While the lido was described as bringing “modernism to the masses” on the British coast it was just the latest example of a trend that had been developing since Victorian times – transforming seaside towns into resorts for leisure and entertainment. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the fashion was for local authorities to build great piers stretching from the promenade out into the sea. The Eastbourne Pier, pictured here in May 1931, was erected between 1866 and 1870 to an ingenious design by Eugenius Birch, which saw the structure sitting on special cups allowing the supporting struts to “move” in bad weather. Arranged on the pier's 1,000-foot length were kiosks, a theatre, a ballroom and a camera obscura. 1931. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via “A History of Britain From Above”)

Sculptor Jiri Genzer of the Czech Republic carves an ice sculpture at the Disney Dreams Ice Festival in Antwerp November 27, 2014. Some 60 artists from all over the world participated in the festival, making sculptures out of around 500 tonnes of ice. The festival will open on November 29 until January 11, 2015. (Photo by Yves Herman/Reuters)

A receptionist dinosaur robot performs at the new robot hotel, aptly called Henn na Hotel or Weird Hotel, in Sasebo, southwestern Japan, Wednesday, July 15, 2015. From the receptionist that does the check-in and check-out to the porter that’s a stand-on-wheels taking luggage up to the room, the hotel, that is run as part of Huis Ten Bosch amusement park, is “manned” almost totally by robots to save labor costs. (Photo by Shizuo Kambayashi/AP Photo)

Indian artist Sudarsan Pattnaik works on a sand sculpture depicting drowned Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi at Puri beach, some 65 kilometers away from Bhubaneswar, on September 4, 2015. Charities helping refugees saw a surge in donations on September 4 across Europe as people shocked by the heart-rending images of a drowned Syrian boy on a Turkish beach dug deep to help out. The photos of the lifeless body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, lying on a beach in Bodrum, Turkey, have triggered a wave of emotion across the continent, despite deep divisions among European governments on how to deal with the crisis. (Photo by Asit Kumar/AFP Photo)

New lovebirds boxer Robin Deakin – once known as “Britain's Worst Boxer” – and former UK “Big Brother” star Lisa Appleton go to the boxing gym in London, United Kingdom on September 28, 2016. The pair were seen holding hands in the street on arrival, and they then slogged it out in the ring and fooled about in Robin's gym. (Photo by FameFlynet UK)

A dirty thunderstorm occurs over Mount Sakurajima as the volcano erupts violently at 12:03 am on July 26, 2016 in Tarumizu, Kagoshima, Japan. The eruption occurred at the mountain's Showa crater. This is the first time that the active volcano in southern Kyushu has spewed out a smokestack that high since an eruption on August 18, 2013, according to the Kagoshima Meteorological Office. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)

An opposition supporter wearing a costume lies on the ground in front of riot police during a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government and to commemorate the 59th anniversary of the end of the dictatorship of Marcos Perez Jimenez in Caracas, Venezuela January 23, 2017. The sign reads “Venezuelans starve. There is no food or medicine. The underworld kills us. Get out Maduro”. (Photo by Marco Bello/Reuters)

A firefighter rests next to fire combat truck during a wildfire at Penela, Coimbra, central Portugal, on June 18, 2017. A wildfire in central Portugal killed at least 25 people and injured 16 others, most of them burning to death in their cars, the government said on June 18, 2017. Several hundred firefighters and 160 vehicles were dispatched late on June 17 to tackle the blaze, which broke out in the afternoon in the municipality of Pedrogao Grande before spreading fast across several fronts. (Photo by Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP Photo)