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 general view of the sunrise over Hawes, Wensleydale, UK on November 24, 2014. (Photo by Neil Squires/PA Wire)

Wadha al-Sayyed, wife of captive Lebanese soldier Khaled Moqbel, protests for his release and government action, near burning tyres blocking a road in Beirut, December 15, 2014. More than two dozen members of the Lebanese security forces are being held by Sunni Islamists. (Photo by Hasan Shaaban/Reuters)

In this photo taken on Monday, January 5, 2015, a mallard duck attempts to walk on a frozen pond in Yukon, Okla. (Photo by Steve Gooch/AP Photo/The Oklahoman)

A wounded servicemen of Ukrainian Military Forces looks on after the battle with Russian troops and Russia-backed separatists in Lugansk region on March 8, 2022. The number of refugees flooding across Ukraine's borders to escape towns devastated by shelling and air strikes passed two million, in Europe's fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II, according to the United Nations. (Photo by Anatolii Stepanov/AFP Photo)

Two women kiss as they hold up a placard that reads in Turkish: “I live free. Who's the fool who will put me in chains? I would be shocked” during the LGBTQ Pride March in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, June 26, 2022. Dozens of people were detained in central Istanbul Sunday after city authorities banned a LGBTQ Pride March, organisers said. (Photo by Emrah Gurel/AP Photo)

Participants in costumes arrive at the Notting Hill Carnival in London, Britain, 29 August 2022. The Notting Hill Carnival is the largest street carnival in Europe and returned to London after two year break due to the coronavirus pandemic with more than a million people expected to attend the two-day celebration of Caribbean heritage on 28 and 29 August. (Photo by Tolga Akmen/EPA/EFE)

Firefighters and military officials rescue one of the missing residents from the underground parking lot of an apartment building in Nam-gu, Pohang-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, which was submerged in heavy rain caused by Typhoon Hinnamno in Pohang, South Korea, 07 September 2022. According to fire authorities, two people were rescued alive and three bodies found out of seven people who were reportedly missing in the incident. (Photo by Kim Hee-Chul/EPA/EFE)