The Vandalism of the West Pier
The removal of the concert hall section of Brighton’s West Pier is an unforgivable act of council-sponsored vandalism. Brighton & Hove Council leader Mary Mears said ‘The removal of part of the West Pier will be a sad moment‘. She is gravely wrong, choosing to professionally downplay the scale of the political travesty that she and her colleagues have visited on Brighton & Hove. It is much worse than that, and I’ll tell you why, in unsentimental terms.
In it’s skeletal state, the West Pier is the city’s true jewel. The work of scores of photographers & painters testify to its iconic status. This work, consisting largely of images the Pier silhouetted against the setting sun, whilst being near universally awful, at least testifies to the pier’s importance to locals.
But that’s not the real reason.
The structure itself is beautiful. The rusting ironwork against the suggests rich imagery: ruined temples, beached whalebones, Victorian splendour. It may, as some argue, have been more beautiful prior to the ravages that have stripped it bare, but those events are history now, and the surviving iron frame is all we have left of the original pier.
But that’s not the real reason either.
The concert hall will have been the scene of many important memories to thousands of residents of the city. People will have met, danced with, and kissed their first love there. It will have served a similar purpose for the millions of holiday-makers who have passed through in search of a little seaside romance.
But even that’s not the real reason. All these reasons, and others like them, are important, but, without the addition of a far more important reason, they do not provide requisite justification for retaining the collapsed section.
Dr. Michael Skey recently completed his doctorate, which featured an analysis of the national characteristics of the United Kingdom. His research tended towards a healthy skepticism about the idea that any nation could have unique ‘national characteristics’. People and nations are too complex and multi-faceted to make broad claims like that about. Ideas such British self-effacement, German reliability and Italian emotiveness simply do not hold up to close scrutiny. Britain has leagues of cocksure men, millions of Germans have poor punctuality, and there are some very dry Italians around.
However, in the act of debunking the notion of national characteristics, Dr. Skey did discover one - and only one - aspect of British culture that is found nowhere else on earth: our seaside culture. Penny arcades, candyfloss, saucy postcards, ‘Kiss Me Quick’ hats, fairgrounds, crazy golf, piers. Dr. Skey was able to label this as uniquely a British (as opposed to English) phenomenon.
It is an aspect of our culture you may perhaps not be greatly enamored of, but the way you feel about it is irrelevant. The bare fact is that we are the originators of - and therefore the custodians of - that culture. We have sole charge of it, making it our responsibility to preserve for future generations.
This makes any aspect of it, no matter how corroded, precious. And once this is understood, there is no justification for the council’s behaviour. I have no hesitation in saying it was basically outrageous. I have nothing against the i360, I think it looks like great fun, but to remove the concert hall to make way for it is simply unforgivable.
Megalithic henge monuments are not uniquely British because they also exist in continental Europe. But nothing as advanced as Stonehenge does. Some of the lintels of Stonehenge fell down millennia ago, perhaps the councillors of Salisbury should think about tidying them away? And in Egypt, some of early pyramids are in a parlous state of ruin, no better than rubble, maybe the politicians in Cairo ought to think about removing those? And has anyone told the Tunisians that Carthage has seen better days? Maybe they could think about bulldozing part of it to make way for a new holiday complex or something?
Honestly, what were they thinking? I’m speechless, really.
Tags: west pier