FEATURE: THE CLIFFS PAVILION

Longpier.com reporter Jessica Russell is spending the summer checking out what the borough of Southend has to offer families.  This month, she’s travelled to the Cliffs Pavilion in Westcliff to cast an eye over their events…

If you live in Southend you will most probably know the Cliffs Pavilion.  I don’t go there much, but we do enjoy the odd panto at Christmas with the kids.  Perhaps, like me, you wouldn’t think of just popping down there for a relaxing drink on a sunny evening?  This summer you should think again. Although the auditorium is closed for shows until September 6th -  it is undergoing a massive refurbishment programme replacing carpets and the seats (all 1630 of them) – the Cliffs still offers locals, and discerning visitors, somewhere to hang out with one of the best views Southend has to offer.

All through this month, up until the 13th September, you can enjoy Monday Music Nights.  These  are free events that take place in the Marine Room and offer the chance to chill out with a drink and a snack whilst listening to live music.  The doors of the Marine Room open directly onto one of the lower terraces that overlook the estuary and when I visited last week it seemed like the perfect spot to enjoy a Southend sunset.

I am not in the pay of the Cliffs you understand, I do just really appreciate the view from the perch it occupies.  I might sound a little off-key here, but when I am in the main foyer bar there I entertain the notion that the architect had every intention of visitors feeling like they are on the bridge of a rather glamorous yacht sailing out past the pier to sea.

That nautical feel may not be so fanciful either;  the Cliffs  Pavilion was planned in the 1930s and building work began then before stopping in 1939 on account of the Second World War.  It was eventually started from scratch again having been boarded up for twenty years and finally opened in 1964. The 1960s public building facade is all too evident from the front of the building, I prefer to approach from the Rossi’s parlour on the seafront.

The assault up the stairs on the north face of the cliff means I have earned a drink at the top!  It also means I can skip the front entrance with its more challenging grey and white brickwork and immerse myself in the art deco feel of the curved staircase that seems to overhang the estuary…

Back in the room, and whatever your architectural preferences, this is my plan: let’s make the most of the brief interlude of calm at the Cliffs Pavilion.  Whilst those theatregoers have no use for it we should all swing by, kick back and get in a holiday frame of mind in our own back yard for an hour or two.