The South Pier
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South Pier (built 1846) was one of the first major construction projects built in Lowestoft by Sir Morton Peto. When it was first built, it was out of wood and open, but over the years various reconstruction phases have made it a solid mass of granite and concrete.
A reading room was added on top in 1853 and was destroyed by fire in 1885. Another, even larger reading room and cafe was built in 1891 and it lasted until after WW2, when in 1956 a modern auditorium called the South Pier Pavilion was built.
There are many a Lowie who remembers watching headline acts like the Rolling Stones and Vera Lynn at the Pavilion.
There have always been a variety of amusements on the Pier, to include a miniature railway that ran the length of it.
The RNLI Museum now sits where the old reading rooms used to be.
If you look to the north, you can see the trawl docks and watch the fisherman go out to see. Today you're more likely to see a transport and supply ships leave to service the wind farms that lie just over the horizon. To the south you can see the Claremont Pier and on to Southwold. To the east you are looking directly across to Amsterdam. However, if you can see it, you have very good eyes. Amsterdam is 214 km (132.9 miles) away.
