Royal Pier, Aberystwyth

In the health conscious Victorian era, Aberystwyth had developed quickly as a holiday resort. Lying at the centre of the West Wales coastline, with Cardigan Bay beyond, it was billed as the "Biarritz of Wales." Commissioned by a consortium of local business people under the name of the Aberystwyth Pier Promenade Company, the pier was designed and constructed by noted pier-engineer Eugenius Birch, in conjunction with local contractors J. E. Dowson. The structure had iron rod braces, cast iron piles and supporting columns concreted into the rock. Total construction costs were £13,600. ==Operations==

Opened on Good Friday in 1865, the pier attracted 7,000 toll paying visitors on its first day of opening, the same day that the Cambrian Railways line from Machynlleth officially opened. However, this was the high point of the pier under its original owners, when seven months later in January 1866, a severe storm washed away a section at the seaward end. During World War II it was in such a poor state of repair that the pier remained closed, as repairing it was deemed a security risk. Repaired but not improved, by the 1970s the remaining neck was again in such a bad state of repair that it was closed. Today, Royal Pier consists of an ice-cream shop, a pub, a snooker hall, a restaurant, an amusement arcade centre and also a nightclub. ==References==