Celebration of nation's piers (From This is Hampshire)

Kuti's Royal Pier organises heritage tour

4:08pm Thursday 3rd March 2011 in News By Matt Smith, Politics and business reporter

THEY have been an institution along Britain’s coast for two centuries.

From promenades, buckets and spades, to pop festivals, pubs, and restaurants, few things symbolise British seafront holidays as much as its piers.

More than 100 of them once stretched out to sea around the country at the turn of last century but now just 55 survive.

Next Saturday Southampton’s Royal Pier will be among those taking part in a national celebration of the country’s piers and their heritage to mark the launched British Tourism Week.

The party on the pier event will showcase the history of Royal Pier, which opened in 1833, and give an insight into the maritime history of the port of Southampton.

While the pier has become a rust heap since the main pavilion and decking was ravaged by fire in 1992 and recently collapsed, its gatehouse has been restored by the Southampton curry kings, the Kuti family.

They will host a historic tour of the pier and explain its Royal connections to then Princess Victoria who opened it.

It will then move by bus to the port to visit one of the largest working steamships in Europe and meet the vessel’s crew.

The 55-year-old SS Shieldhall, which offers cruises on the Solent, is under threat of being scrapped because there is not enough money to keep it running.

Tour guests will get to inspect the same steering system used by the Titanic before heading to Dock Head and Berth 44 at Ocean Dock, from which the vessel sailed in April, 1912 The route will return to the Kuti’s Royal Thai Pier at the gatehouse, where director Kamal Miah, will prepare a special menu for guests while they enjoy breathtaking views of the seafront at Southampton.

Afterwards, guests can visit the Southampton Maritime Museum opposite, which preserves artefacts and details of the Titanic.

Mr Miah said: “We don’t have much of a pier left but we still have the gatehouse. We were delighted to be able join the celebration of the pier as part of the history of Southampton.”

The celebration of Royal Pier comes as the city council has chosen a developer to work up plans to bring it back to life as pat of a major £450m redevelopment of the waterfront.

Sandie Dawe, chief executive of Visit Britain said: “What better way to increase industry awareness with both tourism businesses and government than by hosting celebrations of British tourism on dozens of the country’s much loved seaside piers.”

Party on the (Royal) Pier runs from 11am on March 12. Contact Kuti’s Royal Thai Pier for more details. To book a £10 place, phone 023 8033 9211 or email thaipier@kutis.co.uk.