10 of Britain’s best piers for dining, nightlife and good old seaside fun | Top 10s

Perched in our glass-fronted eyrie, 300 metres out to sea, we watch a murmuration of starlings rise and fall and swoop around us. When the show is over, we turn our attention to the food. I have a bespoke vegan menu based on the best early summer ingredients: jersey royals, asparagus, strawberries. My boyfriend orders off the weekly changing à la carte: slow-cooked beef dumplings followed by butter-poached halibut.

We are at Ebb, a restaurant at the end of the pier in Worthing, West Sussex, which opened in May. Its art-deco design and fine-dining dishes are a far cry from the fish-and-chip shops and ice-cream parlours more commonly found on seaside piers. But traditionalists need not despair: downstairs at Perch on the Pier, fish and chips – as well as tofish (tofu) and chips – are always on the menu, with a knickerbocker glory to round things off in fine retro style.

Worthing pier, which opened in 1862, is one of Britain’s surviving 19th-century pleasure piers. “The seaside piers around the coast of Britain stand as a powerful reminder of the achievements of Victorian engineers and entrepreneurs,” says the National Piers Society website. “However, of the 100 piers that once graced our coastline, only half survive, and several of these face an uncertain future.” The society campaigns to preserve the piers for everyone’s enjoyment, and has saved several that were at risk of demolition.

Worthing may well be the foodiest pier in the UK, but they all have their charms. Here are 10 well worth a stroll out to sea.

Best for overnight stays: Garth pier, Bangor, Gwynedd

Bangor’s 458-metre (1,500ft) pier stretches out halfway across the Menai Strait, backdropped by the Eryri mountain range (Snowdonia). To coincide with its 130th anniversary this year, the Pier Master’s House at the entrance has been turned into a holiday let (from £140 a night, sleeps six). The pavilion at the far end is now a cafe, and the smaller Victorian kiosks dotted along the pier house independent businesses selling gifts, artworks and local food. There is a programme of weekend events over the summer, from busking and children’s fun days to a dog parade.

Bournemouth pier (first opened 1856, current structure 1880) boasts the world’s first pier-to-shore zip wire, a 250-metre dual line starting from the end-of-the-pier tower. As well as the PierZip, it has RockReef, an indoor climbing centre with 28 climbing walls, an aerial obstacle course, a vertical slide, a “leap of faith” and caving tunnels. The pier is the best place to watch Bournemouth’s Friday fireworks (10pm, until 28 August), and there is regular live music at its Key West restaurant (until 28 August). The town’s other pier, Boscombe (opened 1889), is next to free bouldering obstacles and slacklines, and near the beach volleyball courts.

Best for traditional seaside fun: Britannia pier, Great Yarmouth

Britannia pier won the coveted 2026 Pier of the Year award, taking over from last year’s winner Llandudno, and beating runners-up Herne Bay and Swanage. The 250-metre pier was built in 1858, but as with many of the original Victorian piers, it has been damaged, demolished, rebuilt (in 1901), burned down and reconstructed over the years. The current owners bought it in 2022 and have spent £2.2m restoring and upgrading it. Its attractions include a theatre, fun fair, arcades, fish and chip shop, pub and nightclub. Holidaymakers can also visit the town’s Wellington pier, further south along the seafront, which opened in 1853 and has a bowling alley, arcade and ice-cream parlour.

Best for culture: Penarth pier, Glamorgan

While Penarth pier dates back to 1894, as a landing jetty for the steamships in the Bristol Channel, its art-deco pavilion wasn’t built until 1929. This former dancehall has recently been restored and is now a cinema and arts centre, with year-round film screenings, art exhibitions, live music, workshops and talks. Coming up this month is a jazz brunch, a drawing workshop, and a knitting and crocheting social, alongside summer blockbusters The Odyssey and Minions & Monsters. There is a cafe in the pavilion, and a coffee shop, ice-cream parlour and chippy elsewhere on the pier.

Best for exploration: Roker pier, Sunderland

Roker pier is distinctive for its red-and-white striped granite lighthouse, completed in 1903. After extensive restoration, and closures due to storm damage, pier and lighthouse are now open for guided tours (£14 adults/£10 children, to 27 August). Visitors walk the length of an underground tunnel to reach the lighthouse – the route the keeper used in bad weather – then climb to the top to take in the views. For post-tour refreshments, the pier’s former toilet block is now a gin bar, Tin of Sardines, with brunch and tapas menus served on the terrace in the summer.

Best for beauty: Clevedon pier, north Somerset

England’s only Grade I-listed pier opened in 1869 to receive paddle steamer passengers from Devon and Wales. It is made from discarded wrought iron railway lines shaped into eight arches, nearly 15 metres high. In 1980, during a campaign to save it from demolition, the then poet laureate John Betjeman described it as “the most beautiful pier in England”. “Clevedon without its pier would be like a diamond with a flaw,” he said. The pier was duly saved, and now its Victorian pagoda is a cafe, its toll house is a museum and gift shop, and there is a modern restaurant, the Glass Box. The sea view from the porthole room is streamed live 24/7.

Best for nightlife: Royal pier, Aberystwyth

The oldest pier in Wales (1865) was designed by Eugenius Birch, a renowned seaside architect best-known for Brighton’s now-ruined West pier. Today, Royal pier is billed as “the number one destination for competitive socialising in Aberystwyth”, with three bars and a nightclub. There is a host of activities in the Billiard Bar, including shuffleboard, augmented-reality darts, footpool and interactive mini golf; the Upstairs Bar has seven pool tables; and the Inn on the Pier is a restored Victorian boozer, with stained glass and custom tiles. DJs play chill-out tunes in the pier garden over the summer, and the Pressure Nightclub is open until 4am on Fridays and Saturdays.

Best for variety: Blackpool

Blackpool is the proud home of three piers: Blackpool North (1863), Blackpool Central (1868) and Blackpool South (1893). The Grade II-listed north pier is the oldest surviving Birch pier, and has an art-deco theatre, a two-tier carousel, bars and an arcade. It was sold in June and is open until at least the end of the year before a promised £10m refurbishment. The central pier has Blackpool’s Big Wheel, a funfair and a show bar with live performances. The south pier has a more high-octane funfair, with a rollercoaster, a freefalling swing and a reverse bungee ride, and is next to Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach for more adrenaline-fuelled fun. Its many food and drink options include the Gin House and a loaded jacket potato stand.

Gravesend’s pier opened on the Thames in 1834, and is the oldest surviving cast-iron pier in the world. It was once a hub for steam packets to London – more than 3 million passengers used it between 1835 and 1842 – and today there are still occasional summer sailings to the capital with Uber Boat by Thames Clippers. Just by the entrance to the pier is the ancient Three Daws pub, which was licensed in 1565 as the Three Cornish Choughs and renamed in 1745. This old smugglers’ haunt, which has three underground tunnels, now hosts a summer beer and music festival (7-9 August) and an Oktoberfest (18 September).

Best for rainy days: Sandown pier, Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight once had an incredible 11 piers, and four still survive: Ryde (the second-longest in the UK, after Southend-on-Sea in Essex), Sandown, Totland (for sale) and Yarmouth. Sandown (1879) is a particular paradise for families, whatever the weather. There is the Aztec-themed Lost World indoor crazy golf, with lighting and sound effects; the Magic Island indoor adventure play area; and Superbowl 10-pin bowling. The end of the pier has rides such as dodgems and teacups (Easter to September only); there is a cafe, ice-cream kiosk and burger bar; and Scruffy Jacks bar shows live sport.