Tower Millennium Pier facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Tower Millennium Pier

Type	River bus and tourist/leisure services
Locale	River Thames, London, UK
Owner	London River Services
Operator	London River Services
Coordinates	51°30′27″N 0°04′45″W / 51.507367°N 0.079182°W / 51.507367; -0.079182
Tower Millennium Pier Location in Central London

Tower Millennium Pier is a pier on the River Thames, in Tower Hill, London, UK. It is operated by London River Services and served by various river transport and cruise operators. The pier is close to Tower Bridge and is situated immediately adjacent to the southwest corner of the Tower of London.

Services

The pier is used by the river bus route RB1 from Embankment to Woolwich (operated by MBNA Thames Clippers) and Westminster-Greenwich tourist boats (operated by City Cruises). Private-charter entertainment boats also use Tower Pier.

History

Tower Millennium Pier, with the City of London's financial core behind, as seen from City Hall

Tower Millennium Pier was opened on 14 July by London Mayor Ken Livingstone. Its creation was funded by the Millennium Commission as part of the Thames 2000 project, and was one of five new piers provided by the Commission on the Thames (the others being Blackfriars Millennium Pier, London Eye Pier, Westminster Millennium Pier and Millbank Millennium Pier).

The pier has at its upstream end a small cruise terminal facility which is used for processing passengers and baggage transferred by boat from cruise ships berthed alongside HMS Belfast. The Tower Pier project was part of an integrated transport and regeneration strategy for the Thames led by London's Cross River Partnership.

Connections

• Tower Hill Underground station and Tower Gateway DLR station, Fenchurch Street railway station
• St. Katharine Pier on the other side of Tower Bridge for Crown River Cruises.
• London Buses 15; 15H; N15; RV1

Lifeboat pier move

In 2002 the RNLI's Thames lifeboat service was introduced to the River Thames following the Marchioness disaster, and Tower Pier was initially used as a base for the lifeboat service. In 2006 the RNLI station moved up-river to a new base, the former Waterloo Police Pier on Victoria Embankment next to Waterloo Bridge, which took the name Tower Lifeboat Station.

Lines

Images for kids

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  Tower Millennium Pier with Tower Bridge

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  A catamaran arriving at Tower Pier

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  The pier entrance

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  The pier with the Tower of London on the right

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  The pier and Tower Bridge seen from the air

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  A catamaran berthed at the pier