Pier Gardens

Pier Gardens is being regenerated for the future. The formal gardens are being changed to reflect modern use, and will include a small urban sports area, plenty of lawns and seating, a play area with water play, climbing structures and a learning area, and a reflective zone, which provides an area for relaxation and contemplation – seating set within naturalistic planting schemes providing year round interest – colour and smells.

This page is about the Pier Gardens project, and will be updated as it progresses.

Introduction to the Pier Gardens Project

North East Lincolnshire Council was successful in its £18.4m application to Government for funding, with around £8.4m from it allocated to the Pier Gardens improvements.

2021: HemingwayDesign & GL Hearn Masterplan commission.

2022: Government funding application & Masterplan Issue.

2023: Government funding award.

2024: WSP UK Limited with Hemingway Design appointed. Design work for the main scheme. Retaining wall build.

2025: Design and Contractor Procurement.

2026: Contractor due to start on site 2026

In 2024, residents and visitors were invited to a drop-in engagement event in Cleethorpes Town Hall, to speak with the design team and share their thoughts and desires for the future of Pier Gardens. The event was attended by over 100 local residents and business owners.

Supplementing the in-person consultation, an online public survey was launched via the North East Lincolnshire Council’s Have Your Say Page, and closed on the 15th March 2024 receiving 378 responses from residents and businesses.

Feedback was overall very positive and key messages included:

• Support for modern, naturalistic, wildlife-friendly planting schemes.
• Support for natural look & feel of children’s play elements particularly the use of timber and inclusion of natural planting schemes within the designs.
• Support for social seating areas and the inclusion of long bench seating and games (chess) tables, as well as sheltered seating areas.
• Support for areas that enable pop-up events, performances, and group (exercise) classes.
• Support for wayfinding and signage that informs visitors of the natural environment and history of the gardens and wider resort, particularly the importance of the SSSI.
• Ensure the play offer extends to older children -teenagers and young adults, with a focus on ‘making space for girls’.
• Preference for softer landscaping throughout the gardens and for hard landscape/paved areas is kept to a minimum.
• Ensure all spaces within the gardens are well-lit.

Since the consultation ended on 24 June 2024, there have been detailed discussions with local businesses, drop-in sessions and online engagement for anyone to give their views, as well as group sessions with creative people, young people and other potential users of the spaces.

Public Engagement

View the summary of the previous Cleethorpes Regeneration – Pier Gardens public engagement (PDF, 3MB)

Healthy & Sustainable

• A place that prioritises the mental and physical wellbeing of its community, and actively seeks to address the climate emergency.
• A place that protects and enhances its natural assets whilst embracing sustainable development.
• A place that encourages varied physical activity for all ages and abilities.

Inclusive & Welcoming

• A place with a varied social, leisure, and entertainment offer with broad appeal.
• A place where all residents and visitors, regardless of age and ability feel safe and comfortable visiting.
• A place that encourages social interactions, providing opportunities to meet, relax and have fun.

Creative & Distinct

• A place that celebrates and strengthens the characteristics that make it unique.
• A flexible place that supports entrepreneurial and independent trading providing space for an evolving array of events, exhibitions & attractions.
• A place that promotes and supports imaginative play.
• A place that promotes high quality artwork and enhances the heritage setting of the Cleethorpes Sea Front Conservation Area.

Deliverable

• A design that complies with both the external funding requirements whilst remaining true to the original masterplan vision.
• A scheme that is build-able within the project constraints.
• A place that becomes an asset for the area providing ongoing support for the local economy.
• The possibility to generate revenue for the maintenance of Pier Gardens.

The Site Layout

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The technical designs for Pier Gardens are below.

Arrival Zone and Performance Zone

This shows the proposals for the new north western end of Pier Gardens, near Sea Road. The grey section at the rear is a small skate park.

The arrival space will provide a high-quality new gateway into Pier Gardens, acting as transitional zones between the town centre and the gardens. Materials, street furniture, wayfinding and planting schemes in this area will reflect the park’s new character and signal the users arrival at Pier Garden.

