Everybody loves piers. They're focal points for our memories of the seaside: days of fun, fancy and freedom. Hastings Pier has more going for it than any other in this sense, because as well as the usual fish ’n' chips day out, the pier used to turn very rock ’n' roll at night.
From the 1950s to 2000s, rock royalty – Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, T-Rex, Sex Pistols and The Clash, plus superstar DJs Carl Cox, Jon Digweed and Sasha – played the Ballroom at the end of the pier, making it perhaps the most unlikely independent venue in the world for such a stunning roster of musical talent over such a sustained period.
BAFTA Award-winning director Archie Lauchlan moved to Hastings in 2006 and decided to start filming the run-down, quirky pier. Two weeks later, it closed down; in 2010 it was very nearly destroyed by fire. Through all this, and the community-led struggle to save and rebuild it, for 10 years he persevered and carried on documenting the Pier, all the way up to the national news event of its reopening in 2016.
Re: A Pier features Jo Brand, Nick Mason (Pink Floyd), Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols), Marsha Hunt, David Quantick, Doon Mackichan.
Plus Director's Introduction and Q&A with Peter Wheeler, who is in the film and was the Chief Engineer for Hastings Pier’s rebuild.
Part of Hastings Old Town Week.
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