Confessions of a Birnbeck Pier trespasser

By Harry Mottram: I was one of the last people to walk around Birnbeck Pier in Weston-super-Mare back in the early1990s – even after it was closed on safety grounds. In 1994 the near derelict pier which is actually an island joined by a pier to the mainland was closed to the public as the owners allowed it to fall into disrepair. For a few weeks I worked at Weston College as a teacher of graphics in a Victorian building overlooking the pier. The RNLI could still use the pier but the public had been shut out. It didn’t take much effort to hop over the fence after work and walk across the rotting floor boards to the island pier to have a nose around. It has once featured tea rooms, bars, a fun fair, shops and a theatre as well as landing stages for passing steamers to dock – with popular sea links to South Wales and Devon for day trippers. By the mid 1990s it was in a sorry state. Vandals had left their mark but it was the weather that had done the most damage. It was an attraction in another one of our seaside towns that had lost trade to foreign holidaymakers in the 1970s with a slow decline in footfall for decades.

Birnbeck Pier is unusual as it connects the mainland to the island although the pier itself is a comparatively recent edition to the town which grew up as a result of the railway in the 19th century. A brief timeline:

1200: In Old English the island was called Bearn Back which translates as the spring brook island. Before the pier the island was used for fishing as it was still connected to the mainland until the seas eroded the link.
1696: John Pigott of Brockley and Lord of the Manor of Weston-super-Mare becomes the owner when it was known as Berne Island (later Bairn Beck Island)

1845: Plans were published for a suspension bridge to connect the mainland to the island were published by James Dredge while a committee was formed to raise the cash needed.
1864: Work began on the bridge after £20,000 was raised.
1867: The pier was opened and although there was little to visit on the island around 120,000 vistors flocked to the pier that summer.
1872: The pier saw improvements including those to the shorter north jetty so steam ships could dock.
1880s: Steamers from Wales brought an increase in income prompting the further development with refreshment rooms, a concert hall, reading rooms, an extended pavilion, a lifeboat station and a low-water jetty.
1897: Fire destroys much of the buildings.
1898: Replacements were constructed by the autumn with designs by Hans Price

1902: A new Lifeboat station was built.
1903: Storms damage the pier prompting more improvements including a renovated north jetty.
1910: The low water jetty was reopened after six years.
1910-1932: The Golden era when the pier attracted tens of thousands of visitors for the funfair and various attractions with steam ships arriving with day trippers from Wales and elsewhere to experience the delights of the pier.
1933: The Grand Pier opens offering alternative attractions which begins the decline of the pier.
1941: World War II and the Admiralty took over the island when it was known as HMS Birnbeck during hostilities and fears of a German invasion along the Somerset coast.

1962: P&A Campbell take over ownership.
1971: Regular steam ship visits end although the Waverleigh returns occasionally until 1979.
1972: John Critchley buys the pier.
1989: Phil Stubbs becomes the owner. His redevelopment plans come to nothing.
1992: The pier closes to the public.
1998: The pier is sold at auction for £50,000.
1999: The RNLI build a walkway along the pier so to continue using the island for the lifeboats.
2006: Urban Splash buy the pier. Their plans come to nothing.

2010: Urban Splash put the pier up for sale.
2011: CNM Estates’s Wahid Samady and Michael Ross buy the pier.
2015: With no obvious improvements to the pier the group Let’s Save Birnbeck Pier is formed.
2016: The Birnbeck Pier Regeneration Trust starts fundraising.
2020: North Somerset Council issue Compulsory Purchase Order.
2021: CMN Estates sell the pier to North Somerset Council.

2022-2025: Funding of the restoration was found.

2027: Expected completion.

From 2021 to 2025 there was the politics of funding, with grants from a number of bodies including the RNLI, the government’s levelling-up fund, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, plus fundraising by the local group The Friends of the Old Pier Society and support from National Piers Society, English Heritage, North Somerset Council, the local MPs, local businesses, Bath University, Weston College and local schools, Brandon Trust and individuals including the actors John Cleese and Timothy West. At one stage the RNLI pulled out as costs increased but are now back in the project. The restoration is now well underway and North Somerset Council have a news page to show what’s happening at the pier which will cost around £50m – but is hoped to bring new trade and money to the town. See https://n-somerset.gov.uk/news?title=Birnbeck+Pier

For details for the work of the journalist Harry Mottram visit www.harrymottram.co.uk and follow him on FaceBook, X as @HarryThe Spiv, Instagram, YouTube and God knows where else!