This area will provide flexibility and will support all the other areas of the park. The proposed lawns will become areas of play, seating and community gathering. This space will provide dedicated facilities for the local skating community that are sensitively designed to sit within the wider landscape design.

Section of a drawing showing the north western end of the redesigned Pier Gardens

Play & Recreation

Play is the core attraction for Pier Gardens and should be suitable for all age ranges and all abilities at all times of the year. Areas shown include the proposed water play area to the left and the adjacent structural play area within the existing mature tree canopy.

Facilities should encourage creativity, risk taking, cooperation, exercise, and coordination.

Proposals are not be the traditional off-the-shelf generic slides, swings and roundabouts but will be of the scale, size and quality to make a statement while complementing the wider design language for the site. The equipment will be features in their own right and contribute the new character of the gardens and sense of place. Materials will be appropriate to the location and incorporate timber and natural stone alongside naturalistic and native planting schemes influenced by local habitat types and especially the natural character of South Beach.

Education & Wellbeing

Year round facilities for the local community are a key part of our vision for the site. A flexible education areas provides a more local, community focus to this zone.

Health, sustainability and education are key priorities for our vision for Pier Gardens and our spaces must prioritise the mental and physical well being of the community.

This zone proposes uses that are focused towards local residents and supporting them to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle.

These spaces also provide opportunities to promote education about the area and park itself. A key message from the consultation was providing a space for local schools, nurseries and community groups to use. This zone incorporates and area with terraced seating that could be used as an outdoor classroom.

Reflection area

This zone provides an area for relaxation and contemplation – seating set within naturalistic planting schemes providing year round interest – colour and smells.
This is a flexible space that creates a suitable setting for medium sized gatherings during memorial events.

This are is located next to the Armed Forces Memorial Gate.

The Reflection Zone consists of two sub areas:

A new flexible plaza with new improved access from Alexandra Road. This area will cater for large groups during remembrance events and provide an improved setting for the Strikewing Memorial and the Naval memorial. The space will include natural stone paving and be fully Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) compliant to ensure there are no hazards for users of limited ability.
The adjacent Reflection Gardens will be separated from the memorial plaza through soft landscape and provide a series of more intimate spaces for contemplation and reflection within a quiet garden setting.

Section of a drawing showing the contemplation area of the redesigned Pier Gardens

Considerations and strategies

Trees

The existing trees within Pier Gardens are of significant importance to the design ethos for the site. We are fortunate to have large, healthy mature specimens to incorporate within our design to offer scale, setting and excitement to larger proposed elements such as the play structures.

Our strategy for the site is to retain as many of these key larger specimens as possible and ensure that they are incorporated within the design ethos. Where trees have been removed this is to open up views in key areas, facilitate elements of our design or to benefit the wider health of other trees across the site.

Artist impression of Pier Gardens with green circles representing trees — Image shows the Pier Gardens area with trees planted.

Site Servicing

The servicing strategy for Pier Gardens will be a key part of ensuring that the space is flexible to accommodate events
and markets whilst also ensuring that the space feels safe and welcoming all year round in both the day and evening.

Lighting:

Adequate lighting and CCTV was a recurring message throughout our consultation process. Our design includes both functional and feature lighting throughout the scheme. Functional lighting will ensure all spaces are adequately lit to ensure they feel safe and welcoming even into the evening hours. Feature lighting will be used throughout the site to emphasise key design features, highlight entrances and artwork and provide more ambient lighting to areas such as the reflection seating zone. This lighting may be low level bollards, uplighters to trees and artwork or strip lighting within the paving or furniture.

Servicing for events and markets:

Another key element of the design is the flexibility for Pier Gardens to be able to accommodate a range of events or markets. To ensure this the site will have a network of power and water supplies throughout and the arrival zone and performance zone will have higher capacity power supplies to cater for the potential of larger events.

Another feature proposed is a network of drinking water fountains throughout the site that will be combined with foot wash facilities closer to the proposed sand play elements.

