Focus on two glasses of champagne on floor. Ardent loving couple is sitting on bed and hugging with passion on background. Romantic date concept. (Photo by Olena Yakobchuk/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

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”)

TV prosthetics artist Rene Abelardo tries on a sample of his prosthetic face mask, his latest creation as TV projects took a halt amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in San Pedro, Laguna, Philippines, June 17, 2020. (Photo by Eloisa Lopez/Reuters)

Deal or New Deal, Season 2. Pictured: Meghan Markle, 2006. (Photo by Paul Drinkwater/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

This image released by Neon shows Matthew McConaughey in a scene from “The Beach Bum”. (Photo by Atsushi Nishijima/Neon via AP Photo)

People stand in queue keeping social distance beside a Covid-19 awareness scarecrows placed by Chennai municipality at a market during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Chennai on April 11, 2020. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

Yang Shiguang, 77, performs stunts at a park in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, September 3, 2013. Yang has been a member of a stunt performance club since 2007, after retiring from a research institution. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

A model has a wig prepared backstage before The Blonds Spring/Summer 2017 collection during New York Fashion Week in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., September 11, 2016. (Photo by Lucas Jackson/Reuters)