Pier Review
Sunday, March 1st, 2015We continued our pier-bothering this weekend: another short break saw us down the M40, M25, A23 and A27 to Worthing. We’d done all the closest piers, and it being February, south seemed like a good choice- and so it was, on Friday: glorious sunshine saw us without coats outside a seafront bar in brilliant sunshine. Sadly, Saturday saw rain, mist, and wind, and I’d forgotten to take the camera out on Friday, so the Pier’s art-deco amusement arcade only got a hurried pic in the rain:
In addition to the amusement hall, the Southern Pavillion has been refurbished- nicely so- and houses a tearoom/music/wedding venue: they’ve done a great job of that, but their website’s a bit lacking- unlike the array of (mostly blues) acts they have on.
Generally, the pier is in quite good shape: while we were there, decking was being replaced, which is nice to see, after the horrors of Colwyn Bay. Nice to see a council-owned pier being maintained, and busy, and making money.
On to the town itself: walk from our hotel in the east towards town along the seafront and it’s looking affluent and a bit la-di-dah, but elsewhere, like most places, it varies; we had an excellent Turkish meal in an area that, in politician-speak, would be described as “vibrant” (to be fair, the dark, wet evening didn’t do it any favours, but the meal was fantastic).
As you’d expect in the south, prices were a bit high in some places: north of 11 quid for a pint and a large wine give me a bit of a shock, but this was a seafront bistro/bar- back in the “vibrant” end of town it was just over six quid at the architecturally wonderful, but slightly rough Grand Victorian Hotel. Generally, I liked the town a lot.