Strapped beams under Teignmouth Pier put repair spend back in view

Heavily rusted steel beams under Teignmouth Pier with orange and beige ratchet straps holding a timber packer at a column head

9 September 2026

A photograph taken under Teignmouth’s Grand Pier has done more in a day than months of official updates. It shows rusted steel beams, a timber packer at a column head, and orange and beige ratchet straps holding the joint together. Posted to a local Facebook group, it has been read as a temporary fix on a structure that is already asking the public for money.

The Brenner family, owners for four generations, say the work that keeps the pier standing is the work visitors never see. After Storm Ingrid tore the seaward deck away on 23 and 24 January, Maddy Brenner said the family had put nearly £750,000 of its own money into repairs since 2014, on top of an £800,000 insurance payout from that year’s storm. The pier has been uninsurable for storm damage since 2015.

Teignmouth Grand Pier stretching over the sea at dusk, with the deck and piles silhouetted against the water — The Grand Pier stretching over the water, with the seaward deck already shortened before Storm Ingrid

A GoFundMe appeal launched after Ingrid asked for £250,000 towards staged repairs from the shoreward end outwards. It has raised a little over £10,000. Early figures for a full restoration sat around £1 million. The family says the real cost could run into several million. Structural work has been handled by Teignmouth Maritime Services. After questions about donated cash, the owners promised to publish TMS invoices and progress photographs.

A visual survey in late January found the structure under the arcade and café sound enough to reopen the first 18 metres. The seaward walkway had already been closed since 2014.

Sand loss is the quieter threat. Piles now stand more exposed because the beach that once buffered them has dropped. The Environment Agency is building a case for groynes and seawall work, but says the funding is not available and a decision is unlikely before 2028 or 2029.

The straps do not prove the pier is unsafe. They do show how thin the line has become between a holding job and a repair the town can trust. A privately owned pier, uninsured against the weather that keeps hitting it, is being asked to last on family cash, a stalled public appeal, and whatever is holding those beams tonight.