Six of the best SEASIDE PIERS

Half the 100 or so Victorian piers that once circled Britain's coast have vanished but these remaining six are showstoppers

- Rhiannon Batten

Swanage Pier

Extending for almost 200 elegant metres into the English Channel, this Dorset promenade was the work of prolific pier designer Eugenius Birch. Opened in 1897, to serve passenger steamers running along England's south coast, it fell into disrepair in the late 1960s. Now Grade II-listed and run by a charitable trust, it was restored in the late 1990s and continues to draw visitors with its ornamental ironwork, dapper wooden shelter, and Jurassic Coast views. Like several other piers, it's visited by the historic Waverley paddle steamer, but it's also home to a popular diving centre and hosts outdoor yoga in summer.

swanagepiertrust.com

Blackpool Central

One of three piers built in what was once the UK's prime seaside resort, this Lancashire icon is, arguably, the most famous example of its kind. Like so many others, it was built (in 1868) to tap into the growth of visitors that came with the rise of railways and workers' holidays. Dubbed the 'People's Pier', unlike the town's North Pier older, longer, and altogether more refined - it was designed (by Lieutenant-Colonel John Isaac Mawson) as a kind of overwater fun fair; entertainment for the working classes was the objective. Later additions included. a theatre, dodgems, waltzers, and a ferris wheel.