Fleetwood Pier

Although never an elaborate structure Fleetwood Pier holds a special place in pier history, being the last to be built during the 'golden age' (1860-1910) of pier building. The proposal for a pier had been a long drawn out affair, the original submission by Richard Edmunds being rejected in 1892. G T Lumb submitted a revised proposal some years later, that was eventually approved in 1909. The Fleetwood Victoria Pier Company was formed and set about finding investors to raise the £30,000 required. The original prospectus stating:

.....at the end of the pier will be a bandstand, windscreens, kiosk, sea water swimming baths at all states of the tide, to be constructed on the pier, everything tending to raise our town to the position nature intended it to occupy among the watering places of Britain ..... the town and its people would be enriched by its existence.....

The 492ft (150m) Fleetwood Pier opened the following year on Whit Monday 1910, and was predominantly a wooden landing pier, constructed over iron columns, with some amusements at the shoreward end. A pavilion was constructed in 1911, but initial plans to lengthen the structure were soon abandoned. Fleetwood Pier remained largely unchanged prior to the Second World War. Some additional improvements were made in the 1930s, along with a small cinema in 1942. In 1946, after the cessation of hostilities, arrangements were made to replace the timber decking. The worst chapter in the pier's history was to unfold on 25th August 1952. A disastrous fire that had started in the pier cinema created an inferno that could be seen from twenty miles away. The blaze was to leave the entire structure no more than a mass of tangled smouldering steelwork. Rebuilding work commenced almost immediately enabling Fleetwood Pier to re-open the following year.

Always overshadowed by, and having to compete with, its three well known neighbours only a tram ride away in Blackpool, the pier continued to remain profitable throughout the declining years of the seaside resort, even receiving a £70,000 facelift in 1972. Sadly this was not to remain the case and the pier's owners, Fleetwood Amusements Ltd, eventually closed the pier in 2000, after going into liquidation.

In 2003 the new owners, Persian Leisure, were granted permission to redevelop Fleetwood Pier and by December of the same year it was once again open to the public. Now providing bars, restaurants and entertainment, it is hoped Fleetwood Pier will prove to be financially viable for the foreseeable future.