The (Palace) Pier rides

[DC Rules]

I hate rides, and I always think the pier looks tacky and is a rip off. But does anybody who actually lives in the area actually like it...or is it just tourists who go there?

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I hate rides, and I always think the pier looks tacky and is a rip off. But does anybody who actually lives in the area actually like it...or is it just tourists who go there?

I quite like it at night, when the rides have stopped and it is lit up, but it is a hideous structure in daylight. Certainly not the worst Pier in Britain though.

 

[DC Rules]

Yes it does look nice, although when I saw it lit up a couple of weeks ago, it looked like half of the bulbs weren't working.

So what do people think is the worst pier in the country then...

 

[Barrel of Fun]

That is because (ig)Noble are only interested in making outlandish profits without willing to put much money back in.

Walton-on-the-Naze has by far and away the worst Pier.

 

[Exmouth Seagull]

Walton-on-the-Naze has by far and away the worst Pier.

You obviously havent seen Teignmouth Pier then, makes the Palace Pier look like an, errr, palace.

http://www.theheritagetrail.co.uk/piers/teignmouth pier.htm

 

[bailey]

I was somewhat astounded when going on the pier last weekend to see that the big spinning ride thing at the end is £8 per person. Each "car" takes 4 people, they then rotate it and load the other car. So if it's busy (and there was a 30ft queue on Saturday afternoon at 6ish) that's £64 every 5 minutes or so.

So conservatively over a busy weekend it's probably doing £500ph for say 10 hours. That's £20k over the Easter Weekend.

Knock off say £15ph for labour (2 ppl), that's £600 for the weekend. A bit for electricity and maintenance, contribution towards running the pier too. Therefore (less capital repayment) it probably netted Nobles £17.5k this weekend.

Extrapolate that out over the year and this one ride is doing probably £8,750 every weekend and maybe the same for the 5 days weekdays. So assume £17.5 per week for 30 weeks of the year, this one ride is going to turnover (if you pardon the pun) more than half a million quid (£525,000 in fact). That's net of direct costs.

Of course, you need to allow for the capital cost of buying (or perhaps leasing) the ride but even if my numbers are slightly wrong, the Palace Pier is a goldmine. Fact.

 

[bailey]

f*** I must be bored!

 

[desprateseagull]

havent been on the pier for ages- apprantly the structure was WORSE than the west pier.. before that mysteriously burnt down..

 

[Barrel of Fun]

f*** I must be bored!

It is the most popular free attraction in the South East. It is the UKs second most visited leisure facility with approximately 3.75m visits pa!

Exmouth - I had a quick browse at Teignmouth Pier a while back and wasn't that impressed, but didn't think it was that bad. It manages to attract 225k ppa, which is pretty good considering the town is so small.

 

[Lush]

Guess which pier won Pier of the Year LAST YEAR?

 

[empire]

But it says young Billy was after an adrenalin rush. Surely hanging over the sea for 20 minutes facing possible instant death was just the job?

I reckon his dad should have paid them extra, not got his money back.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Guess which pier won Pier of the Year LAST YEAR?

It must have been the exquisite Rutherfords that tipped the balance.

 

[Clothes Peg]

It must have been the exquisite Rutherfords that tipped the balance.

Or those monkeys that play instruments along to old music with their heads half falling off.

Someone please confirm you know what I'm going on about.

 

[bigc]

they also demolished and "lost" this excellent theatre.

 

[Buzzer]

does anyone remember the machine in the Worthing Pier arcade that used to dispense packets of polos to lucky winners?

 

[Trotster]

does anyone remember the machine in the Worthing Pier arcade that used to dispense packets of polos to lucky winners?

YES!!! I used to spend nearly all my pocket money on that - it was great, used to win on it loads as well

 

[seagullsslimjim]

remember the polo mints too - wasn#t it some sort of spinning wheel that went on black or red?

remember one classic pinball machine with the fruit machine in the middle too, and the cascading money where you feed all the 2ps inj the top and there were two levels, (early 1980's)

then came along Connaught House in 1981 - Bomb Jack , Tron, Track and Field.

Fishing wire, gas lighters spark for free credits !!!!

Memories............

 

[smudge]

But it says young Billy was after an adrenalin rush. Surely hanging over the sea for 20 minutes facing possible instant death was just the job?

I reckon his dad should have paid them extra, not got his money back.