10 of Britain’s greatest piers for eating, nightlife and good outdated seaside enjoyable | Beach holidays

Perched in our glass-fronted eyrie, 300 metres out to sea, we watch a murmuration of starlings rise and fall and swoop round us. When the present is over, we flip our consideration to the meals. I’ve a bespoke vegan menu based mostly on one of the best early summer time elements: jersey royals, asparagus, strawberries. My boyfriend orders off the weekly altering à la carte: slow-cooked beef dumplings adopted by butter-poached halibut.

We are at Ebb, a restaurant on the finish of the pier in Worthing, West Sussex, which opened in May. Its art-deco design and fine-dining dishes are a far cry from the fish-and-chip outlets and ice-cream parlours extra generally discovered on seaside piers. But traditionalists needn’t despair: downstairs at Perch on the Pier, fish and chips – in addition to tofish (tofu) and chips – are at all times on the menu, with a knickerbocker glory to spherical issues off in fantastic retro model.

Worthing pier, which opened in 1862, is one among Britain’s surviving Nineteenth-century pleasure piers. “The seaside piers around the coast of Britain stand as a powerful reminder of the achievements of Victorian engineers and entrepreneurs,” says the National Piers Society web site. “However, of the 100 piers that once graced our coastline, only half survive, and several of these face an uncertain future.” The society campaigns to protect the piers for everybody’s enjoyment, and has saved a number of that had been susceptible to demolition.

Worthing could be the foodiest pier within the UK, however all of them have their charms. Here are 10 nicely value a stroll out to sea.

Best for in a single day stays: Garth pier, Bangor, Gwynedd

Bangor’s 458-metre (1,500ft) pier stretches out midway throughout the Menai Strait, backdropped by the Eryri mountain vary (Snowdonia). To coincide with its one hundred and thirtieth anniversary this 12 months, the Pier Master’s House on the entrance has been changed into a vacation let (from £140 a night, sleeps six). The pavilion on the far finish is now a restaurant, and the smaller Victorian kiosks dotted alongside the pier home impartial companies promoting presents, artworks and native meals. There is a programme of weekend occasions over the summer time, from busking and kids’s enjoyable days to a canine parade.

Bournemouth pier (first opened 1856, present construction 1880) boasts the world’s first pier-to-shore zip wire, a 250-metre twin line ranging from the end-of-the-pier tower. As nicely because the PierZip, it has RockReef, an indoor climbing centre with 28 climbing partitions, an aerial impediment course, a vertical slide, a “leap of faith” and caving tunnels. The pier is one of the best place to look at Bournemouth’s Friday fireworks (10pm, till 28 August), and there’s common stay music at its Key West restaurant (till 28 August). The city’s different pier, Boscombe (opened 1889), is subsequent to free bouldering obstacles and slacklines, and close to the seashore volleyball courts.

Best for conventional seaside enjoyable: Britannia pier, Great Yarmouth

Britannia pier gained the coveted 2026 Pier of the Year award, taking up from final 12 months’s winner Llandudno, and beating runners-up Herne Bay and Swanage. The 250-metre pier was inbuilt 1858, however as with lots of the authentic Victorian piers, it has been broken, demolished, rebuilt (in 1901), burned down and reconstructed over time. The present homeowners purchased it in 2022 and have spent £2.2m restoring and upgrading it. Its points of interest embrace a theatre, enjoyable truthful, arcades, fish and chip store, pub and nightclub. Holidaymakers may also go to the city’s Wellington pier, additional south alongside the seafront, which opened in 1853 and has a bowling alley, arcade and ice-cream parlour.

Best for tradition: Penarth pier, Glamorgan

While Penarth pier dates again to 1894, as a touchdown jetty for the steamships within the Bristol Channel, its art-deco pavilion wasn’t constructed till 1929. This former dancehall has not too long ago been restored and is now a cinema and humanities centre, with year-round movie screenings, artwork exhibitions, stay music, workshops and talks. Coming up this month is a jazz brunch, a drawing workshop, and a knitting and crocheting social, alongside summer time blockbusters The Odyssey and Minions & Monsters. There is a restaurant within the pavilion, and a espresso store, ice-cream parlour and chippy elsewhere on the pier.

