Free Weekend? Explore Southend-on-Sea

“We have to visit the new Cultural Centre in Southend,” implored my architect friend minutes after arriving in London. Looking forward to a lazy weekend in Kentish Town, I reluctantly agreed to leave our patch. We began by walking to Gospel Oak, then took the overground to Barking for the train to Southend (£9 day return full fare), a trip of around two hours door to door. Not bad.

Originally the “south end” of the village of Prittlewell, Southend became a seaside resort during the Georgian era, attracting tourists in droves to its seven miles (seven!) of beaches and bathing. And once you arrive, you do indeed have the opportunity to stretch your legs in the bracing air. First stop?  The 1.3 mile long pier, of course, the world’s longest, which dates back (though not in its current form) to 1830.

The pier ticket costs a pound if you walk both there and back, but is doubled if you take the tiny train (one, we noticed, was named after K-Town hero himself, Sir John Betjeman). A lovely bracing walk, especially on a windy day, you could even reward yourself with a coffee or something to eat at the cafe, but the food is hardly exciting. While I had a cappuccino, my companion opted for a baked potato with chicken and chilli sauce. The verdict? “Distinctly average.”

Not to worry. The new Royal Pavilion, the renamed £3 million Cultural Centre at the end of the pier, was completed just last year by Scandanavian practice White Arkitekter. Weighing 170 tonnes, the steel structure was hoisted by crane on to the end of the Grade II-listed Southend Pier at a speed of 2mm a minute. It now includes a multi-purpose hall seating 185, artists’ studios, a cafe and outdoor terrace. And its royal seal of approval came a couple of weeks ago when it was visited by the Duke Of Kent. Well, if Brighton’s got one, why not Southend?

The building is undeniably beautiful and unusual in shape, although while my architect pal liked the “contemporary design for such a setting” and “use of re-cycled pier boarding to form a plinth for the building”, he reckoned there were “one or two design faults in its construction”. What on earth could they be? I asked.  “Nothing major,” he said, “although the safety barriers behind automatic doors are clearly an afterthought. It looks as though these have been improvised by the owner of building, rather than the architect, who would surely have come up with something better.”

Okaaay. But still, it’s very photogenic from all angles; as are the little wrought iron benches nearby with nautical themes woven into the design. A further attraction were the sea birds, known as turnstones, which had to be protected whilst building was in progress, and had amassed at a particular spot on the pier being buffeted by the surf.

After walking back past the fairground, we ambled along the shore to the crowded stretch of beach and wondered if the whole of London wasn’t on an away day. Fish and chip shops, cafes, ice cream parlours and amusement arcades were very much in evidence, as was a prominent biker’s haunt. Plenty of family friendly attractions too such as those big plastic ball pools. And nearly every shop sold the obligatory buckets and spades in every colour of the rainbow.

Back in town, on the High Street, conversation inevitably turned to Mary Portas as we commented on the faded glory of this one time giant of resorts. Looking up, as ever, proved most interesting: I noticed the railings of the Royal Hotel had little crown details on them. But it was good to see the place buzzy; there was even a Charlie Chaplin lookalike dressed in a copper coloured outfit doing his thing, Covent Garden style.

Would I visit Southend again? Yes, if only for the nostalgic delight of stepping back in time.

Except, of course, for that very contemporary Royal Pavilion, its feet quite firmly in 2013. As long as the pier holds.

Additional research by Stephen Emms