Category:Seaside Economy
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Seaside Economy
Antium Roman seaside resort where beach culture began with Caligula and Nero having holiday palaces there. To protect sea views Justinian issued an imperial edict banning construction within 100 feet of the shore.
Seaside economy Extraordinary past building on the gentry's favoured health regime of the spa resort, which began in Scarborough at the end of the 17th Century, the creation of the railways helped Blackpool claim to be the world's first working-class seaside resort in the late 19th Century. Expansion and consolidation of the country's 100-odd coastal resorts continued, despite the interruptions of two world wars, until changing tastes and cheap flights in the 1970s signalled a decline. The lack of investment since then is plainly evident, with architectural gems such as grand Victorian hotels and Art Deco pavilions unloved and unrepaired.
- Working-class resorts Coastal leisure center within a short rail journey of a major manufacturing center, especially in UK after passing the Bank Holiday Act, 19th century.
Good old days Nostalgia for 1950s holidays, but while seaside holidays of old were a welcome escape from urban poverty, they were not always fun. Actress Sheila Hancock says: “We went to Ramsgate and it was the usual - as it was in those days - dreary seaside town. Even as a child I realised it was fairly dreary.... And the bedsit place or boarding house which you stayed in turned you out after breakfast and you were not allowed to go back until the evening.”
Seaside resort Coastal place that developed for the passion of seabathing. After the introduction of railways sea resorts proliferated, especially if they were within a return day travel near urban/industrial centers, 19th cent.
British Isles Seaside Resorts
(alphabetical listing)
Note Britain has 100-odd coastal resorts.
Blackpool Working-class resort for Blackburn, Bolton and Bury textile towns and Manchester. Blackpool Pleasure Beach, in a town which embraces all the traditional seaside ingredients, is still the most visited attraction in the UK.
- Blackpool Tower Inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, it rises to 158m (518ft 9 inches). Opened to the public on 14 May 1894.
- Tower Pavilion Original ballroom opened in August 1894. It was smaller than the present ballroom and occupied the front of the tower complex.
- Tower Ballroom Design of Frank Matcham who also designed Blackpool Grand Theatre, built between 1897-98, opened 1899. It was commissioned by the Tower company in response to the opening of the Empress Ballroom, in the Winter Gardens. The ballroom floor is 120ft x 120ft and is made up of 30,602 blocks of mahogany, oak and walnut. The ballroom was damaged by fire in December 1956, and the dance floor was destroyed along with the restaurant underneath the ballroom. Restoration took two years and cost £500,000 with the restaurant becoming the Tower Lounge.
- Tower Circus Positioned at the base of the tower, between its four legs. The circus first opened to the public on 14 May 1894 and has not missed a season since. The present interior was designed by Frank Matcham and was completed in 1900. The circus ring can be lowered into a pool of water and holds 42,000 gallons at a depth of up to 4ft 6 inches. This unique capability allows for Grand finales with Dancing Fountains. The Tower Circus is one of four left in the world that can do this.
- Pepsi Max Big One Tallest and fastest rollercoaster in Europe at Pleasure Beach Blackpool.
- Sandcastle Waterpark Longest indoor rollercoaster waterslide in the world.
Bournemouth Coastal resort town in the Borough of Bournemouth in Dorset, England with seven miles of sands. Having invented the beach hut in 1908, Bournemouth still rents out the oldest hut in the world and is now reigniting the British passion for beach huts, in Boscombe, the future site of the first artificial surf reef in the northern hemisphere.
Brighton Formerly a fashionable seaside resort, that became a bank holiday destination for Londoners, now a thriving hip place to hang out.
- Royal Pavilion Notable piece of architecture from Regency Period.
Broadstairs Broadstairs & St. Peter’s is a picturesque town with a vibrant community, staging activities and festivities galore, Isle of Thanet, Kent.
Margate Working-class resort on the Isle of Thanet for south London out of Victoria.
Morecambe In the early 19th century Morecambe. Lancashire, was just a small fishing village called Poulton-le-Sands. The fishing industry developed and with the appearance of guest houses and hotels it became a seaside resort. Midland Hotel underwent major refurbishment and reopened in 2007.
- Lune Valley River Lune meandering through beautiful countryside land unspoilt villages and in the north of the district the Carnforth and surrounding area has links with George Washington and the 'Brief Encounter' film.
New Brighton Working-class resort for Birkenhead and Liverpool, the Cheshire resort died as a seaside town, being sucked in as a commuter town with its electric railway link to Liverpool.
Newcastle N. Ireland.
Newquay Sells itself as a surfing town.
North Berwick Prime middle class resort, that served as a commuter town for Edinburgh.
Portobello Edinburgh’s seaside resort that was swallowed up as a suburb of Edinburgh and its seaside role largely forgotten.
