People on inflatable boats enjoy the weather on the Lake Lucerne in Sisikon, Switzerland, August 5, 2018. (Photo by Denis Balibouse/Reuters)

Britain's Alice Kinsella competes in the balance beam event of the artistic gymnastics women's qualification during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Bercy Arena in Paris, on July 28, 2024. (Photo by Gabriel Bouys/AFP Photo)

A tornado builds and travels southwest causing damage near Dean Rd. and 82nd Avenue in Hutchinson, Kan. on Monday, July 13, 2015. (Photo by Sandra J. Milburn/The Hutchinson News via AP Photo)

Emma Raducanu of the United Kingdom looks on during a women's singles match against Anna Kalinskaya on day 6 of the Mubadala Citi DC Open 2025 at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center on July 26, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

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 man dressed as a Santa Claus poses at the front of the Kollhoff Tower at Potsdamer Platz square in Berlin December 14, 2014. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

A flight deck crew prepares to launch a F18 Super Hornet from the deck of the USS Eisenhower off the coast of Virginia, December 10, 2015 in the Atlantic Ocean. US Defense Secretary Ash Carter visited the carrier with India's Minister of Defense Manohar Parrikar to demonstrate US Navy aircraft carrier flight operations. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

A resident gestures about the loss of his home following an overnight fire at the Addition Hills area in suburban Mandaluyong city east Manila, Philippines, Monday, November 14, 2016. Fire officials say the overnight fire destroyed hundreds of homes, rendered more than 5,000 people homeless and resulted in the death of two residents. (Photo by Bullit Marquez/AP Photo)