Brighton Pier
— — the seaside the Victorians built.
Not only on a wall.
“The Palace Pier reaches 524 metres into the English Channel, halfway between the Marina and the Hove lawns. Helter-skelter at one end, an arcade humming the whole way down, fairground rides at the head. Locals walk the deck in winter when the wind takes the gulls sideways. The lights come on at dusk and the wood underfoot keeps the day's warmth a little longer. from the studio
Brighton Pier, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Brighton Palace Pier opened on 20 May 1899, the third pleasure pier built at Brighton and the only one still standing. It runs 524 metres into the English Channel from the seafront at Madeira Drive, between the Old Steine and Kemptown. The pier was designed by R. St George Moore and replaced the Royal Suspension Chain Pier, which was destroyed in a storm in 1896. It is Grade II listed and remains one of the most visited free attractions in the United Kingdom, drawing several million people each year.
After dark the pier reads as a long necklace of bulbs over black water, the helter-skelter lit from inside and the dome of the Palace of Fun glowing at the shore end. The illuminations have been part of the pier's identity since the early 1900s and are visible from the Hove lawns to the west and Black Rock to the east. In late autumn the starling murmurations gather over the West Pier remains just before sunset, then drift east across the Palace Pier as the lights come up.
Entry to the pier is free and it stays open year-round, with shortened hours in winter. The arcade, rides, and food stalls have their own pricing. It sits a ten-minute walk from Brighton railway station, which runs frequent direct services to London Victoria in around an hour. Parking along Madeira Drive is metered; the bus routes along the seafront run late. The pier is at its quietest on weekday mornings out of season, when the boards are wet and most of the rides are still under their tarpaulins.