Clarence Pier
| Location | Portsmouth, England |
|---|---|
| Opened | 1861 |
| Operating season | March to Late October |
| Rides | |
| Total | 16 |
| Roller coasters | 2 |
| Water rides | 0 |
| Website | clarencepier |
Clarence Pier is an amusement pier in Portsmouth, Hampshire. It is located next to Southsea Hoverport. Unlike most seaside piers in the UK, the pier does not extend very far out to sea and instead goes along the coast.
The pier was originally constructed in 1861 and boasted a regular ferry service to the Isle of Wight. It was damaged by air raids during World War II and opened in its current form in 1961.
The main entrance to the pier from the road is via a striking pavilion building with distinctive yellow and blue cladding and a small tower. This originally housed an amusement arcade and cafe although in more recent years, the upper floor has variously been used for "Pirate Pete's" indoor children's playground, a Wimpy bar while the 'Golden Horseshoe' amusement arcade and Coffee Cup (originally a prize bingo hall) remain on the ground floor.
A smaller building, perpendicular but not physically joined to the main pavilion houses another amusement arcade, the "Clarence Pier" (Originally called "Wheel Of Fortune") and some small gift shops. The upper floor was originally used as a public house, but it was later converted into 'Jurassic 3001', a futuristic dinosaur themed dark ride, which opened in 1995. The ride's exterior featured an animatronic triceratops, whose head protruded from the side of the building and roared occasionally at passers-by. The attraction closed in 2001, yet all ride signage and theming on the building remained until the end of 2011. The upper floor space previously occupied by this ride underwent a conversion to apartments, according to planning publications, in 2012.
A Building at the side of the Funfair houses an arcade called "Games Wharf" and "The Boat House" (originally another Coffee Cup).
The main funfair operates on a free admission, pay-per-ride token-based system. In the early 1980s, the amusement park was named "Fun Acres" and as well as the whole pier itself, it also took up 3500 sq metres of land or so to the North West of the Northern part of the pier. This part of the park was cleared and redeveloped as Another arcade called "Southsea Island Leisure", The Clarence Pier Public House, a crazy golf course and a Premier Inn during the 1990s, therefore the park itself is significantly smaller than it used to be. The old part of the park contained the 56-seat Corbiere Spherical Ferris Wheel and a ghost train among other attractions. The token booths were shaped as mushrooms.
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Wikipedia