Additions
A second 'tramway' pier was built next to the first pier, opening on 29 August 1864. Horse-drawn trams took passengers from the pier head to the esplanade. Prior to the construction of the railway pier, the tramway continued to Ryde Railway Station at St Johns Road. From 1886 to 1927 the trams were powered by electricity from a third rail, and from then until 1969 the trams were petrol-powered.
On 12 July 1880 a third pier was opened, alongside the first two, providing a direct steam railway link to the pier-head. The railway line was owned jointly by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and London and South Western Railway, as far as Ryde St Johns Road, to connect with their ship services to Portsmouth. However, trains were run by the independent Isle of Wight Railway and Isle of Wight Central Railway, who owned the tracks beyond St John's Road and operated through services to Ventnor and Cowes via Newport respectively.
In 1895 a concert pavilion was constructed at the pier-head and over the next sixteen years the original wooden piles were replaced in cast iron. It was at Ryde Pier that the Empress Eugénie landed from Sir John Burgoyne's yacht "The Gazelle" after her flight from Paris in 1870.
The pier head was remodelled in the 1930s using concrete, and during the Second World War the pier was used for military purposes, with various modifications made to accommodate this.
The Concert Pavilion was at the centre of the narrative in Philip Norman's book, Babycham Night; the author's family ran the venue when it was known as the Seagull Ballroom in the 1950s. Relatives of his produced the eponymous champagne perry. The pavilion was later demolished, a few of the rotting piles are plainly visible, around the edge of an extended car parking area constructed in 2010, with the remainder shortened and hidden beneath the new structure.
The tramway closed in 1969 and the structure was partially dismantled. This has left the disused and decaying tramway pier between the railway and promenade piers. The remaining structure has proved useful as a base for structures for temporary diversions from the promenade pier, such as when a ship sliced through the latter in 1974. In autumn 2010 the whole length was fitted with a temporary deck to provide a walkway during re-building works to the Promenade Pier.
Ryde Pier was made a Grade II listed building in 1976. In the early 1980s a modern waiting area, including some of the original buildings, replaced the original Victorian waiting rooms at the pier-head. Further modifications of these facilities were made in 2009, including the provision of a conservatory-style refreshment area with views across the water towards Ryde. In May 2011 existing lighting columns on the Promenade Pier were fitted with Victorian-style brackets and lanterns.
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