879

9. Paignton Pier:

The buildings at the head of the pier were destroyed in a fire in 1919 and weren’t replaced until a major redevelopment in 1980

10. Southend Pier:

The longest pleasure pier in the world is a prominent feature in Southend-on-Sea, protruding 1.34 miles into the Thames Estuary

11. Clevedon Pier:

‘The most beautiful pier in England,’ said Sir John Betjeman of this grade I-listed, 1869-built structure in Somerset on the Severn Estuary and (below) with the boat Waverley docked at its end

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13. Victoria Pier, Colwyn Bay:

The grade II-listed pier in North Wales was closed by its private owner in 1990 – now a community group lobbies for its preservation

14. Garth Pier, Bangor:

Wildlife conservation group Marine Awareness North Wales has set up its headquarters along this beautifully set pier

15. Weymouth Pleasure Pier:

The not-so grand-looking anymore entrance to the Pleasure Pier at this popular Dorset seaside town

16. Southwold Pier:

Built in 1900, the 810ft pier in Suffolk could host the Belle steamers which spanned the coast. After being breached twice in world war II and damaged badly by a massive gale in 1955, it was rebuilt in 2001

17. Llandudno Pier:

The longest pier in Wales is found on this stretch of coast in North Wales between Bangor and Colwyn Bay

18. Brighton Pier:

A fixture of Brighton’s attractions for locals and tourists alike since 1899 it is now the city’s only non-derelict pier

19. The Harbour Pier, Margate:

No secret why this pier is known as the Harbour Arm, seen here in 1920 – it’s now a haven for artistic types

20. Celebration:

The book British Seaside Piers celebrates 200 years since the first pier opened in the UK

Source: Dailymail.co.uk