Photographs showing the gardens through the 20th Century

By John Layton

Picture 1 shows the Gardens in 1900, before the dome was built onto the bandstand and before the 'Glasshouse' was brought from Torquay.

Picture 2 shows the Winter Gardens, as the 'Glasshouse' became known, in 1930, and the bandstand in the foreground, complete with dome.

Picture 3 shows the Gardens in 1934, packed with people watching the Scoreboard.

Picture 4 almost brings our story full circle, with the demolition of the bandstand on 29th March 1958.

The pier itself is now in ruins, and all that remains of the once splendid end-of-pier pavilion is its bare iron skeleton.  What will become of it, only time will tell.