Sadly, our dreams of buying Fleetwood Pier to build a Frog the Dog World theme park have suffered a set back - the poor old pier was burned down yesterday, the last of the old English seaside piers to be built, back in 1910.
I would love to have known the pier in its heyday; but in recent years it has fallen into decay, and was recently bought by a local business man who hoped (somehwat controversially) to build residential flats on it.
In the hearts of most Fleetwood people though was the dream of restoring it to its former glory. Can you imagine how much it would cost in public liability insurance alone to have a fun fair on the pier these days? But it's what piers were made for - we want to see merry-go-rounds and helter skelters, we want to sniff the candy floss, peer over the railings into the briny, saunter long the planks to take in the stiff sea breezes.
We want somewhere to relish the views across Morecambe Bay, somewhere to sit with an ice cream, somewhere to sit inside when its raining; this IS England, after all!
Now we will have to stand by watching the pier disintegrate whilst it is decided what will happen to it next. Poor old pier.
