Piers

The Palace Pier (renamed Brighton Pier in 2000) opened in May 1899 and is still popular. It suffered a large fire on 4 February 2003 but the injure was limited and most of the pier was able to reopen the next day.
The even older West Pier, built in 1866, has been closed since 1975 awaiting renovation. The West Pier is one of only two Grade I listed piers in the UK, the other being Clevedon Pier. Plans to renovate the pier have been different by some local residents who claim that the future new onshore structures - which the renovators need to pay for the work on the pier - would obstruct their view of the sea. The restoration is also opposed by the owners of the Brighton Pier, who supposedly see its subsidised rebuilding, were it to happen, as unfair competition.
The West Pier incompletely collapsed on December 29, 2002 when a walkway connecting the concert hall and pavilion fell into the sea after being battered by storms. On January 20, 2003 a further collapse saw the destruction of the concert hall in the middle of the pier. On March 28, 2003 the pavilion at the end of the pier caught fire. Firefighters were unable to save the building from destruction because of the precarious state of the walkway. The cause of the fire remains unknown. On May 12, 2003, another fire broke out, intense most of what was left of the concert hall. Arson was supposed. On June 23, 2004 high winds caused the middle of the pier to completely collapse.
Despite all these setbacks, the owner of the site West Pier Trust remained obstinate they would soon begin full restoration work. Finally, in December 2004, the trust admitted defeat, after their plans were discarded by English Heritage and the Lottery Heritage Fund. They still hope to reconstruct the pier in some form, though restoration is no longer their goal.