THE END OF THE PIER SHOW.
End of the pier
The pier. That traditional feature of many English seaside resorts. The place to stroll along the boardwalk, take in the ozone, sample the candy floss and maybe pop a penny in a one armed bandit.
Then in the evening, visit the theatre for a bawdy musical or comedy show. At around 7am, July 28, disaster struck Somerset's biggest seaside gaming centre, the hundred year old landmark pier at Weston-Super-Mare.
Situated at the end of the quarter mile long pier, the recently restored grade 2 listed pavillion accommodated bars, restaurants, snack kiosks and an amusement arcade, containing three hundred and seventy slot machines.
Fire broke out in a small section of the north east turret, and although fire services were quick to respond, the fire soon engulfed the entire complex.
As the fire spread, over a hundred firefighters threw a safety cordon around the pier, fearful that the slot machines would explode, the heat of the blaze turning them into virtual splinter bombs, with the danger of hot coins flying in all directions. Some way to win a jackpot.
In just over an hour, the entire pavillion had been destroyed, and with the slot machines apparently melted in the intense heat, rumours that thousands of pounds worth of coins had fallen through the burnt deck to the beach below, brought beachcombers to the site. But with the safety cordon firmly in place under and around the stricken pier, the high rolling waves of the Bristol Channel may be the first and only claim to this particular jackpot, in what was surely the most spectacular 'end of the pier show', ever.