A model poses backstage ahead of the NLP show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia 2014 at Carriageworks on April 7, 2014 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

A man smashes an apple with a sword placed on the head of a man wearing a knave costume during the Easter knight event on April 21, 2014 in Berlin. The easter knight event delivers an insight into medieval lifestyle. (Photo by Rainer Jensen/AFP Photo/DPA)

A brown bear is checked by foreign veterinaries and local staff members at the Four Paws Bear Sanctuary in Pristina, on May 9, 2014. (Photo by Hazir Reka/Reuters)

Israeli soldiers detain a protester during a demonstration by Palestinians protesting against the Israeli-built West Bank separation barrier and calling for the right of return for Palestinian refugees, in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, on May 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)

Ghanaian fans take a selfie prior to a Group G football match between Germany and Ghana at the Castelao Stadium in Fortaleza during the 2014 FIFA World Cup on June 21, 2014. (Photo by Patrik Stollarz/AFP Photo)

Large trumpet vines spread across electrical lines next to a highway in Kinston, N.C., on June 23, 2014. (Photo by Janet S. Carter/Kinston Free Press via AP Photo)

This picture taken on July 25, 2014 shows people cooling off in a waterpark in Suining, southwest China's Sichuan province. Meteorological departments issued an orange alert for high temperature as a heat wave embraces Sichuan province, with temperature of most area topped 37, local media reported. (Photo by AFP Photo)

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”)