Work began on building the pier on 7 November 1903, with P. Munroe acting as engineer, and it opened on 11 June 1904.

[6][7] As the building was underinsured the pier was put up for sale and bought by Leonard Guy, who opened a £60,000 new pavilion three years later.

[5] Brenner continued his ownership of the pier until 6 February 2008, when it was sold to brother and sister partnership Kerry and Michelle Michael.

£1,000,000 was spent installing a new go-kart track, a fully licensed bar, and a climbing wall into the pavilion.

At 01:35 BST on 28 July 2008, a fire at the foot of the north tower on the shoreward (eastern) end of the pavilion triggered the privately monitored fire alarm,[9] but the Essex-based alarm monitoring company were unable to contact the key-holder by mobile phone and no further action was taken.

[11] Robert Tinker, a Grand Pier employee, was later praised by the fire brigade as he braved the extreme intensity of the heat from the flames to rush around the side of the building to remove several gas canisters which had been stored within the premises; had these not been removed the fire brigade claimed that the blaze could have been much worse, with the possibility of local residents and traders needing to be evacuated.

[13] Work began dismantling the wreckage on 12 September 2008,[14] and the Bristol architects Angus Meek won the contract to design the new pavilion on 15 October.

Kerry and Michelle Michael, the pier owners, were awarded £30,000,000 by a judge at Bristol Mercantile Court.