Pier mistress' memoir tells of boy bands, bombs and Emma Thompson

Stories about a One Direction music video, actor Emma Thompson and a bomb disposal team all feature in a woman's memoir about her time running England's only Grade I-listed pier.

Linda Strong was pier mistress, or manager, at Clevedon Pier, North Somerset, from 2005 to 2015, and her new book Tales of a Pier Mistress - Bombs, Bands and Bumps in the Night tells some of the zanier incidents during her time in charge.

Strong was the only staff member who knew One Direction were coming to film the video for You & I in 2014 and was sworn to secrecy because there were concerns fans would turn up in large numbers from across the country and beyond.

"They asked me if there was anywhere you could land a helicopter," she said.

People in Clevedon knew something was happening, however. There were broadcast vehicles parked outside the pier and posters were put up around town saying an episode of Countryfile was to be filmed there.

But as the big day approached, people started getting wind that One Direction - one of the UK's biggest bands at the time - were going to be there.

Strong told BBC Radio Bristol presenter John Darvall she was initially told "a band" was coming to film.

"I remember saying that whoever this band was, they must be big - someone like One Direction," she said she had joked to the visiting location manager.

"His reply was: 'You're heading in the right direction'."

"I was the only one allowed to be at the pier - because they needed someone to let them on."

When the band came, they took over the site and Liam Payne, who died in 2024, endeared himself to Strong.

"My office was turned into a dressing room," she said.

"Liam [Payne] had his hair cut, food was in abundance. The irony was, come lunch time, they wanted fish and chips.

"I remember Liam being the gentleman - quiet but caring. He was the only one who offered to do a photo."

She added: "So sad to have lost such a young man."

The book also tells the story of when actor Emma Thompson went there on holiday in 2005.

"I just happened to come down the stairs and I looked at this lady and I thought 'I know that face'," Strong recalled.

"The guy with her was really handsome and I know at the time she was married to Greg Wise.

"I looked at her and I said, 'I know your face', and she laughed and said 'yes you do'.

"And I thought 'let the floor open up and swallow me'.

"But she was so gracious and I told her that even though she'd been in loads of films, my favourite was Nanny McPhee.

"She just said, 'I'll let you into a secret - we're about to start another one'. And that was Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang. So I knew what was going to happen before that film ever came into being."

Strong also recalled the concern she felt one day when the pier had to close when an object that "looked suspiciously like the nose cone of a bomb" was spotted lodged in sand nearby.

She sent the image to the coastguard, but heard nothing back. She called again.

"Within half an hour, several coastguards turned up with blue lights flashing," she said.

The team agreed it looked suspicious and sent it to another group in Plymouth.

"All went quiet," Strong added.

"Four weeks later, the police arrived in the morning and told me that the pier would close at 12 noon as the bomb squad were on their way from Plymouth.

"At low tide they went out in a small rib [rigid inflatable boat] to inspect the item.

"It was decided the object was hollow and had a tiny hole in the tip. It was not a bomb and possibly an old piece of metal leftover from parts of the old pier head."

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