The longest pier in Europe - at Southend on Sea - over a mile long. 

I ALWAYS have a good time in Southend.  I don’t understand why everyone is so snotty about it.  The weather is good.  It is built for fun-in-one-day.  Fairground rides you don’t have to queue for.  Fish and chips.  Crazy golf.  Cinema.  Sand.  Sea.  Big, big sky.  Little parades of shops - butcher, baker, framer.  Library.  Park.  The pier.  Beach huts.  Quiet beaches away from the centre.  A funicular railway.  Regency terrace overlooking Cliff where Princess Caroline stayed.  Cheap second hand computer games and DVDs in the High Street.  And clothes.  And sweets.  A ruined medieval priory at Prittlewell.  Good trains from central London.  Neat inter war houses with immaculate tiny gardens.  More hairdressers and barbers per square mile than anywhere else in the world (I made that up - or guessed it, anyway).  Kids, teenagers, middle aged women, old men, effort hair.

The East End of London on holiday, or moving out for a better life.