There are around 60 iconic piers in Great Britain and Ireland, and one of the best times to visit them is during the summer months when you travel away for your holidays or on a day out when you have some spare time.
Some of the oldest piers have been around for well over 150 years, and they are just as fun to visit today as they were when they were first built. Let’s dive straight in to discover more about the different forms of entertainment you can often find today on many of the best piers.
What forms of entertainment are generally found on piers?
When you visit any of today’s biggest and most famous piers around the coast of England, you can often find various forms of traditional and modern entertainment, such as arcades, rides, attractions, and other games.
In the arcades, you can typically find 2p and 10p push coin machines, crane machines with prizes, pinball machines, dance machines (like Dance Dance Revolution), and various arcade video games and simulators.
Some of the most famous types of arcade games found on piers are racing games, fighting games, and hit titles, such as Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Street Fighter, and Tetris, to name a few.
Additionally, many piers have arcade boxing games, shooter games, asteroids, golf games, electronic dartboards, laser maze games with physical prizes to be won, and so much more.
You can also sometimes find photo booths and various traditional fairground attractions, like basketball games, hook a duck, horse racing games, tin can alley, darts games, a coconut shy, buzz wire games, high strike strength test machines, fortune teller/palm readers, and whack-a-mole, to name a few.
Can you find traditional casino table & card games?
Yes and no. Some piers will have an 18+ section where you can find traditional fruit machines and state-of-the-art computer-generated casino games like online blackjack, roulette, craps, or poker.
The latest casino gaming machines are known as FOTBs (Fixed Odds Betting Terminals), which are fully licensed and regulated, meaning you can play to win real money on them, provided you are of legal age.
What are the most famous piers in Great Britain worth visiting?
You can now find 49 iconic piers in Great Britain, and some of the most famous piers include the following:
- Yarmouth Pier
- Skegness Pier
- Brighton Palace Pier
- Southwold Pier
- Colwyn Bay Pier
- Cleethorpes Pier
- Herne Bay Pier
- Paignton Pier
Others include Burnham on Sea Pier, Torquay Princess Pier, Weymouth Pier, and Southampton Royal Pier. If that’s not enough to keep you going and you want to cross off visiting even more English piers from your bucket list, there’s also Britannia Pier and Clevedon Pier Somerset.
What else can I do on piers apart from playing games?
You can do many other things on most of these piers apart from just playing games. For example, most piers have plenty of seating areas, so you can just sit down, relax, and take it all in without having to do anything.
If you fancy a bite to eat, you can generally find plenty of cafes, ice cream parlours, pubs, bars, snack bars, doughnut stands, and restaurants. Some have garden centres and shopping facilities. Others have safe areas for children to play in, and you will also find that many piers are dog friendly.
Just remember to pick up any mess your dog leaves. For the more adventurous traveller, you can sometimes find rollercoasters, a Ghost Train, or a Waltzer, and some piers also have concerts, stand-up comedian shows, and other unique shows. Additionally, some piers host weddings.
Before visiting a pier with your friends or relatives, you may want to take a few minutes to visit its official website (if it has one, which it should) just to see what kind of games, food, and drinks options it has, so you can plan your day trip better.
