When a devastating fire engulfed the Grand Pier at Weston-super-Mare yesterday morning, it was more than just metal and wood that went up in smoke.
As well as signalling the loss of the town's biggest tourist attraction, there were a lot of memories left in the cinders, said Nancy Doddington, 67, who had come to survey the wreckage with her daughter Sheridan Penberthy, 49.
"The pier is part of my life, part of my history," said Doddington, gazing out at the smouldering wreckage behind diamante-encrusted sunglasses as a team of 85 firefighters hosed down what remains of the 104-year-old ruined structure.
"When I was 14 or 15, I used to sneak out here with my friends. My mum wouldn't let me come - she didn't like me hanging around with the teddy boys, or the airmen from RAF Locking nearby - so I would tell her I was going to the park. Really, I would go to my friend's house, put make-up on, and then, in four-inch stilettos, I would head down to the pier. My friend's dad manned one of the two turnstiles, so we always had to rush through the other one, because she wasn't allowed on there either."
Once the teenagers had paid their admission - 5p in today's currency - they would totter to the end of the pier and try to catch the eye of the boys.
Yesterday, the scene of all these clandestine outings was a sorry sight.
With the weather forecast promising the hottest day of the year so far, the Grand Pier should have been crammed with families enjoying the start of the school holidays. Instead, the only people allowed on were firefighters.
Although the main length of the pier was intact, all of the attractions, which had been housed in a grand white, pink and green building at the end, were reduced to blackened rubble.
Firefighters doused the smoke as a fire service hovercraft circled the structure looking for structural damage - and shooed away opportunists with metal detectors hoping to loot the wreckage when the tide went out.
It was not clear what had caused the fire, though Avon fire and rescue service spokesman Jerry O'Brien said deep-fat fryers were found in the west tower area, where it is believed the fire started.
Inside the fire service cordon, local business owners feared the worst.
Peter Swaysland, 55, has run the Rock Shop newsagents, opposite the pier entrance, for 20 years. "I don't know what is going to happen to us now. With the pier gone, we have lost our one tourist attraction that wasn't affected by the weather. It was the jewel in Weston's crown. If we have a bad summer, I don't know how we will cope."
He picked out one of the shop's most popular postcards, showing the Grand Pier set against the bluest of skies, and pondered who would come to Weston now: "Of course, we'll get a few morbid sightseers for a while, but after that, what?"
There was a lot of sadness on the seafront yesterday. "I cried when I heard the news," said Jacqui McGregor, 65. She had come with her daughter and two grandchildren - and each had a memory of the Grand Pier. For McGregor it was people fishing off the side and eating rum and raisin ice cream in the 1950s; for Katelyn, eight, and Sophie, 11, it was being given £5-worth of 2ps to spend in the arcades.
But not everyone watching the pier yesterday was feeling nostalgic. Some were there for business. Graham Crumb, an insurance loss consultant whose firm specialises in amusement arcades, had come from London as soon as he heard the news. "We've done a lot of piers before, including two at Southend," he said. "Fires are quite common, because of all the wood."
Crumb said Weston's pier might not rise again, as it was not listed so there was no obligation on the owners to rebuild it. "Sometimes there isn't enough insurance money to make it worth it."
He was waiting for Kerry Michael, who with his sister Michelle bought the pier in February for a reported £10m, and hoped to win the lucrative contract to assess the damage. Michael had just set off for a holiday in Spain, but was on the first flight back as soon as he heard the news.
The Michaels were "absolutely devastated", said Nigel Heath, their spokesman. "Mr Michael is on his way home from Spain. He had only just got there but has cut it short to come back. His whole plan was to turn it into a premier tourist attraction, in fact he already had."
The Michael family had spent £1m on the site, including a new bar, funfair and go-kart track. They also planned to open restaurants and Victorian-style shows.
Loss adjusters from QBE, which insured the pier, are to visit the site today, a company spokeswoman said.
Fire hazard
The fire that ripped through the Weston-super-Mare pier was the latest to have damaged great English seaside icons.
· Southend's record-setting 2,158-metre pier was badly damaged in October 2005, its fourth blaze in 50 years. The first mile reopened within a month, and the rest within a year.
· Brighton's West pier, closed since 1975 and slowly being destroyed by the sea, was hit by two fires in 2003, although hopes remain of a comeback if a planned observation tower on the shore generates enough funds.
· The other pier in Brighton, formerly known as the Palace, caught fire in 2003. And in 1995, an electricity substation exploded at the sea end.
· The entertainment centre at Hunstanton pier, Norfolk, was destroyed by fire in 2002, and replaced. A much longer pier in the town was damaged in 1939 and again in the 1950s before being swept away by the sea in 1978.
· One of Blackpool's three piers, the North, has suffered several blazes, with pavilions being destroyed in 1921 and 1938.
The National Piers Society says 55 remain standing, while 36 have been lost. Hastings pier is among those in trouble, having been closed because of safety concerns in 2006. But there have been signs of revival, too. In 2001, work was completed on the 623ft Southwold pier in Suffolk. Earlier this year, plans were revealed to reopen Weston-super-Mare's other pier, the 141-year-old Birnbeck, closed in 1992. They included luxury apartments and a 50-room hotel. New piers have also been proposed near Skegness, Lincolnshire, and in Morecambe, Lancashire.
James Meikle
