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Huge fire destroys historic pier

by flight737 | July 28, 2008 at 08:35 am

347 views | 9 Recommendations | 9 comments

For the people of somerset the thing that use to attract many people to their town is now destroyed, a historic Grand Pier at Weston super-Mare is now history but lets hope the new owners who have recently bought and refurbished the pier keep their cool and hope for the best.

"The entire pavilion has gone admittedly, and it'll be obviously a huge project to rebuild it, which will take a considerable amount of time.
"I mean, when it burnt down last time, in 1930, it took three years and they probably moved a bit quicker then than we do nowadays."
Christopher Donkin, manager of Seaquarium aquarium in Marine Parade, some 500 yards from the pier, was alerted to the fire by a colleague as he drove to work. He said: "Fortunately, we're not in danger, no other properties are in any other danger.
"The fire brigade have put a wall of water along the walkway between the seafront and the end of the pier.
"Traffic this morning was absolutely chock-a-block.
"When I first saw the fire, to be honest my first thoughts were for the livelihoods of people who work here.
"It's Weston's number one attraction. It's full of childhood memories

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fiona-kelly

at 12:13 on July 28th, 2008

I've posted more pictures of the pier blaze & what it looked like before & after on my blog... you can also see the video taken on my phone just after blaze started here on the nowpublic site

dobbo_sf

at 14:39 on July 28th, 2008

I was there, snapping away. A sad day for Weston-super-Mare but I hope the Michaels hold true to their promise to rebuild.

Lots of photos over on my blog

azzayindia

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 14:41 on July 28th, 2008

flight737, I like this story. It's good stuff.

sweet east pearl

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 16:03 on July 28th, 2008

flight737, I like this story. It's good stuff.

flight737

at 21:39 on July 28th, 2008

is sad to see a history be history but like dobbo_sf said let's hope the Michaels hold true to their promise to rebuild, what concerns me are the people who depend on the Pier for income, what are they going to do now?

Paschen

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 21:42 on July 28th, 2008

flight737, I like this story. It's good stuff.

bob.cymru

at 23:46 on July 28th, 2008

I live on the hillside above Weston bay and was half woken by what sounded like an explosion around 7:30 am. I thought it was something to do with the repairs to the sea wall and drifted back to sleep. I woke soon after with the sounds of the helicopters but by the time I looked out of the window the main inferno was over. The place has just been flattened apart from twisted metal. Its unbeleivable.

bob.cymru has contributed a photo to this story.