Ever since Mike Simmons bought the pier and decided to turn it into flats, people here have been bemoaning its demise.

The clamour has got even louder now it’s burned down.

But what were these same people doing when the pier was still being run in the 90s?

Why weren’t they clamouring to use it then? They clearly weren’t using it, that’s why it became doomed.

If ever the phrase “you don’t miss it till it’s gone” was apt, it is apt now.

Perhaps we should make the most of what’s left! The Marine Hall, the swimming pool, the boating lake, the pitch and put...

Incidentally, has no one else noticed a strange irony?

Mike Simmons – AKA Joey Blower – made his living from being an entertainer on North Pier in Blackpool.

Yet when he bought Fleetwood’s one, he decided the entertainment would end completely! Come on, give us a show, Joe!

Too late now, anyway. The show is well and truly over for the pier.

Oh well, it looks like another part of Fleetwood history is finished.

John Donaldson, Poulton Road, Fleetwood