Southend Extra, October 2010 9


in 1971, werehampered by two fires in 1976 and 1977. The first destroyed much of the pier head and the second damaged the bowling alley.Its railway was then deemed to be unsafe and was closed. Adecision to close the pier in 1980 was


holidays. Adecade of repairs, which began


met with protest and it was allowed to remain open until asolution could be found. AHistoric Buildings Committee grant was


received in 1983, and repair work began in 1984, finishing 18 months later,when Princess Anne named the two new pier trains after Sir John Betjeman and Sir William Heygate. The total cost of repairs, the new buildings


and trains was £1.3million. Tragedy struck again when the MV Kingsabbey crashed into the pier in 1986, leaving a70ft gap and destroying the boat-


house used by the lifeboat service. The bowling alley burnt down in June


1995 and in October 2005 afifth fire severely damaged much of the old pier head including the railway station, pub, shell shop, snack bar and ice-cream shop. While fires have changed the look of the


pier over the years, substantial funding has also transformed it. In recent years funding has helped build anew lifeboat station and anew awardwinning pier entrance opened at the end of May 2003. Youcan learnmoreabout the history of Southend Pier at the Pier Museum, located underneath the train station. The museum, which opened in July 1989


and is run by volunteers, has awide range of artefacts and photographs to see and is open from Sundays to Wednesdays, from April to late September.


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