SUMMER SATURDAYS TO THE COAST PART ONE
‘Let’s go to the Seaside’
The British summer holiday was very much a creation of the railways. Until the mid- 1800s only the upper classes could entertain the idea of a holiday. For such, escaping from the heat and stench of city life to the family seat in the country was normal, while for the young aristocrat, ‘The Grand Tour’ of Europe was all but obligatory. Arrival of the railways made it possible to reach much of the country within a few hours. Of course, in the nineteenth century long before paid holidays were introduced, it was still only the wealthier members of society who could contemplate such sport. Yet, as the fruits of the industrial revolution created a new mercantile middle class, increasing numbers could find both the time and the money for an annual break, preferably ‘beside the sea’. Thus towns such as Bournemouth, Torquay and Scarborough blossomed as seaside resorts, with their affluent clientele all arriving by train.
Such resorts expanded throughout the late nineteenth century into the Edwardian period. A week by the sea was the fashionable thing to take, perhaps including a dip in the water using one of those amazing bathing machines! Towns closest to the big cities, like Southend, Brighton and Blackpool, had the added advantage of being accessible for day trips. The railways responded by offering cheap day or half-day excursions supported by innovative advertising – such as the Great Northern Railway’s claim that ‘Skegness is so bracing’. For the first time the masses could experience the joys of sun and fresh air.
However, the tradition of the annual seaside holiday really took off between the wars, with the ‘Big Four’ railways all heavily engaged in serving this new market. By the 1920s extra trains were being run specifically to cater for the traffic – mostly on Saturdays as the day (the term ‘The Cornish Riviera’ was virtually invented by the Great Western when E. M. Bradley of the company’s Publicity Department used it as a book title).
