Labourers pour molten iron into a container at a foundry in Xiangfan, Hubei province in this July 2, 2010 file photo. Iron ore is enjoying its biggest rally in years, outpacing copper and oil so far in 2016, but still weak forward prices show it may be tough to stretch the bullish outlook. Improving steel prices in top market China are helping fuel iron ore's climb as producers gear up for a seasonal uptick in demand. Yet there is no shortage of doubters who see gains in the bulk commodity as fleeting given a large glut and challenges for China's economy. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A model presents a creation from the Jeremy Scott Spring/Summer 2015 collection during New York Fashion Week September 10, 2014. (Photo by Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

Riot security forces clash with demonstrators as a motorcycle is set on fire during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in San Cristobal, Venezuela May 29, 2017. (Photo by Carlos Eduardo Ramirez/Reuters)

A female soldier from the honour guards prepares for a welcoming ceremony for Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, October 18, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

Women perform a pole dancing routine during the national day celebration of “Urban Pole” dance along a street in Monterrey, Mexico, on June 9, 2013. (Photo by Daniel Becerril/Reuters)

Students from CAS Ballet Theatre School stretch on the sidewalk Saturday, February 20, 2016, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (Photo by Junfu Han/The Ann Arbor News via AP Photo)

French actress Marie Cornillon wearing body paint and a headgear with bull horns, poses in front of the Nimes arena with a sign inscribed “Abolissons la corrida” (Abolish corrida bullfighting) as part of a protest by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) animal rights group to ban bullfighting in France, on November 16, 2022. (Photo by Pascal Guyot/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”)