When Ben Wright went for a Sunday morning shower he could see the West Pier from his hotel window standing in the same, slowly deteriorating state.

When he came out ten minutes later, however, a huge section of the derelict pier had collapsed into the sea and over the next hour he watched, with his wife Jane, as part of the concert hall slowly slid into the sea.

The couple, who found an old cheque from the Seventies washed up on the beach among the debris, had come to stay at the Hilton Hotel for the night from their home in Bedfordshire.

Jane used to work in the area and had told her husband about the West Pier.

Ben said: "I came out of the shower and saw a chunk had gone and the rest of it was starting to move. It was really strange.

"It slowly started to sink into the sea. For the first hour you could see it dropping. For an hour it stayed fairly stable and it started falling again."

Seafront officer Richard Pearce was on patrol when the collapse began. When he looked at the pier at 9.15am, 25 per cent of the concert hall section had fallen.

At 10am, half had collapsed.

He said: "There has been bits and pieces falling from it for some years but I have never seen such a substantial amount."

Councillor Paul Elgood, Liberal Democrat councillor for the area, witnessed the second fall.

He said: "I saw the collapse at about 10am and a large chunk went into the sea. It was very dramatic to see one of Brighton's much-loved buildings collapse in this way."

Throughout the day, onlookers, city council staff and the Coastguard, which had warned ships of potential debris, braced themselves for high tide at 7.30pm, when it was feared more damage could be caused.

Police cordoned off the area around the piles of debris on the beach and tried to keep people safely away. City council workers tried to clear the rubbish.

Onlookers spoke of their sadness and, despite the warnings, collected mementoes from the beach.

Simon Gardner and his friend Alex Marlow, both of Holmes Avenue, Hove, found a pile of paperwork dating from between the Forties and Seventies.

Their find included a menu and information leaflet from 1958, a private letter from 1948, a licence to gamble and receipts.

Alex said: "We are probably going to put them in an album and pass them on through the families and see if they are worth anything."

Stuart Cohen, who used to live in Brighton 25 years ago, took a piece of wood back to his home near Chicago in America.

He said: "It is so sad. I remember when I used to go on the pier."

Tracey Clift, of Pavilion Road, Worthing, said her husband may carve the wood she found on the beach for their garden.

She said: "It is sad. It is a shame something was not done. They have been talking about it for years and now it has collapsed and I can't see them doing anything about it now."

Gary Wenham, of Hove Park Road, came to see the fallen monument with his daughter Ella, 11.

He said: "It is just an unfortunate waste. What I can't understand is why they let it happen."

David Steadman, of Chiltern Close, Shoreham, said: "It is a sad day. It should have been restored a long time ago. It should never have been allowed to deteriorate to this stage."

Only two weeks ago, English Heritage warned the pier was in danger of being lost forever if work was not carried out soon.

City council leader Ken Bodfish said he hopes action will now be taken.

He said: "Everyone needs to come together and do something. Some people will have to compromise.

"Twenty five years ago I brought my children to the West Pier. I would like to bring my grandchildren to it as well."

The Brighton West Pier Trust, which owns the pier, has vowed it will continue with its plans for restoration.

Rachel Clarke, general manager, said: "We do not think it will jeopardise the restoration. It will have to be carefully rethought and retimetabled."

She said engineers had warned the corner of the concert hall would be the first piece to go.

The trust blames delays caused by arguments over lottery funding for the collapse.

Geoff Lockwood, chief executive, said: "If we were able to go ahead in spring 2001, today would not have happened."

The Brighton Society and Save our Seafront are against a seafront development, which would fund the restoration.

Selma Montford, secretary of the Brighton Society said: "It does bring into question whether the new development would save it or be worth it.

"The worry is that the West Pier will go and the new development will be in place and it would have been inflicted on us for nothing."