Plants

Pier Gardens planting schemes have been inﬂuenced by local habitat types, particularly the natural character of South Beach which hosts a variety of plant species adapted to the coastal environment. This includes hardy grasses, wildﬂowers, and shrubs that support numerous bird species and insects. Native grasses and low-maintenance perennials will feature through the gardens creating sand dune planting to link in with the context of the site and provide a playful, dynamic that moves and changes with the seasons.

Habitats for local wildlife such as insect hotels and bird boxes will be nestled within the proposed planting schemes, which include areas of wildﬂowers and plants that support pollinators.

Interpretative and educational signage informing visitors of the local environment, the importance of the SSSI, and its rich eco-system that supports numerous species of birds, insects and marine life, will feature throughout the gardens.

Interactive public realm

This involves transforming the distinguished CLEETHORPES typography, prominently featured on the existing Sea Road hoardings, into 3D installations dotted throughout the gardens.

The concept uses each letter of CLEETHORPES as a unique installation integrated into the park’s landscape.

These installations would serve and encourage various uses, providing photo, play, skate, learning, relaxing and socialising opportunities, while also promoting and informing visitors about the rich wildlife, history, and culture found within the park and the wider resort.

This approach seeks to encourages exploration, interaction, and engagement from visitors of all ages.

Images show precedents that have inspired the final designs.

If there are any accessibility issues, please email [email protected] who can provide you with more details on the proposals.

Video flyover Pier Gardens

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Progress photographs

History of Pier Gardens

During the 1500s the economy of Cleethorpes mainly comprised fishing and mixed arable farming, but by the 1700s, the town was gaining a reputation as a seaside resort, popular with the wealthy for the newly fashionable health reasons of “taking the waters”. Indeed, the original building on the Dolphin site, the Cleethorpes Hotel was opened around 1760!

Wind forward to 1842, and an “Inclosure Act” issued by Parliament set aside 2.5 acres of seafront for public recreation. This is the land we know as Pier Gardens.

The railway arrived in Cleethorpes in 1863, run by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway company (MSLR).

By the 1870s, the local Council of the time had to look at the security of the town – the cliff edge was being eroded badly by high tides. A plan was pulled together to reinforce the sea walls with substantial promenades, but as ever, this was a financial challenge for the local area, so the railway company was approached for help! In 1881, the MSLR was given approval to spend around £30,000 (around £3.2million in modern money, according to the Bank of England) to build two promenades, stabilise the cliff and landscape the top of the cliff into public gardens.

According to the Watkin Society, the gardens contained: “mock castle, a camera obscura, pavilion tearoom, tennis courts, photography booth, a resident phrenologist, winding walks, ornamental gardens and a very popular bowling green. The castle [Ross Castle, named after Edward Ross, the Secretary of the MSLR at the time] had a Gothic appearance and was built to the previous height of the cliff at that point. A path ingeniously spiralled upwards and around the circular castle to the top with some seats in niches for the weary. From the top of the castle extensive views of the Humber Mouth could be enjoyed.

“A conservatory, built in the gardens, supplied the plants for the flower beds. Outside the gardens to the south, a flight of steps allowed access to the promenade from High Cliff. The gardens were much admired, and trade directories mention how elegant and salubrious a bathing place it had become. The gardens with their plentiful seats and paths winding past rhododendrons delighted visitors. The MSLR are believed to have spent £100,000 eventually but the instincts of Watkin to invest heavily in the town were correct and it paid dividends.”

“A smiling garden, artistically laid out with due regard to the natural undulations of the ground. The jagged and dangerous edge of the old cliff has given place to the grassy slopes with rustic and picturesque paths down to the lower grounds and promenade” 1883 – Grimsby Observer – Reference to The Pleasure Grounds aka Pier Gardens

Cliff Gardens were officially opened in 1885 by HRH Prince Albert Victor Christian Edward of Wales KG, the eldest son of the then Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra.

The opening spectacle included a display of flags of many countries along the prom, and a pavilion and stage inside the gardens. There was an archway constructed of Norwegian Ice too! There were bands playing, and the Royal Standard was flown high from Ross Castle. The Gardens were a “pay to enter” facility for many years, but this was removed in in 1939, and they were the free for everyone to use, and have been since.

Latest project news

Published

14 May 2024

Last updated

30 January 2026