In its heyday it was one of the most popular 19th century seaside destinations in Britain attracting the rich, the stylish and the most influential people of the day. The likes of Albert Einstein, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Oscar Wilde and explorer Ernest Shackleton headed to Cromer to stay at the lavish Hotel de Paris, promenade along the clifftop or sample the famous local crab.
Cromer proclaimed itself to be ‘the gem of the Norfolk coast’ and in 1815 even Jane Austen praised the town in her novel Emma: ‘You should have gone to Cromer…the best of all the seabathing places. A fine open sea… and very pure air.’
Although the resort remained popular up to the First World War, visitor numbers dwindled with the growth of foreign holidays. Many grand buildings fell into