Best for exploration: Roker pier, Sunderland

Roker pier is distinctive for its red-and-white striped granite lighthouse, accomplished in 1903. After intensive restoration, and closures because of storm injury, pier and lighthouse at the moment are open for guided excursions (£14 adults/£10 kids, to 27 August). Visitors stroll the size of an underground tunnel to achieve the lighthouse – the route the keeper utilized in unhealthy climate – then climb to the highest to absorb the views. For post-tour refreshments, the pier’s former rest room block is now a gin bar, Tin of Sardines, with brunch and tapas menus served on the terrace in the summertime.

Best for magnificence: Clevedon pier, north Somerset

England’s solely Grade I-listed pier opened in 1869 to obtain paddle steamer passengers from Devon and Wales. It is constructed from discarded wrought iron railway traces formed into eight arches, almost 15 metres excessive. In 1980, throughout a marketing campaign to reserve it from demolition, the then poet laureate John Betjeman described it as “the most beautiful pier in England”. “Clevedon without its pier would be like a diamond with a flaw,” he stated. The pier was duly saved, and now its Victorian pagoda is a restaurant, its toll home is a museum and reward store, and there’s a trendy restaurant, the Glass Box. The sea view from the porthole room is streamed live 24/7.

Best for nightlife: Royal pier, Aberystwyth

The oldest pier in Wales (1865) was designed by Eugenius Birch, a famend seaside architect best-known for Brighton’s now-ruined West pier. Today, Royal pier is billed as “the number one destination for competitive socialising in Aberystwyth”, with three bars and a nightclub. There is a number of actions within the Billiard Bar, together with shuffleboard, augmented-reality darts, footpool and interactive mini golf; the Upstairs Bar has seven pool tables; and the Inn on the Pier is a restored Victorian boozer, with stained glass and customized tiles. DJs play chill-out tunes within the pier backyard over the summer time, and the Pressure Nightclub is open till 4am on Fridays and Saturdays.

Best for selection: Blackpool

Blackpool is the proud residence of three piers: Blackpool North (1863), Blackpool Central (1868) and Blackpool South (1893). The Grade II-listed north pier is the oldest surviving Birch pier, and has an art-deco theatre, a two-tier carousel, bars and an arcade. It was bought in June and is open till at the very least the top of the 12 months earlier than a promised £10m refurbishment. The central pier has Blackpool’s Big Wheel, a funfair and a present bar with stay performances. The south pier has a extra high-octane funfair, with a rollercoaster, a freefalling swing and a reverse bungee trip, and is subsequent to Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach for extra adrenaline-fuelled enjoyable. Its many foods and drinks choices embrace the Gin House and a loaded jacket potato stand.

Gravesend’s pier opened on the Thames in 1834, and is the oldest surviving cast-iron pier on the earth. It was as soon as a hub for steam packets to London – greater than 3 million passengers used it between 1835 and 1842 – and immediately there are nonetheless occasional summer time sailings to the capital with Uber Boat by Thames Clippers. Just by the doorway to the pier is the traditional Three Daws pub, which was licensed in 1565 because the Three Cornish Choughs and renamed in 1745. This outdated smugglers’ hang-out, which has three underground tunnels, now hosts a summer time beer and music competition (7-9 August) and an Oktoberfest (18 September).

Best for wet days: Sandown pier, Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight as soon as had an unimaginable 11 piers, and 4 nonetheless survive: Ryde (the second-longest within the UK, after Southend-on-Sea in Essex), Sandown, Totland (for sale) and Yarmouth. Sandown (1879) is a selected paradise for households, regardless of the climate. There is the Aztec-themed Lost World indoor loopy golf, with lighting and sound results; the Magic Island indoor journey play space; and Superbowl 10-pin bowling. The finish of the pier has rides resembling dodgems and teacups (Easter to September solely); there’s a cafe, ice-cream kiosk and burger bar; and Scruffy Jacks bar exhibits stay sport.