JOHN R Coles’s suggestion (Nov 15th) to create a “filled-in” pier and concrete wall to renovate Boscombe;s pier is thought provoking. I am sure that Mr Coles’s perspective from his own Poole home, will be different from our own view directly looking down to the pier and our wry observations of the ill-fated surf reef project. Another costly initiative such as permanently concreting-in the pier and creating a marina would probably be irreversible and, in some respects, probably as pie-in-the-sky as the reef that wasn’t, or even Dr Thomas Compton’s visionary but even more ill-fated Southbourne pier of 1888!

If Boscombe aspires to be “the seaborne place like Poole to visit”, and I’m not sure what that aspiration actually means, then perhaps there is always merit in looking at fresh ways to enhance what many of us already think of our beautiful, unspoilt, beach, promenade and pier. I suspect that the many thousands who enjoy the vistas, facilities and simple pleasure of Boscombe and beaches towards Christchurch, do so for a number of reasons, and don’t wish it to be the same as Poole or Bournemouth itself. The water taxi idea might well have merit, additional and seasonal pop-up cafes and bars (we certainly lack in quality, variety and originality in this respect), or even a fresh look at some simple pop-up ideas on the pier itself, together with some renewed ideas about summer musical entertainment coming to the beach and prom again are perhaps where we should start.

Our pier is different. It is very much how piers were first designed, to provide enjoyment and pleasure for locals and visitors alike. Taking in the views, enjoying the fresh air, fishing from he pier-end, or simply strolling “beside the seaside” might just be something that essentially needs to be left as it was first intended.

FRED AND JANE PENNELL, Undercliff Road, Bournemouth