Hastings Pier

joanlawson

Hi

I was so sad to see that Hastings Pier has burned down during the night.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-11473688

I have always liked walking along piers, and they are such an part of our English heritage. I hope that it can be saved for future generations.

Joan

only49

thats so sad, i wonder what caused it ? i hope they do restore it.

dreamdaisy

I think the news mentioned they have arrested a couple on suspicion of arson. Hastings pier had been closed for some time, I think they were trying to raise money to restore it. I love piers: Southwold has a cracker! DD

joanlawson

If it is arson as suspected, that is dreadful. I hope it can be restored.

lupin15

Really sad, my mum and dad took us down as kids...us to go on the old penny machines. I am sure my parents said that it had been closed for sometime and a great deal of money was needed to complete work.
So sad as it is part of our History and i cannot see the money being out there to get it repaired. i am sure this has happened to another pier down south??? Didn't Brighton have a fire on there's a few years ago?

mellman01

I think you will find it was a can of 4 star and a box of Swan matches, why do idiots do this kind of thing is nothing safe any more, the scum that have breed like rabbits in the run down sink water estates of our major cities are now turning our heritage to ashes just as they have the inner cities where they spawned, no punishment no deterrent, stick the buggers in a set of stocks outside the entrance for a month or two and post the results on U Tube that might help, but even as the smoke dies down you can here some social worker making loads of excuses as to why these two little darlings did it, broken home blah blah mistreated by their parents(sorry parent) blah blah they were drug addicts blah blah society shunned them blah blah and the number one killer," they are victims too and it was a cry for help".
Sorry went off on one again!.

lululu

On our local news someone was seen jumping down from the pier and a man caught him and handed him over to the police so the police just got lucky there. Two men have been arrested. wonder what they get out of it don't you.

carol101

Living in Kent, Hastings was always a holiday destination as a child. Mum and Dad couldn't afford to go away so we had a week where day would take us to a different seaside everyday. Hastings was always a hit and now me and hubby quite often take a drive down there for a fish supper. It was sad enough seeing the pier not in use, now even more sad.

The local seaside is dying and does not need idiots setting fire to places like this.

tkachev

I was born in Eastbourne and spent happy times at Hastings and on the pier. I saw many great bands there and often stayed with my friend in the town. So this very, very sad.
Hastings has always had its rough element Mell being a seaside place to put the homeless in the bed and breakfasts.

Did you read about Didcott and its waste products being used for gas usage? I thought of you.....

Elizabeth

Rainbow77

Hi everyone. I live in Hastings and when I went out this morning, there is a haze across the town and the smell of smoke.

Yes it has been closed for a few years. The owners are registered in panama. They have been unable to contact the owners since it closed. The council had carried out a survey to see how much it would cost to make safe and open up just the front apron. The quote for the front apron was 3 million. There has been a lot of support for the pier here and they have just set up a trust to raise funds for it.

To burn it down like that they would of had to set it alight from the far sea end by boat as the floor is all rotten and you cannot walk on it.

Well it is great shame and it will do nothing for the appearance of the seafront.

We always get so much bad national press in Hastings. So this is another thing to add to this.

Fayann xxx

mellman01

Can I ask one question on here, what the feck is the lottery fund for if not fixing up something icon's like this, about time they spent some of our hard earned cash on this kind of thing instead of stuff like the Albanian lesbian yak farmers collective or Jihad training for Mongolian hamsters in the Gobi desert or such like silliness!.

trisher

We have often gone on the pier. It is such a shame it has been distroyed. It did have a lot of history.

It was made of wood so I expect they had no chance of saving it.

Trish xxx

lululu

worked hard in pysio this morning so thought i would just go for a drive. Ended up in Hastings - 1hr drive, I can't find the words to describe the damage done to the pier, I have never seen anything like it, the whole lot is beond repair. I bet it stays like that for years and years. I belive the owners of Brighton pier did not have it insured, this will be the same. I googled the max sentence for arson - life in prison, I would not mind betting that the B's got out in a couple of years.

tkachev

Where do you live LuLuLU?

Elizabeth

dreamdaisy

The burned-out pier at Brighton is strangely beautiful, and they still have the other one, which is, well, I shall use the word 'vibrant'. It is a shame about Hastings, it is another part of our seaside history lost. I doubt repairs will be effected: if they could not raise the funds when it was there, they won't bother now. It may be time to scrap the overseas aid budget, or at least halve it: let's spend some of those many millions on ourselves for a change. DD

airwave

Perhaps its better to have gone, rather than sit and rot for another 50 years? Apart from the money angle, what would it have been used for if it was still operating? Lack of income was why it was like it was, broke.

I spent the first years of my life, looking out of my bedroom window at Southend Pier and did enjoy using it. Mum and dad used to take us on trips aboard the SS Daffodil and even some paddlesteamers that were still going; Margate, Ramsgate, Whitstable etc etc I thoroughly enjoyed all the trips even if my mum did try to make me eat cheese sandwiches, yuk! Many happy hours spent fishing, running up and down the pier in all weathers sometimes getting a ride on the train, oh what fun.

8)Its a grin, honest!