Letters 06.02.20

Penarth Times readers may not be aware that this year is the 125th Anniversary of the opening of Penarth Pier. After abortive attempts from several companies during the 1880s, the rights to build a pier at Penarth were finally obtained by the Penarth Landing Pier and Promenade Company towards the end of the decade. Unfortunately, all was not plain sailing and following a sequence of arguments, allegations that the pier design was not following the agreed plans, and objections that the pier would interfere with traffic into the harbour, a syndicate of local businessmen took over the pier company in June 1890. However, it wasn’t until January 1894 that work to build the pier started in earnest and the pier finally opened to the public in February 1895. But the official opening ceremony didn’t happen until April 1895. For some time, the actual date was thought to be the 13th April, but the National Piers Society’s archivist has now found evidence which indicates the official opening took place the previous week on the 6th April. We hope to mark the opening of the pier with a number of events throughout the year and will be advising readers accordingly. In the meantime, the National Piers Society has further information on Penarth and the other sixty remaining seaside piers within the UK on its website at www.piers.org.uk.