From a Jukebox Photograph to a Music Video: Media Technologies and the Popular Culture Heritage of a British Pleasure Pier

This paper reflects upon the research findings of a project exploring the popular culture heritage of Britain’s pleasure piers. Taking the Grade I listed Clevedon Pier (Somerset, England) as a case study, it examines how media technologies (both old and new) have captured, represented and contributed to the pier’s cultural activities across the years. This includes consideration of archive photographs of the pier’s Nissen hut, complete with jukebox, as well a Vevo-hosted music video for successful boy band One Direction. Drawing on qualitative data gathered from interviews with community members, this paper also considers how the materials produced by these technologies work as aide-mémoires, both prompting and shaping personal recollections. Finally, it considers how the promotion and management of these materials in on and off-line spaces serve to connect the various strands of the pier’s popular culture heritage, further develop community engagement with the pier, and potentially attract new visitors.