Ramsgate Artisan town on the Isle of Thanet with an important harbor of refuge, railway terminal site, ferry terminal and airport, all providing good jobs. Seaside heyday associated with Queen Victoria and the coming of the railways. Rapidly declined as a resort in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Declared the 9th best town in England for revival in 2006.
Redcar Working-class resort for Teeside, Middlesbrough industrial towns.
Rhyl and Prestatyn Six miles of golden sands stretch between the resorts of Rhyl and Prestatyn
- Croeso i Rhyl a Phrestatyn Welsh Motto.
Rothesay In its early 20th century heyday, this classic Victorian seaside resort attracted as many as 100 paddle steamers a day in peak season, carrying mainly working-class Glaswegians. It experienced a slump in the 1960s, familiar to many seaside towns, reaching a trough by the early 1980s. But the town, indeed the whole island, is now slowly going through something of an organic-style renaissance.
Scarborough Revival of sea-bathing led to a bathing establishment being established at the fishing village at Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast, becoming 1736. It rose to be a fashionable seaside spa, until it became a bank holiday destination for workers from the West Riding of Yorkshire. Instead of being a seaside town, we want to be a town by the sea,” says Scarborough's urban renaissance manager Nick Taylor, who believes a more upmarket cafe culture is wrestling in on the seafront's predominance of amusement arcades. The Spa Complex where it all began is being cleaned up inside and out, one of half a dozen multi-million-pound projects in the town.
Southend Working-class resort for London, especially the East End on the Liverpool Street Line to Essex.
Southport Working-class resort for Liverpool, that is a classic resort that retained its dignity without massive decline. Now a commuter suburb to electric train service to Liverpool.
Torquay Torest center on Devon coast.
- English Riviera Nickname given to the Devon coast in vicinity of Torquay.
Weston-Super-Mare Seaside resort town and civil parish in North Somerset, England, located on the Bristol Channel.
- Grand Pier Opened in 1904 and quickly became Weston-super-Mare’s leading attraction. The pier is a Grade II listed building and one of only 55 pleasure piers that remain around the country. Rebuilt after a devastating fire on 13 January 1930 when children ran beneath the burning pier to gather handfuls of pennies that dropped from melting slot machines. Destroyed by fire 28 July 2008.
Whitby Historic town and civil parish in the Scarborough district of North Yorkshire on the north-east coast of England. Nowadays it is a fishing port and tourist destination.
Whitstable Fishing and harbour town of whitstable in Kent, England, whose Oyster Festival is one of the highlights of the year for.
- Pearl of Kent Nickname for Whitstable
US Coastal Resorts
(alphabetical listing)
Atlantic City Working-class resort for Philadelphia.
- Atlantic City gambling Gambling in Atlantic City, NJ legalized, May 1978.
- Casino Control Commission Agency in New Jersey mandated to regulate gaming in Atlantic City by licensing key employees and hotel-casinos.
- Division of Gaming Enforcement Investigative arm of the Casino Control Commission.
- H-tract 150-acre development site beside the Absecon Channel acquired by Mirage and its partners Circus Circus Enterprises Inc. and Boyd Gaming Corporation (all three competitors in Las Vegas) to build a gaming resort complex of 7,000 hotel rooms. Associated with the development was a $330 million road-and-tunnel project.
Note Mirage’s plans to build its own hotel with 4,000 rooms, creating discord in the partnership, announced 20 January 1998.
Coney Island Working-class resort for New York City, terminus for several subway lines.
Coney Island of the South Working-class resort that traditionally drew miners, farmers and mill workers from the South, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
- Redneck Riviera of the South Nickname for Myrtle Beach.
- Kmart by the sea Recent nickname for Myrtle Beach.
- Sign Nazis County officials enforcing sign ordinances as Myrtle Beach endeavored to removed a plethora of tacky signs as the resort tried to market itself toward affluent visitors as a golfing and shopping mecca, early 21st century.
Seaside Economy Revival
Seaside economy revival Growth in the mini-break, day trip and business markets have helped. In 2005, there were 25m overnight trips to the seaside, according to Visit Britain. That figure has been stable in recent years - about half what it was in the 1970s. “We've definitely had the bottom and we're going up, there's a renaissance in the seaside tourism market.
- Seaside revival factors Water quality, blue flag beaches and warmer summers have also helped, and there is a small but growing reluctance to fly, for environmental and security reasons. And those with fond memories of childhood beach breaks in the 1970s are now taking their own offspring to the seaside. And while tastes have changed, that doesn't mean the end of pier entertainment and donkey rides.
- Regeneration Buzzword among coastal town planners dealing with hundreds of redevelopment plans, many of which try to restore the grandeur of the past.
Shifting image From one of sticks o' rock and fish suppers to more upmarket cafe culture with hummus wraps and muesli and wrestling the seafront's predominance of amusement arcades to art galleries and the like.
