London - A century-old pier in the seaside town of Fleetwood, north-west England, has been "completely gutted" by fire, police said Tuesday. The fire was believed to have started near the front of the pier beside a former pub and cafe, investigators said. It was too early to say whether the blaze, discovered in the early hours of Tuesday, had been started deliberately.
The pier in the seaside resort, just north of Blackpool, originates from 1910, but was largely rebuilt after a fire in 1952. It had recently fallen into disrepair.
The blaze came less than six weeks after a fire destroyed a 104- year-old pier in Weston-super-Mare, in the south-western county of Somerset.
Fires also partially destroyed the historic piers of the southern seaside resorts of Brighton and Southend-on-Sea in 2003 and 2005, respectively.
