Weekly Photo Challenge: Hot

Mike Hardisty

On 28th July 2008 a fire destroyed the pier at Weston-super-Mare UK. At the time I lived in Weston-super-Mare and was able to catch this series of pictures….

The Grand Pier, as the pier is called, is situated on the Bristol Channel approximately 18 miles (29 km) south west of Bristol. The pier is privately-owned and is one of three piers in the town together with Birnbeck Pier, which stands derelict awaiting possible restoration and the much shorter SeaQuarium aquarium built towards the south end of the seafront. It is supported by 600 iron piles and is 400 metres (1,300 ft) long. It has been damaged by fire on one other occasion, which was in 1930.

Fire-fighters fought the blaze for a good few hours but by the time they were notified the fire had already taken hold and it was obvious to everyone watching that they weren’t going to save the pier.

Now whilst the fire was on I shot off about 150 images. I thought this one was particularly poignant

Of course like all seaside towns in the UK there’s got to be at least one Fish and Chip shop. Weston is no exception and there are loads along the sea-front.

Following the 2008 fire, which completely destroyed the pavilion, the pier was rebuilt at a cost of £39 million and reopened on 23 October 2010.

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Published by Mike Hardisty

Landscape photography is a very important part of my life. Capturing the ever changing scenery gives me a sense of discovery. Photography in the mountains or on the coast, experiencing changing light and weather conditions, is a continuous learning process and gives me the freedom to think and live.

20 Comments

    1. Thank You! It was an awesome sight to see it go up and be consumed so quickly. It went from a solid structure to a twisted shellin not much more than 30 minutes

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    1. The new pier is supposed to be bigger and better but I left Weston-super-Mare whilst it was still being built and I’ve not been back to see what t looks like…

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  7. What a dramatic series of events. You were able to capture all of it. Hopefully they will rebuild the Pier. Sometimes fire and natural disasters can turn against us and it is a humbling experience. great pictures.

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