A girl dances in front of the digital art installation “Light in Dark” created by teamLab, a collaborative of Japanese digital artists, during a special exhibition of “Shake! Art Exhibition! and Learn and Play! teamLab Future Park” at National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (or Miraikan) in Tokyo, Japan, 19 January 2015. The exhibition is held through 01 March 2015. (Photo by Kimimasa Mayama/EPA)

Michelle Wie of the USA lines up a putt on the second hole during the final round of the HSBC Women's Champions on the Tanjong Course at Sentosa Golf Club on March 5, 2017 in Singapore. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

Clouds float over an open field January 3, 2007 in Shirley Heights, Antigua. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

O Santa Claus of Australia competes in the mens 80–84 years 100 metres heats during day two of the 2009 Sydney World Masters Games at Sydney Olympic Park on October 11, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

Space shuttle Atlantis (R) remains docked to the International Space Station photographed by NASA astronaut Ronald Garan during a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk July 12, 2011 in space. Space shuttle Atlantis has embarked on a 12-day mission to the International Space Station where it will deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module packed with supplies and spare parts. This was the final mission of the space shuttle program, which began on April 12, 1981 with the launch of Colombia. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images)

Blanka Vlasic of Croatia and Team Europe celebrates a clearance in the women's high jump during the IAAF/VTB Continental Cup at the Stadion Poljud on September 5, 2010 in Split, Croatia. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo accepts the Grammy award for Best Pop Vocal Album for “Sour” during the 64th Annual Grammy Awards show in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., April 3, 2022. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

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”)