THE reopening of Cleethorpes Pier this week as an all-round entertainment and family venue under new leaseholder Alistair Clugston marks yet another development in the structure's lengthy history.

After the railway came to Grimsby in 1848, visitors to Cleethorpes began arriving from manufacturing towns in the East Midlands. Special omnibuses and cars were timed to meet trains, while packet boats also sailed from Hull.

Though authorisation was given for a line to Cleethorpes as far back as 1846, work didn't commence until 1861, with the single track railway opening in 1863. This was widened to double track in 1874.

Plans for a pier date to 1866, with building starting in 1872 to the designs of JE & A Dowson, who also designed Redcar Pier. Head Wrightson constructed the pier on behalf of the Cleethorpes Pier Promenade Company to a length of 1,200ft, with its £8,000 costs met by the issuing of 1,000 £10 shares.

It was opened by Mr Grant Thorold on August 4, 1873, the second ever August Bank Holiday. A total of 2,859 visitors paid a 6d admission fee that initial day, with a further 37,000 paying a penny a time over the next five weeks. However, the pier still only had basic facilities.

The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Company (MS&L) had always been connected with the pier, formalising their arrangement by taking over its lease in 1884.

The year 1888 saw them pay £450 to build a pier head concert hall seating 800.

They later built an elevated link over the road from the Pier to the Pier Gardens, which had been opened in 1885 by Prince Albert Victor.

In June 1903, a blaze hit the pier, causing the brigades from both Grimsby and Cleethorpes to attend the pier. Many spectators "enjoyed" the free entertainment from the sands, as the concert hall was virtually destroyed.

The Great Central Railway Company, successors to the MS&L, bought the pier outright in 1904 for £11,250. This made sense, as it was their trains responsible for bringing visitors to Cleethorpes!

A new pavilion was constructed in 1905 at the shoreward end, which is the same basic structure as survives today. It was originally only used in the summer due to lack of heating. In addition a café and shops were added at the pier head to make the trek out to sea worthwhile.

Ownership became an issue in 1909, with Cleethorpes Council thinking of buying the pier. They felt the town would benefit from having a structure in public hands, and wrote to their counterpart at Southend who made a yearly profit of £6,000 from their pier.

No action was, however, taken until the 1930s. The council, to gain a Royal Charter in June 1936, felt that the railway company wasn't developing the pier to its best advantage. As a result, they paid £27,800 to take over the pier site, including the adjacent pier gardens. Of this just £10,080 plus £101 in Stamp Duty was for the actual pier.

A design competition was launched with a 200 guinea prize, and a closing date of June 13, 1936.

It was noted that there was a lack of a covered way for people using the pay office and turnstile, while stone steps from the promenade wasn't the most convenient way of accessing the concert hall.

The main problem was deemed to be the elevated link over the road from the pier gardens.

Overall, the conclusion was the lack of appeal for promenaders to go directly on to the pier.

* Find out what happened next in Monday's Grimsby Telegraph.