“It sticks out half a mile”
The original pilot episode, set in 1948, involved former bank manager and Home Guard Captain George Mainwaring
(Arthur Lowe) deciding to renovate a decrepit seaside pier in the fictional town of Frambourne-on-Sea, only to find when applying for a bank loan that the manager of the local branch is his former chief cashier and Home Guard Sergeant Arthur Wilson (John Le Mesurier).
Captain Mainwaring is trying to raise funds to buy Frambourne Pier :-
Wilson: "Just a minute, did you say that you are going to buy our pier??"
Mainwaring: "That's right!"
"But it's closed, isn't it, I mean it has been since the war?"
"Precisely!"
"And the middle bit is missing, isn't it?" [See They cut the pier at Warmington-on-Sea too!]
"That's right"
"And you want to buy it?"
"Exactly!"
"But why?"
"Wilson, your local pier was built over 90 years ago by Eugenius Birch"
"Who?"
"Eugenius Birch, one of the greatest pier designers ever! It's part of our heritage. And it is lying there: closed; rusting; and rejected"
"Yes I know, it's awfully sad, but..."
"The Council have lost interest in that pier, Wilson, they're planning to have it demolished."
"Oh I see"
"'Oh I see'?? Is that all you can say? That part of your local heritage is about to disappear?"
"It's not my fault is it?"
"How do you make that out? Because you, Wilson, are just like those people on the council. You are prepared to stand aside and let the bulldozers tear down that exciting elegant structure that stands there jutting out to sea as a fine example of the brilliant engineering prowess of our forefathers"
"Now look here, I never said that! I'd like to think the pier could be saved"
"That's the spirit!! I knew I could rely on you. Just give me that loan, Wilson, and between us you and I will put that pier back on its feet! Why, it could be the eighth wonder of the South Coast"
Could have been written today for Hastings pier, i am sure there have been many conversations like this before the Pier Trust became empowered to rebuild it. Good luck Hastings look forward to seeing it open again.
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