Брайтонский пирс: История и современность

Pleasure pier in Brighton, UK

The Brighton Palace Pier, commonly known as Brighton Pier or the Palace Pier, is a Grade II* listed pleasure pier in Brighton, England, located in the city centre opposite the Old Steine. Established in 1899, it was the third pier to be constructed in Brighton after the Royal Suspension Chain Pier and the West Pier, but is now the only one still in operation. It is managed and operated by the Eclectic Bar Group. The Palace Pier was intended as a replacement for the Chain Pier, which collapsed in 1896 during construction of the new pier. It quickly became popular, and had become a frequently visited theatre and entertainment venue by 1911. Aside from closures owing to war, it continued to hold regular entertainment up to the 1970s. The theatre was damaged in 1973 and following a buy out was demolished in 1986, changing the pier's character from seaside entertainment to an amusement park, with various fairground rides and roller coasters. The pier remains popular with the public, with over four million visitors in 2016, and has been featured in many works of British culture, including the gangster thriller Brighton Rock, the comedy Carry On at Your Convenience and the Who's concept album and film Quadrophenia.

The pier entrance is opposite the southern end of Old Steine (the A23 to London) where it meets Marine Parade and Grand Junction Road which run along the seafront. It is 1722 feet (525 m) long and contains of planking. Because of the pier's length, repainting it takes three months every year. At night, it is illuminated by 67,000 bulbs. No. 14 and No. 27 buses run directly from Brighton railway station to the pier.

The pier was designed and constructed by R. St George Moore. It was the third in Brighton, following the Royal Suspension Chain Pier in 1823 and the West Pier in 1866. The inaugural ceremony for laying of the first pile was held on 7 November 1891, overseen by Mayor Samuel Henry Soper. A condition to be met by its builders, in exchange for permission to build, was that the Chain Pier was to be demolished as it had fallen into a state of disrepair. It was named the Brighton Marine Palace and Pier, whose name was inscribed into the pier's metalwork. It cost a record £27,000 (£27000.0 in 1899 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years in ) to build, including 3,000 lights to illuminate the pier. Part of the cost was repairs to the West Pier and the nearby Volk's Electric Railway caused by damage in the 1896 storm from the Chain Pier's debris. The pier was not fully complete on the opening date; some work on the pavilion was completed shortly afterwards. It was designed to resemble kursaals, which were entertainment buildings found near spas on the Continent, and included reading and dining rooms. The pier was an immediate success and quickly became one of the most popular landmarks in Brighton. By 1911, the reading rooms had been converted into a theatre. The pier regained its popularity after the war, and continued to run regular summer shows, including Tommy Trinder, Doris and Elsie Waters and Dick Emery. As of February 2001, it was one of 70 Grade II* listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove. During a storm in 1973, a barge moored at the pier's landing stage broke loose and began to damage the pier head, particularly the theatre. Entertainment continued to be popular at the pier; the Spice Girls made an early live performance there in 1996 and returned the following year after achieving commercial success.

The pier was renamed as "Brighton Pier" in 2000, although this legal change was not recognised by the National Piers Society nor some residents of Brighton and Hove. The local newspaper, The Argus, continued to refer to the structure as the Palace Pier. The fire destroyed the ghost train ride, which is where the fire started, as well as damaging two other rides and leaving a hole in the pier's decking, but luckily not causing any structural damage. In 2004, the Brighton Marine Palace Pier Company (owned by the Noble Organisation), admitted an offence of breaching public safety under the Health and Safety at Work Act and had to pay fines and costs of £37,000 after a fairground ride was operated with part of its track missing. A representative from the Health and Safety Executive said that inadequate procedures were to blame for the fact that nothing had been done to alert staff or passengers that the ride would be dangerous to use. The pier management came into criticism from Brighton and Hove City Council, who thought they were relying too much on fairground rides, some of which were being built too high. On 8 April 2019 a piece of the Air Race ride, manufactured by Zamperla, came loose and hit some people, injuring four people, one of whom was taken to hospital. In 2024 it was announced that the pier would introduce a £1 admission fee beginning on 25 May. The fee is in place over weekends during June and throughout July and August and will not apply to local residents who have a Brighton Palace Pier local residents card.

The pier includes several fairground rides, such as two roller coasters, a haunted house ride, a traditional carousel, a helter skelter and a cup and saucer ride. The Booster is a pendulum ride by Fabbri, which catapults people 130 feet (40 m) into the air, turning upside down in the process. For young children, Fantasia is a simple ride featuring Disney characters. The 1953 B movie Girl on a Pier is set around the Palace Pier and also features the clash between holidaymakers and gangsters in Brighton. The Who's 1973 concept album Quadrophenia was inspired in part by band leader Pete Townshend spending a night underneath the pier in March 1964. It is a pivotal part of the album's plot, and features in the 1979 film. Townshend later said that the rest of the band understood this element of the story, as it related to their mod roots. The 2014 novel The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell includes passages that take place on the pier. The 2015 British TV series, Cuffs, which takes place in Brighton features the pier, both in the opening theme as well as in parts of the story lines. Graham Swift's 2020 novel Here We Are, focuses on a trio of entertainers performing at the pier in the immediate postwar period. In 2015, Martyn Ware, founding member of pop group the Human League, made a series of field recordings on the pier as part of a project with the National Trust and British Library project to capture the sounds of Britain. In 2017, the pier was said to be the most visited tourist attraction outside London, with over 4.5 million visitors the previous year.