The pier was made in 1932 by Harland and Wolff, the shipbuilders responsible for the Titanic, to be the access onto the river for Charing Cross railway station. It sat near to Cleopatra's Needle until it made way for a newer model named Embankment Pier during the millennium redevelopment of the Embankment.

 

The floating pier was bought by a TV set designer (for such programmes as Eastenders and Holby City) who wished to turn it into her home & it then spent 6 months tied up in mid-river at Tower Bridge before being refurbished into living accomodation. Decking was constructed around the outside edge with timber floors installed inside. 100 French windows were added which let in maximum light and gave access to the decks at every point.Then in 2001 it was relocated to Greenland Pier in Rotherhithe where she lived apparently for a while. It is unclear why it then appeared in 2009 in one of the fingers of the old graving dock of the Royal Victoria Dock by the derelict Millenium Mills site. It became The Floating Cocktail Lounge when this site became part of the ill fated London Pleasure Gardens in 2012. The cocktail lounge billed as ‘a pinnacle of luxury and decadence’ with the organisers given a three-year licence to run the site it all ended less that 5 weeks after opening and the London Pleasure Gardens losing Newham Council several million pounds.

 

As a footnote, this pier features in London's music history as The Sex Pistols set off from Charing Cross Pier in 1977 2 days before the Queen was due to sail down the river as part of the Silver Jubilee festivities. The band's hired boat  was even called Queen Elizabeth.The band played Anarchy In The UK as the packed boat passed the Houses of Parliament. Police boats circled them and scuffles broke out as the Pistols and their entourage tried to re-dock at Charing Cross Pier.

 

This vacant ex floating pier has sat on the same graving dock site in poor condition after vandalism and its future remains uncertain. The picture below was taken from the roof of the Millenium Mills in Autumn 2015.

 

Ben M writes: "the lady did indeed live on the pier until i believe she was asked to move on after making complaints about the noise of passenger vessels stopping at Greenland pier".