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”)

A reveler poses for pictures at the Victorian Picnic during the Wave and Goth festival in Leipzig June 6, 2014. The annual festival, known in Germany as Wave-Gotik Treffen (WGT), features over 150 bands and artist in venues all over the city playing Gothic rock and other styles of the dark wave music subculture. The event, one of the biggest of its kind, attracts a regular audience of up to 20,000, the organizers said. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

A masked reveller poses along the flooded St. Mark's Square during a period of seasonal high water and on the first day of carnival, in Venice February 1, 2015. (Photo by Stefano Rellandini/Reuters)

People dressed in period costumes take part in the “Fetes Galantes” fancy dress evening at the “galerie des glaces” in the Chateau de Versailles, France on May 27, 2019. (Photo by Ludovic Marin/AFP Photo)

Pope Benedict XVI arrives at the Santa Sabina Basilica for the Ash Wednesday service on March 9, 2011 in Rome, Italy. Ash Wednesday opens the liturgical 40-day period of Lent, a period of prayer, fasting, penitence and alms giving leading up to Easter.

Period-costumed actors participate in the 150th anniversary re-enactment of the surrender of General Robert E. Lee to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Museum of Confederacy in Appomattox, Virginia, April 9, 2015. (Photo by Jay Paul/Reuters)

A reveller wearing a mask and a period costume takes part in the Venice Carnival on February 24, 2019 in Venice, Italy. The carnival in Venice takes place until March 5, 2019. (Photo by Alberto Pizzoli/AFP Photo)

Patrick Fellows #21, Allan McShane #26, Carson Edwardson #8 and Shaun Bily #23 of the Erie Otters sit on the bench during the first period of an OHL game against the Niagara IceDogs at the Meridian Centre on October 6, 2016 in St Catharines, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)