Southend Pier

Our Friday walk while we were at Leigh was along Southend Pier. Southend is Essex’s largest town and is a couple of miles along the coast from Leigh.

The pier is the longest leisure pier in the world – 1.33 miles.
It was first opened in 1890 and has survived 2 world wars, boat crashes and a number of fires. The last fire was in October 2005. You will see some of the effects of this in the following photos.

There is a train running along the pier and the fire took out the station and amusement areas and cafes. The council installed a temporary station and fixed a temporary walkway to connect the undamaged parts.
Some years ago there was a theatre at the end of the pier (as on many British seaside piers) and on this particular one, Helen Mirren had her first taste of acting as Southend was her home town.
We are not taking the train, preferring the sun on our faces and the wind in our hair. You are welcome to join us on this walk.

Looking down the length of the Pier





We are now on our way





Here comes the train - it will get there before we do - it will take us about 25 minutes to the very end


Almost there but look at this fire damage

And this is where the train station used to be

We have arrived and are looking at the Lifeboat Station

We are now at the very end, on the upper deck, above the Lifeboat station

We will take a break and have some refreshment while watching the ships go by

This Turnstone came and shared our Flapjack

Looking out now to the North Sea

See the ships at anchor waiting for the tide

You can just faintly see the Wind Farm in the top left hand corner

We are looking back towards London, and facing the sun, which gives this interesting picture




We are now about to descend the steps back onto the main deck of the pier and retrace our steps back to the Promenade




Hope you are not too tired!

Well if you are then you can get the train

We'll see you there