CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND Historic England has received an application to consider the Colonnade at Sutton on Sea Pleasure Gardens for listing. There are two other related assessments:

1472236 Sutton on Sea Pleasure Gardens (registration assessment) 1472498 Sutton on Sea War Memorial (listing assessment)

The colonnade was previously assessed and turned down for listing in 2018 (UDS 1460038). This new application has been validated due to the new information available since that previous assessment.

Historic England understands that the colonnade is due to be demolished. Although we are not aware that planning permission has been granted for any redevelopment works, we understand that the demolition will take place with funding support from central government.

The site does not stand in a conservation area.

HISTORY AND DETAILS The first pleasure gardens at Sutton on Sea were laid out in the 1930s, opening in 1938. The gardens contained a paddling pool, bowling green, cafe and other amenities, and were bounded along their eastern side by a long colonnade which lined the adjacent landward bank of the sea wall. The gardens were severely damaged on the night of the 31 January 1953, when a combination of high spring tides and a severe storm over the North Sea caused a huge storm tide which breached sea defences along the coastlines of England, Scotland, Belgium and the Netherlands, with the loss of many lives. A significant proportion of the colonnade was destroyed.

Following the damage caused by the storm, the landscape architect Sylvia Crowe was commissioned to design a replacement pleasure garden. Crowe worked quickly: the new garden was reopened in August 1954. As part of the design of the new garden, Crowe retained the surviving portion of the 1930s colonnade, and replaced the lost portion with a new section completing its length. Crowe's assistant at this time was Ivor Cunningham, and a 1953 drawing of the new colonnade by him suggests his involvement in its design.

The southern, original portion of the colonnade consists of wide bays supported on Doric columns. A central bay which gives access via steps to the beach beyond is flanked by paired columns; the remainder are single. The northern, 1950s portion continues the rhythm of the earlier part but in the architectural language of its day. The bays are divided by slender, square columns with wide, almost flat arches spanning the bays themselves.

DISCUSSION Buildings are assessed for listing in accordance with the Principles of Selection for Listed Buildings (DCMS, 2018); they are therefore assessed on the basis of their architectural and historic special interest. The Historic England Selection Guides for Sport and Recreational Buildings and Garden and Park Structures (both December 2017) give further guidance. Architectural interest will be key, as will the wider relationship of the colonnade with the gardens in which it stands.

Judged against the criteria, the considerations in our supplementary guidance and the information available, the Colonnade at Sutton on Sea is not recommended for listing for the following principal reasons:

Degree of Architectural interest:

* both the 1930s and 1950s sections of the Colonnade are characteristic of their time and elegant examples of their type and have good local interest, but do not in their own right amount to special interest in the national context.

Degree of Historic interest:

* the association of the 1950s design with Sylvia Crowe and Ivor Cunningham, and the relationship with their 1950s Pleasure Gardens gives good historic and strong local interest, but this is not sufficient to merit national listing.

CONCLUSION Although of strong local interest for their design and relationship with Sylvia Crowe's Pleasure Gardens, the Colonnade does not possess special interest in the national context, and it should not be listed.