Hawthorns Clevedon Extends its Sponsorship of Clevedon Pier
The Hawthorns Clevedon is proud to be a premier sponsor of the important Clevedon Pier since 2015. As well as support from the company, which provides free access to the Pier for the Hawthorns residents, many of the residents elected to become shareholders at a community listing of shares; in fact resident Sheila Rolls became the first such shareholder with share 001. She said: “I have been to lots of piers over the years and all around the world, because I love the sea and was quite a sailor in my day, but Clevedon is by far the best. I am thrilled to be part of something special.” The Pier Trust has to generate enough income protect the Pier from its harsh marine environment which has the second highest tidal range in the world; around £1m of major maintenance, repair and repainting works are carried out every 10 years.
Sir John Betjeman was quoted in 1979 saying, “I think the most beautiful pleasure Piers on the coasts of England are the West Pier at Brighton and its elegant outline and Clevedon Pier, Somerset which looks like a Whistler oil sketch or a Japanese print”. Sadly Brighton Pier is no more, but the with its graceful structure and beautiful pagoda buildings on the Pier Head, Clevedon has been totally refurbished in modern times and is now the only operational Grade 1 listed example in the country. It boasts a restaurant and café, shop, ice cream parlour, interpretation displays and a community meeting room, and an educational or meeting room that looks out to sea through the Pier’s superstructure.
This iconic landmark on the North Somerset coastline is an important tourist destination with some 90,000 visitors every year, including 4,000 boat passengers and 1,000 anglers. It is one of only 78 Piers constructed around the shores of the UK during 1854 to 1904, opened on Easter Monday, 29th March 1869, and since an outstanding feature of the historic Clevedon seafront. In 1970 the Pier partially collapsed under a load test and was saved only after the local community successfully campaigned and lobbied against the Council’s decision to demolish it. The Pier has eight spans each of 100ft and is 16 ½ ft. wide, with a 40 ft. by 50ft wide Pier head at the seaward end that supports a beautiful Japanese style Victorian pagoda and two strikingly elegant shelters. There is a lower level landing stage that has, over the years, seen thousands of passengers embark and disembark from ships such as the Balmoral and the paddle steamer Waverley (both of which still regularly call at the Pier).
