Pier operators across the country may be facing questions over funding, wages, supply costs and the increasingly unpredictable weather, but how much are these icons of the British seaside facing an existential threat? With the Eastern Daily Press reporting an “uncertain future” for East Anglia’s piers, Coinslot examines the data behind the bleak pronouncement.

The Eastern Daily Press has published a feature outlining the “uncertain future” of several piers around the East Anglian coast, such 2024’s Pier of the Year Cromer, which the paper singled out as “suffering” from lack of funds. So, how accurate is this picture of decline?

Landmark structures such as Felixstowe, Britannia, Wellington, Southwold, Claremont, and Hunstanton Pier were included in the list of those “fighting for survival,” yet with their owners all investing heavily in new rides and attractions, the facts add an important nuance that challenge the headlines.

“They are the jewels in the crown for British seaside towns, attracting visitors to the coast for hundreds of years,” wrote the Eastern Daily Press in its feature. “But the region’s historic piers now face an uncertain future amid a stormy economic climate.”

“Some are struggling to stay operational thanks to rising costs, with imminent sweeping reforms to local councils casting a shadow of uncertainty. Others are pumping millions of pounds into renovations to give them a fighting chance at survival.”

Though Cromer Pier is undoubtedly facing cost pressures due to Budgetary measures that have increased operator Oceanwide’s outgoings by £180,000, while changes to local government put future funding in doubt, the council recently invested more than £2m in upgrading the pier, which next year will celebrate its 125th anniversary.

Great Yarmouth’s Britannia Pier is also benefiting from a £1.8m redevelopment, designed to increase year-round visitation, while further down the coast Wellington Pier could be set to double in size as part of plans submitted last year.

“Family Amusements, which owns the pier, hopes to develop land on the site to extend the existing arcade and create a new family entertainment centre. It hopes this would generate 20 full-time and ten part-time jobs.”

In Lowestoft, Claremont Pier director Ben Llewellyn has just overseen the redecking of 60 metres of the pier at a cost of £120,000, winning praise from both locals and MPs, while Hunstanton Pier is enjoying a new lease of life under the ownership of leisure developer MD Abbott Holdings.

The same applies to Southwold Pier, bought by couple Amy and Charles Barwick last year, which continues to attract international visitors to its unique Under the Pier Show, and in Felixstowe the pier’s expanded arcade and amusement centre has been thriving since it was built in 2017.

If it weren’t for the dedicated operators and owners, it would be a reasonable to fear for the future of some of the best piers in the country. But where the EDP has undoubtedly hit the nail on the head is with the cost of maintaining and repairing coastal piers. 

Around the coastline to the southern counties of England, both Worthing and  Bognor Regis are feeling the biting winds of repair works, whilst the jewel in the British piers crown, Brighton Palace Pier, has suffered a financial assault as the cost of maintenance measures take chunks out of the commercial operation. 

In the north, one can barely contemplate the effect the loss of Southport Pier could have on the tourism trade in the seaside resort if the attraction closes for good. And bear in mind it wasn’t any lack of commercial acumen from arcdian Colin Jamieson that brought the pier to closure over two years ago – far from it. Jamieson was one of the many victims of a pier in need of repairs and maintenance. And what seems like a lifetime of closure – there is still no grant aid or funding available to reopen Southport Pier in the foreseeable future.

All of which does open a very – very – tenuous but provocative  link to the industry regulator. One does wonder why the Gambling Commisson’s wardship of the National Lottery has borne no fruit for Southport Pier, or indeed, other endangered historic attractions around the UK’s coasts.It’s spent all its time fart-arsing about mounting an attack of  the popular and evidentially safe pusher machines – which are life savers to the seaside sector – without recognising that the cultural, heritage icons of Britain’s seaside resorts need a balance of commercial operations to keep the piers vibrant and alluring, but most importantly, a fundraising programme to keep the country’s worthy heritage attractions structurally safe. 

So why isn’t the money raised from those new revenue generating National Lottery  scratchcard machines, so enthusiastically supported by the Gambling Commission recently, going to the good cause  of repairing and maintening our  piers? 

It’ll certainly keep tens of millions of people safe and entertained, and the lottery is the most expansive gambling pastime in the UK by miles.