Grand Pier

The Grand Pier is a Grade II listed structure built primarily of cast iron, with concrete beams connecting it to a rubble stone abutment at the shore end. Additional materials, including steel reinforcement and a timber deck, have been added in the 21st century.

The pier extends about 370 meters from the land, featuring a landing stage beyond the pavilion end. The shore end measures 18 meters in width, while the promenade and landing stage are both 12 meters wide. The pavilion end is 64 meters wide.

The exterior of the shore end includes a stone abutment reinforced with concrete, topped by modern shops and an entrance façade. The abutment is lined with rubble stone walls and cobbled slipways leading to the beach, with repairs or replacements made to the walls and hard standings. The pier deck is supported by a cast-iron substructure of openwork girders and cast-iron columns set in screw piles. These tubular columns, which have capitals and plinths, increase in height as the land slopes down to the sea and are arranged in groups of eight or ten, featuring cross-braces under the lattice girder framework. Several 21st-century steel piles have been added for additional support, particularly in the bays toward the sea end, which have lateral bracing at a lower level. The pavilion end is supported by a 10 x 10 column arrangement with cross-bracing and lateral bracing at a lower level, with further support from tubular steel piles added in the 21st century. These columns lack capitals and extend up to the modern metal substructure beneath the pavilion deck. The landing stage, which is connected to the pavilion end, has a lattice girder substructure, and beyond it, twelve tubular columns in a circular arrangement rise about one meter above ground level. The substructure of the pavilion end and landing stage was raised and strengthened during the rebuild in 2009.

The deck, railings, and buildings on the pier are not considered to be of special interest.