A model presents a creation during the pushBUTTON catwalk show at London Fashion Week Women's A/W19 in London, Britain February 19, 2019. (Photo by Henry Nicholls/Reuters)

Actress Andrea Barber crosses the finish line at the Rock 'n' Roll Los Angeles Halloween Half-Marathon and 5K benefitting the ASPCA, or American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on October 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images for CGI)

(L-R) Heidi Klum and Alessandra Ambrosio attend the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 09, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/VF20/WireImage)

Joshua Patino stands on a ladder to put finishing touches on a giant dinosaur exhibit at PAX East in the Boston Convention and Expo Center, Thursday, April 21, 2016, in Boston. PAX East, an annual celebration of gaming culture, is expected to draw tens of thousands of visitors Friday through Sunday. It's a place where serious gamers can preview unreleased video games and devices, compete in tournaments, hear live music and meet others for whom gaming is a way of life. (Photo by Elise Amendola/AP Photo)

Heugh Breakwater by Caroline Walker. Winner in the Coastal Views category. (Photo by Caroline Walker/Sea View Photography Competition 2020)

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”)

British professional tennis player Emma Raducanu after she was made a MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) by King Charles III at Windsor Castle on November 29, 2022 in Windsor, England. (Photo by Andrew Matthews – WPA Pool/Getty Images)