Commentary: the scale of the tragedy | A short history

The owners of one of Britain’s longest piers vowed last night to rebuild it after a devastating fire destroyed the structure, at Weston-super-Mare, in Somerset, in only 90 minutes.

By mid-morning yesterday all that remained of the town’s 104-year-old Grand Pier, refurbished recently at a cost of more than £1 million, was a tangle of twisted steel girders.

With it disappeared the holiday dreams of thousands of visitors who were expected to descend on the town over the coming weeks. To add insult to injury, hail and torrential rain later sent sunbathers scurrying for shelter.

Times Archive, 1930: Weston-Super-Mare pier fire

Thousands of people gathered on the sea front to watch the fire, which was reflected in the incoming tide

• In pictures, 1962: Penny 'fruit machines' at Weston-super-Mare

• Advertisement, 1903: The Weston-Super-Mare Grand Pier Company

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• In pictures: The Grand Pier on fire

For Anne Magor, offering children’s rides on a horse-drawn fire engine in the shadow of the pier, it was the worst possible start to the season. Mrs Magor’s husband’s family has had the donkey-ride concession since before the last time that the Grand Pier burnt down, on January 13, 1930.

She said: “It couldn’t be more disappointing really. It’s going to have a bad effect on Weston. It’s been a slow start to the season and now we have this at the beginning of the holiday.”

There was a grim benefit from the fire: her fire engine with Fireman Sam written on the sides was full of passengers, some at least of whom might otherwise have been on the pier.

The fire is believed to have broken out in a deep-fat fryer in the pier’s staff canteen in the early hours of yesterday morning. Within minutes the entire wooden structure at the end of the mile-and-a-quarter pier was ablaze, sending a plume of smoke into the air that could be seen from Cardiff on the opposite side of the Bristol Channel, 60 miles (96km) away.

The fire incinerated the new go-kart track, along with the traditional funfair. More than 80 firefighters tackled the blaze but attempts to bring it under control were hampered by the difficult access along the narrow pier and, ironically for a seaside resort, a shortage of water for the pumps.

During the afternoon occasional streams of sparks fell through holes burnt in the wooden decking to land in clouds of steam in the incoming tide as firefighters damped down the smouldering debris.

The Grand Pier opened in 1904 and quickly became Weston-super-Mare’s leading attraction. Older locals still recall the devastating fire of 1930 when children ran beneath the burning pier to gather handfuls of pennies that dropped from melting slot machines.

The remains were bought by Leonard Guy and the pier was completely rebuilt, reopening three years later. Mr Guy sold up in 1946 and the pier did not change hands again until this year, when it was bought for £10 million by Kerry and Michelle Michael, brother and sister entrepreneurs. Weston-super-Mare had been hoping for a bumper season as holidaymakers hit by the credit crunch cancelled plans for foreign trips. Andrew Horler, the town’s Mayor, was among local residents who lined the seafront watching their pier go up in flames. “This is a real blow for Weston. It’s an iconic, beautiful building. The Grand Pier represents Weston.”

The pier is a Grade II listed building and one of only 55 pleasure piers that remain around the country. Local businesses fear that its demise will be a devastating blow for the resort. Keith Fern, president of the Weston Hotel and Restaurant Association and owner of the Saxonia Guest House, said: “We’ve already had two customers walk out and go home this morning. You can imagine how we feel. It feels like the loss of a limb.”

Tim Phillips, chairman of the National Pier Society, was in Weston only a few weeks ago discussing the future of the Grand Pier with Ms Michael. He said: “It is a quirk of piers that they seem to catch fire.”

Kevin Pearson, the chief fire officer of Avon Fire and Rescue Service, said that the fire was believed to have started in a deep-fat fryer in the turret of the main pavilion. No one was injured and a member of staff — Robert Tinker, 60, who has worked on the pier for 43 years — was credited with preventing a worse disaster by helping to drag several gas cylinders out of the way of the flames . Mr Pearson said: “If the other cylinders had exploded they could have caused a significant risk to our firefighters.”

Mr Michael, 49, said last night: “When we purchased the Grand Pier in February we regarded ourselves as custodians rather than owners. For this tragic event to have taken place on our watch is truly devastating. I feel very sorry for our dedicated staff many of whom have been on the pier all their working lives.” Flanked by two dozen employees at an impromtu press conference, he added: “We will work tirelessly to restore this magnificant structure to its former glory.”

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