Withernsea pier: A beacon of hope for all seaside towns
Britain’s coastal towns battle against seasonal employment, lack of investment and the constant threat of erosion. But a town in East Yorkshire might have a solution. Harriet Marsden meets the pier man
When native Norwegian Torkel Larsen first washed up on the shores of East Yorkshire, he never imagined he would be the one to rebuild its most significant pier. But for the last six years, Larsen has led residents of Withernsea in a battle to recreate the lost pier – and to resurrect the spirit of the town. Council delays, spiralling costs and successive lockdowns have all got in the way, but the team remains undeterred.
On the Holderness coast of East Riding, Yorkshire, about 15 miles from Hull – or an hour and 10 minutes by bus over flat, Dutch-like farmland, is where you’ll find the small seaside town of Withernsea. It is well known for its marine life, fishing industry, sparkling North Sea waters and a bizarrely inland lighthouse. But once, more than 100 years ago, it was known for its bustling Victorian pier.
Now, when you stand on the beach, you squint your eyes against the wind to see huge turbines on the horizon, and – on a clear day – the Humber suspension bridge. Either side of your view are castle-like towers: the last remnants that mark where the pier entrance once stood, like the stump of an amputated limb. Paul Whitehead, who owns and runs the Castle Cafe that overlooks the towers, says: “This place was once called the Brighton of the North … the pier will be that link to bring it back to its former glory.”
Once a tiny village with a few hundred inhabitants, Withernsea made its fortune practically overnight in 1854, when a railway track from Hull was introduced. Suddenly, labourers who worked in the big smoke could choose to live on the coast, while city dwellers could flock to the seaside for a holiday.
Less than 20 years later, local businessman Anthony Bannister had the idea of attracting more tourists with a bustling attraction opposite the train station: a pier. Work began on a 1,200-foot structure that would jut out into the North Sea, encouraging boat trips, fishing and arcades. The imposing gateway towers are said to have been modelled on the mediaeval Conwy Castle in north Wales, and the full pier would end up costing £12,000. In 1878, Withernsea Pier opened for business. Tourism boomed, with thousands walking the pier planks for a penny each. Brighton of the North was born.
But like the lighthouse that now lures ships with its siren flash, the pier drew vessels on course to collision. In 1880, a devastating storm lashed against the whole Yorkshire coast. A fishing boat, Jabez, hit the end of the new pier and sank, killing all four sailors on board. Three out of four whose bodies washed up on shore are still buried in the churchyard of Withernsea, marked with a gravestone that reads: “Here lies three bodies, natives of Colchester, who died crashing into the pier.”
The same year, the coal barge Saffron took a 200-ft chunk out the middle of the pier. Ten years later, Genesta, another fishing boat would, take more than half. In 1893, the Henry Parr would take most of the rest. (Funnily enough, the Henry Parr was owned by a Yorkshireman who emigrated to Norway. Now, the pier could be rebuilt by a Norwegian immigrant to Yorkshire.)
The lighthouse; a white Tolkien-esque tower on the town’s skyline that opened in 1894, was too late to save the pier. Several storms and countless more collisions would leave a once-proud structure as rubble on the shore. The last vestiges were swept away at the turn of the century, when the town built the sea wall and promenade to protect itself from the moody swell.
The surrounding area retained its almost mythical beauty. In 1917, Tolkien did arrive in East Yorkshire to convalesce from the trench fever he picked up on the Western front. He was stationed at a camp very close to Withernsea, and in a nearby wood named Roos his wife Edith danced for him. He later acknowledged that this inspired his tale of Beren and Luthien, which he would develop into Middle Earth.
Like so many UK coastal towns, shells of their former touristic glory, Withernsea suffers from a seasonal economy. In the winter, even the pub shuts
But of Withernsea Pier, only the old towers remained, a memorial to the lost sailors. Soon they too would fall into disuse. And so, eventually, would the town. The once-busy railway station closed in 1964, when the last passenger train left Withernsea. The lighthouse, which had beckoned ships to safety for nearly 100 years, was put out in 1976. Withernsea is still the only town that stands between a lighthouse and the sea, but the beacon of the town and the tower was snuffed out.
Many times over the next 100 years, people would suggest rebuilding the pier – there’s material going all the way back to the 1890s. A new structure would bring business and visitors all year round, as well as improving trading in the summer. But it always came to nothing.
Today, Withernsea is only accessible from the nearest major transport hub by an infrequent and uncomfortably winding bus. Like so many UK coastal towns, shells of their former touristic glory, Withernsea suffers from a seasonal economy. In the winter, even the pub shuts because there’s nobody in it.
In 2010, it was deemed one of the UK’s most affordable coastal towns, which brought an influx of house-buyers from wealthier southern cities and priced residents out of the centre. Almost the whole town of Withernsea is ranked as one of the most deprived places in England. Since the financial crisis, it has only grown poorer.
