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Since the 1889-built iron pier replaced the original wooden one (1830) its use value as drop-off point for day-trippers on boats and paddle-steamers had declined with the advent of the railway.Southend is an architecturally unremarkable seaside town, as evidenced by Betjeman, who called it a "cheaper Brighton." From the vantage point of the Kentish side of the Thames Estuary, from the more acceptably bourgeois Whitstable or the wholly more industrial coastline gothic of Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey, Southend is imperceptible. It's a bank with tiny specks of miniature buildings, barely anything at all. Much of its shambling Victoriana has been pulled down through the years. Newer lego-brick concerns such as the university halls of residents have been added. But that the architecture isn't particularly coherent, or much to write home about, might suggest that this is a place for people rather than ideals.Serious occurrences never seemed all that serious. I remember watching the black smoke rose form the burning PMS factory on the A127 from my school playground; playground gossip the next day suggested it was full of Mr. Blobby toys.
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