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The
Concert Hall (viewed from the West Pier)
The Concert Hall was
added to the pier in 1916.
It had its own orchestra/dance band
which played for the entertainment of those visiting the pier and during
the 1960's it held Old Time Music Hall Concerts.
Books of tickets for these events
are now strewn across the stairways and floor of the Ocean Restuarant.
After the 2nd World War in the 1940's
the Concert Hall was converted into a restaurant/cafe and there are provisional
plans to return it to this use during the current restoration. |
| Restrooms
and Observational Towers
The architectural and decorative
style used to ornament the West Pier followed the model set by the Royal
Pavilion. This is nowhere more evident than in the domes and spires of
the kiosks and restrooms.
This building, which currently serves
as a nest for the starlings who currently occupy The West Pier, was originally
erected as a restroom and observational tower. A spiral staircasewould
have lead up to the upper level from which visitors to the pier could have
viewed either the sea or the rest of fashionable society promenading along
the sea-front. |
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Maynards
Kiosk and Landing stages
From 1890 onwards, the owners of
the West Pier supplemented the revenue they made from admission charges
to the pier by letting out kiosk space on the pier to local businesses.
Maynards, who are a local Sussex
confectionary manufacturer, and makers of Maynards Wine Gums, owned this
kiosk.
At one point landing stages surrounded
the West Pier although most of these no longer exist. From these stages
paddle-steamers would take visitors on day trips to the Isle of Wight or
Eastbourne. In fact, many of the early postcards sent from Brighton by
holiday makers, which I discovered whilst researching this project, mentioned
their seatrips along the Sussex coast on paddle-steamers like the SkyLark |
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The
Pavilion Theatre at the Pier-head
The Pavilion Theatre was added to
the Pier-head in 1893.
It functioned firstly as a Concert Hall, then as a theatre.
Finally, after the 2nd World War,
it was divided into two floors with the lower floor operating as a games
arcade (Laughter Land) with stalls and crazy mirrors and the upper floor
accomodating the Ocean Restaurant |
| Interior of the
Ocean Restauarant (upstairs in the Pier-head building - formerly the Pavilion
Theatre)
This picture shows the Ocean Restaurant
in its present very sorry state. On the floor are discarded books of tickets
for the Old Time Music Hall Shows held in the Concert Hall during the 1960's.
During the 1950's musical entertainment
in the Ocean Restaurant was provided by a juke-box, which seems very removed
from the performances given in the theatre during the earlier part of the
century.
The south part of the pier was the
first to be shut to the public i n 1970 as it was no longer structurally
safe. The rest of the West Pier was finally closed down in 1970. |
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