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”)

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)

Manchester City's Phil Foden celebrates after scoring his side's sixth goal during the Champions League round of 16 second leg, soccer match between Manchester City and Schalke 04 at Etihad stadium in Manchester, England, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. (Photo by Dave Thompson/AP Photo)

Principle Ballet Dancer, Ekaterina Bulgutova, of the Russian State Ballet, with the Nutcracker part of Christmas Ballet Season in Cardiff which starts at St Davids Hall on December 20, 2016 in Cardiff, England. (Photo by Kiran Ridley/Barcroft Images)

A student activist is detained during a silent protest after Thailand's election commission filed charges against a group for posting “foul and strong” comments online criticising a military-backed draft constitution, in Bangkok, Thailand April 27, 2016. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

A man rides a horse at a playground on a hill in Kabul April 19, 2015. (Photo by Mohammad Ismail/Reuters)

Bangladesh soldiers carry a woman survivor from the rubble at the site of a building that collapsed Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, April 25, 2013. By Thursday, the death toll reached at least 194 people as rescuers continued to search for injured and missing, after a huge section of an eight-story building that housed several garment factories splintered into a pile of concrete. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/AP Photo)

In this October 5, 2016 photo a man looks at the work “Not to be Reproduced” by Rene Magritte at the Kunsthalle art gallery in Hamburg, Germany. The exhibition, which runs from Oct. 7, 2016 until Jan. 22, 2017, features more than 150 masterpieces of surrealism from four of the most significant European private collections of the 20th century. (Photo by Daniel Reinhardt/DPA via AP Photo)