Roger Reed, a resident, remembers his grandparents talking wistfully about bringing back the pier. “They said if we had the pier again, it would give the town something to be proud of. But it’s the wherewithal to do it that’s been missing.” The way his grandparents spoke, he says, was – wouldn’t it be nice if they rebuilt the pier. “This nebulous ‘they’ don’t really exist. What was needed was someone to come along and say, we will build this pier.” That man was Torkel Larsen.
When I sit with Larsen in his garden, just metres from the promenade, the wind and the gulls threaten to drown out his soft, almost accentless voice. “I feel a connection [to Withernsea],” he says. “I grew up on an island in Norway, so I’ve always been very close to the sea.”
Larsen moved to the UK for university in 1989, where he met Rachel, the woman who would become his wife. At first, they lived in Buckinghamshire – “about as far away from the sea as you can get”. But Rachel’s parents lived in Withernsea, and the newlyweds would join them for holidays by the sea. Eventually, in 2005, they bought a house in Withernsea. “Back by the North Sea,” he says, “felt more like coming home.”
Larsen is thoroughly Nordic, with glacial-blue eyes and a calm, open face, but his grandparents were originally from Blackpool – there were piers in his blood. By chance, the house he bought in Bannister Street originally belonged to David Cookson, a local historian turned intense hoarder. The whole house was “full of stuff”, says Larsen, but instead of chucking it all out as rubbish, he and his wife decided to go through it all. For two months, room by room, they sorted.
One day, they happened to open a desk drawer and found the original architect’s drawings of the lost pier. Torkel was fascinated by the drawings, showing the ornate cast-iron girders and Victorian styling. He posted them on social media, and got an overwhelming response from the community. “I thought, why don’t we rebuild it? And that’s how it all started.”
Of course, it’s not quite that simple in the 21st century. But Larsen organised a meeting in the town, and a dozen people turned up. That group of committed locals and volunteers would, in 2016, officially band together as the Withernsea Pier and Promenade Association (WPPA). “We are a local group determined to put Withernsea back on the map,” their tagline goes, “and make it the place to visit in Holderness to be at the seaside.”
The plan evolved beyond the pier, expanding to encompass the regeneration of the whole promenade. The following year, the towers were repaired with a grant from the Coastal Revival Fund, and now form a magnificent focal point of the whole promenade. Locals can slip in through the low doors and see plans for the new pier in one tower, and a local arts and crafts shop in the other. Larsen, meanwhile, has gone from softly spoken outsider and crew manager of the fire service, to “the pier man” of Withernsea. Everybody knows who he is. “Yeah, it’s a bit weird,” he says. “It’s not by choice. It just happened like that.”
When the WPPA first announced its dream of rebuilding the pier to the town, the people of Withernsea were enthusiastic – but there was a great deal of scepticism, too. Larsen remembers: “Just about everyone said it would never happen.”
In 2016, the WPPA drew up plans for a feasibility study, paid for by Withernsea Big Local. The team was advised to break down the project into distinct phases, starting with a promenade extension called a “pier head” – a boat platform where people could sit and take in the view, fish off the side, or embark on trips to nearby Grimsby and Spurn Point. It would also form a visual focal point for further fundraising to complete the pier. The team believed that once the viewing platform was in place, it would create a history: a record to show potential investors that the pier wasn’t just a pipe dream. Projected cost? About £70,000.
Later stages for a 600-foot pier – about half the original length – include a large cafeteria with panoramic views, an information hub and a conference room. The final phase planned is a large renewable energy centre, with solar panels and wind turbines, and a hydroelectric generator powered by the crashing waves. Total price? Somewhere in the region of £8m.
Surprisingly for a community project, there has been almost no local dissent or resistance – even on Facebook
The team hoped that building for the new viewing platform could begin in October 2019, to open in summer 2020. The council had approved the drawings and given planning permission. In January 2020, a huge grant from the National Lottery Fund boosted the spirits of the WPPA. Then, the pandemic hit, and the plan was on the rocks. Lockdown – and the subsequent supply-chain issues and rising costs – would push the projection for the pier far beyond the original quote. New price for stage one? A cool quarter of a million pounds.
In January 2021, after years of intense fundraising, the team announced that they had reached their target to begin work on stage one. There was huge excitement in the town – and great plans afoot to have a grand reopening of the pier towers in March, with the viewing platform again to open in summer. But just four weeks before they were due to begin construction, last March, the East Riding of Yorkshire Council sent a hurried list of queries, and things they wanted altering. “Knowing full well we had no chance of getting it done in time,” says Larsen.
Architects were forced to change the drawings. Meanwhile, the original contract quote of £250,000 expired, and the price went up again. Effectively, the council created another shortfall of £60,000, which the WPPA will have to find from somewhere if they’re to try for third time this autumn. Larsen, with Scandinavian cool, says: “Yes, we’ve had a bit of a setback, but it’s by no means cancelled. It’s a hurdle we have to get over. But people are looking at it and saying, ‘This could happen.’ And there’s a lot more belief in the project now than there was a year ago.”
