Farmers feed crabs under Metasequoia at the Sihong County Ecological Breeding Base in Suqian City, Jiangsu Province, China, on November 19, 2025. (Photo by Costfoto/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

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”)

Heather Larsen from Golden, Colorado, USA performs a split while walking the slackfline or highline across two towers in the Tower of David citadel complex overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem 02 May 2016. Larsen is one of the world's top female highliners, or slack liners and walked the lines as part of a Kickstarter campaign for an outdoor product. The tower at left was built by King King Herod some 2000 years ago. (Photo by Jim Hollander/EPA)

A motorway bridge crosses the icy Hunhe River in Shenyang, China on December 12, 2019. (Photo by Costfoto/Barcroft Media)

The television tower is pictured in Berlin, Germany, May 29, 2016. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

Aerial view of a boat working in the green water of Taihu Lake covered by blue-green algae, Wuxi city, Jiangsu province, China on May 23, 2018. (Photo by Imaginechina/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Aerial view of members of social organizations camping at the Plaza de Mayo square, outside the Casa Rosada presidential palace, to demonstrate against the rising inflation in Buenos Aires on April 19, 2023. (Photo by Emiliano Lasalvia/AFP Photo)