Under the Pier Show
About
The single strangest thing in Southwold and the reason a lot of people come back. Under the Pier Show is an arcade of home-made coin-operated machines built by the engineer and cartoonist Tim Hunkin, housed on Southwold Pier. They are satirical rather than nostalgic: the machines are about walking the dog, sunbathing, going to the gym, and other small modern absurdities, and they are built from scrap and wit rather than from a licensing deal. You put real coins in and things move. It costs nothing to walk in and look; you spend what you choose on the machines. Like the pier's other indoor attractions, it closes in high winds, so check the pier's notice board and website on a rough day before setting out.
Photos
Highlights
- ✓Hand-built coin-operated machines by Tim Hunkin
- ✓Nothing else like it on the English coast
- ✓Free to enter, pay per machine
- ✓Indoors, so it works on a wet day
Tips
- →Bring coins.
- →It closes in high winds along with the Clockhouse and Seaweed & Salt; the rest of the pier usually stays open.
- →Allow longer than you think: people who plan ten minutes tend to stay an hour.
Best Season
More Attraction Activities
Southwold Pier
A 623-foot pier with a restaurant, arcades, a water clock and Tim Hunkin's machines under the deck.
Gun Hill and the Six Guns
Six eighteen-pounder guns on the clifftop green above Sole Bay, where the 1672 battle was fought.
Southwold Beach and the Beach Huts
Sand over shingle the length of the town, with the colour-coded huts running above it.