The team is still planning to reopen the pier towers this Easter. But now, after six years, Larsen has stepped down as chair of the WPPA. He fears that the council does not really want the project to succeed. Paul Thornton, the vice chair, has taken over. As to the stops and starts and endless delays, there are all sorts of conspiracy theories. Gavin Spencer, another resident involved with the WPPA, believes that the simple answer is that nobody in a position of authority ever thought it would happen. But when Big Local provided the funding for the first phase, people suddenly thought – this could happen.
“Let’s face it,” he says at the meeting of the WPPA I attended, “at the moment, if you’re looking for donations or charitable funds and if you don't have the word coronavirus in it somewhere, your chances of success are pretty slim. So when it was obvious that the funding gap was going to be filled … that made it doable.”
In some minds, the county councillors dragged their heels on the project, then suddenly panicked and asked a tranche of questions they should have asked months before. “The sad thing is,” says Peter Crawley, then the vice-chair of the WPPA, “is that as we come out of the pandemic and return to some level of normality, the council are talking about how to regenerate the town and get things going again … well if they got their finger out and allowed the pier to be built, that would be the ideal thing.”
Excitement about the potential pier far exceeds the small town. Donations have come in from as far as Australia, from people with roots on the coast or who are just interested in regeneration and local history. Some are simply captivated by this idea – this crazy, grandiose idea that, thanks to community spirit and collaboration, has suddenly become a viable construction project.
Surprisingly for a community project, there has been almost no local dissent or resistance – even on Facebook. Any negative responses are rooted in doubt about the chances of success, rather than the merits of the idea. Hundreds of people have donated to fundraisers, and many local businesses have invested in the project, knowing that the potential boost to tourism would pay off in spades. Anyone claiming that the money raised would be better spent elsewhere is ignoring the simple truth: that the money has been specifically raised by the WPPA and donated for the pier. It’s nothing to do with government funding.
David Adams, the rep for Withernsea Big Local, calls it “one of the best examples of a community project that I’ve ever seen.”
Cafe owner Whitehead, 55, is the third generation of his family to live in Withernsea. After 27 years in London, he moved back three and a half years ago. “I decided that I wanted to come home … and my wife and I love this place. I just have a passion for this place. I’ve been around the world … and this has always been our safe place, wherever we travelled. It’s just a good place to be.”
As the owner of the locals’ favourite cafe, he sees and hears everything. He says locals reminisce about the railway track, the train that used to run from Hull and the markets. “I think the pier will put us back on the map … it will be a talking point.”
Apart from the “crazy” inland lighthouse, “you’ve got to be famous for something, right?”
He continues: “When those towers are lit up by the sunlight, it is magical. And occasionally, you'll get a rainbow light behind them, or dark clouds over the sea lit up by sunrise. When the wind drops and the sun comes out, and they've invested in some lighting for the night time… it’s absolutely gorgeous here. The pier is gonna be quite a sight when it's built.”
Whitehead, who used to work for the East of Riding council, believes that “the people at the heart of this are not going to give in, so it will happen.
As Larsen said: “I think it's totally going to transform it. Since we lost the railway, the town’s gone from being a thriving seaside resort, and gradually over the years just declined and declined. And I think people are thinking … we'll never be great again, nothing ever happens here. And I think if we can get this back, even just the first stage, it will give the local community hope.”
As Whitehead puts it: “That’s the fun thing about this area. Welcome to East Yorkshire. Common sense does prevail in the end.”
Sitting on the promenade, surrounded by baby-pastel houses with the waves crashing on to a white sandy beach, it’s hard to believe you’re anywhere that could be described as deprived. But the pandemic has been a revolution for UK coastal towns, recasting them as desirable staycation spots rather than decaying monuments to past glory.
At the moment, there are still 61 piers in the UK, from Blackpool to Bournemouth and many in between. But there are more places like Withernsea – such as Morecambe, St Leonards-on-Sea, Scarborough – haunted by lost Victorian piers and former touristic glory. So this project isn’t just a beacon of hope for Withernsea, but for all UK seaside towns battling seasonal employment, lack of investment and the constant threat of coastal erosion.
Even with a relatively small amount of publicity, the project has drawn interest and visitors from all over the country before a single brick has been laid. And people don’t come to Withernsea by accident. The bus from Hull is too uncomfortable. This pier, and all the work that’s already gone into it, is a love letter to Withernsea.
Once, more than 100 years ago, Tolkien was inspired by a forest near Withernsea to create a whole world. Perhaps, 100 years from now, Larsen will be remembered for something similar.
Harriet Marsden is a freelance writer and recipient of the Local Trust’s journalist-at-large fellowship, reporting from England’s most deprived communities
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