Kerry, thank you for your time.

For those people in Bristol that are perhaps not too sure what the new Pier is all about could you explain a little background?

I think there’s always been a misconception when it comes to the Pier if you ask most people what they think of when you mention the Grand Pier in Weston, they’ll tell you Slot Machines. I don’t think that was a fair description previously, and it certainly won’t be going forward. Previously there were about 300 machines on the pier, of which some were gamblers. But the vast majority were fun. Going forward there’s 18 major rides. We often describe it as an indoor theme park, and that’s the sort of idea. There will be thrill rides, there’s gentle rides and your more traditional rides like Dodge‘ems, Ghost train and things like that. There are also 500 machines, but of those 500 machines only 40 are gamblers. These will be in a separate over 18’s, strictly controlled area. It’s a family place. A family entertainment arena, an indoor theme park and there are 26 food and beverage retail outlets.

It sounds fantastic, do you have plans for live events and conferences as well?

We have a conference centre, 3 separate function rooms, we’ll cater for weddings, and during the winter the machines will come out of the main hall and that area will become an events space. We will have areal circuses, trapezes, product launches, boxing and concerts; we’re licensed for 3500 people for concerts so we’ll have big name artists there. Hopefully we’ll do that job properly! Just a giant indoor event space.

You mentioned big names there, do you have any prebooked yet?

“You know we’ve got to buy it don’t you?”

None are confirmed yet, but the target is to get the place open as soon as we can and then around June and July we’ll announce a full events program for the full 12 months ahead.

When is the official launch?

We don’t have one. Practical completion, which is when we get the keys, is set for the 25th of June. There after we’ve got to get all of our contents in there and get operational. My team are telling me that’ll take a month, so I’m telling them 5 days!

So how are plans shaping up?

We’re about 7 weeks away from practical completion so it’s a long way down the road. But there still also a long way to go.

How long has it taken so far?

We stared planning literally straight after the fire in July 2008. We had contractors on site in October ’08, these were demolition contractors. Then in January ’09 we had a contractor doing the enabling work, they looked after the new piling and the sub-structure work. We stripped the entire structure back the bare metal, repaired what needed repairing and replaced what needed replacing. And then coated with a very special resin to preserve the substructure. This was about 9 million pounds worth of work. This was completed by July ’09. Then John Sisk & Son, the main contractor, started work in August last year. And as I mentioned they will be delivering it on the 25th of June.

There must have been some difficulties building on such a unique structure. Are they any major problems that have caused you issues?

The local authority! We feared the planning process, and to be fair to the planners they actually performed. It was all the other aspects of the council that proved difficult. Them as adjoining land owners caused us no-end of problems. Even today they are causing us problems with the sea front works. They have blocked our access, we can’t get delivery vehicles onto the pier. They’ve certainly been the most frustrating element. In their book they think they’ve bent over backwards. But, in the commercial world it’s nowhere near enough. But the single biggest challenge is building a quarter of a mile out to sea. If you’ve got to take a 8 tonne crane out to the end and the pier only takes 2 tonnes then it becomes logistically very difficult. We’ve had all kinds of barges and boats and amphibious landing craft to get it built.

At the planning stage, was there an opportunity for the public to help define the new pier?

At the planning stage we sent out to public consultation. We set a design competition and had 6 architects practices submit their own schemes for consideration. I’m delighted that it was actually a Bristol firm that won the contract, Angus Meek Architects. They were chosen not just by us, but we did a two week Public Consultation process and it was unanimous that Angus Meek were chosen as the clear winner. So that was great.

With Weston being so close to your heart, it must have been a great day when you delivered the cheque to purchase the iconic Pier?

Yes, it was bizarre. I never had any aspirations to owning the pier. I didn’t really give it any thought. I grew up on the sea-front in my parents hotel overlooking the pier. I’d open my curtains in the morning and that was the first thing I’d see. Given that it’s quarter of a mile long is sort of dominated the landscape. It was offered to us by a mutual friend by the previous owners. My immediate reaction was “No, why would I want to own the Pier?”, that’s not what I do. I’ve spent the last few years mostly in property development, I had a big garden centre, and a large insurance company. I wasn’t in leisure; I didn’t know anything about rides and machines. Ok, I was bought up in catering, so I knew something about that. But the main business of the pier, Family Entertainment, we’d never done. So the idea of purchasing the pier was dismissed out of hand.

Over the next couple of weeks I just sort of found myself driving to work in the morning down the sea-front. And going home at night via the pier and just looking at it. I just walked in one day after about 2 weeks and I said, “You know we’ve got to buy it don’t you?”, and everybody knew instantly what I was talking about. And that was it, the rest is history.

Have you ever bought a business before?

I have never purchased a business before. All the businesses I’ve had I started from scratch. And this was the first time I had gone out and bought a business as a going concern. What I enjoyed about that was measuring the business going forward against the business as it was previously. You’d make a little change here and a little change there and suddenly the income would go up, you’d think, yes, I got that right etc…

By the time of the fire we’d been running the pier for 5 months and we had spent over 1.5 million pounds on it. Then we had the devistation of the fire, it just really took the wind out of our sails. It was horrendous.

The public reaction to the fire must have been very encouraging. It’s a well-loved landmark, it must have been an easy decision to re-build it?

There was never ever and doubt in our eyes. Even the day of the fire we commited to re-building it. And I think that come out of a responsibility for it. It’s not so much you feel you own the pier, you feel like you’re it’s custodian. And, you’re just looking after it for the next generation. To have it burned down, on my watch was, I just couldn’t get my head around it, you know?

I was responsible. So, I had to make it good. It’s quite strange because you don’t actually talk about a business like that. But, you know, there’s this building and it just gets you emotionally. Everybody thinks I’m an idiot. Because this happened on my watch. It’s been there 100 years and I’ve owned it 5 minutes and now look at it. It was a responsibility that I felt, you have to put it back. You only have to look around the town the last few years since it’s been closed. It’s a different town. The pier attracts 3 million visitors a year. Well, you can’t afford to take 3 million visitors out of Weston. It has an effect on the entire economy… Now with the new Pavillion, the Sea-front works coming to an end, I think there’s a very bright future for Weston going forward. People that come here in the last few months where you can actually see what’s happened, people are enthused. I think Weston sea-front has got a fantastic 5 or 10 years ahead.

Kerry, thanks for your time.

More information can be found on the website including a live webcam so you can keep an eye on progress. http://www.grandpierwsm.co.uk

Magazine Advertising in Bristol and Bath

Bristol & Bath.

BRISTOL & BATH // 18 MAY 2012

What's on...

Today

Saturday, 19 May 2012

Sunday, 20 May 2012

Monday, 21 May 2012

Tuesday, 22 May 2012

Wednesday, 23 May 2012

Thursday, 24 May 2012

Friday, 25 May 2012

Saturday, 26 May 2012

Sunday, 27 May 2012

Monday, 28 May 2012

Tuesday, 29 May 2012

Wednesday, 30 May 2012

Thursday, 31 May 2012

The Grand Pier Weston Super Mare

21 May 2010

As part of our continuing local business section we’ve managed to grab some time with local entrepreneur and Grand Pier owner Kerry Michael to get an understanding of what the new Grand Pier is all about.

Articles

Social

Eye Friends

Eye Magazine