TQ8209 : Pelham Beach
taken 15 years ago, near to Hastings, East Sussex, England
Pelham Beach is a 1.4km long stretch of pebble beach along Hastings sea front. It goes from the Hastings Pier at the boundary with St Leonards, to The Harbour arm breakwater.
Much of the beach, along with Pelham Place car park and the Stade family fun park, has been created from land reclaimed from the sea. With the event of the railways more tourists visited Hastings and so more beach space was required. The beach is generally pebbles but sand is exposed at low tide.
Opened 1872 - Closed 2007 - Length 910ft
The pier was closed in 2006 and 2007 due to structural decay, and was due to be restored after the council had completed a compulsory purchase order.
On 5th October 2010, the pier was set alight by arsonists destroying most of the buildings. This was just hours after a competition was opened to redesign the pier. Despite taking four days to put out, the pier itself was said to be structurally sound, and the competition was still run, with a firm chosen.
In November 2012 a £11.4million lottery grant was awarded towards the pier rebuild. The total cost is only estimated at £13.9 million as the accommodation will be signicantly smaller than its original form.
It reopened on March 2016 and went on to win the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2017.
Also see Pleasure Piers of Great Britain Link