I love books like this and was really excited to pick this one up and start it.
I loved the images, the background history and the captions.
Iread the book in a few hours but its definatley one that I would treasure and keep.
I do love seeing images of the past and this one had some brilliant ones - 5 stars!

This delightful book with its images of the seaside will take you into a world of nostalgia, gaudiness and even glamour. There are photographs, posters, cartoons and paintings of every different aspect of the British enjoying coastal resorts in bygone days, such as the transport, the entertainment and the fashions, as well as the cliched scenes of happy families and children building sandcastles. Some of the pictures are amusing, such as the ladies wearing string vests on their heads, the men in suits on hot summer days and the lady in beach pyjamas which look home-made. The writing is interesting and easy-to-read and the captions are extremely detailed.

I especially liked the information and images of the resorts in Edwardian times, such as the Punch and Judy shows and the Pierrot shows. There were also glamorous buildings in some of the resorts, where a wide variety of entertainment could be found. Tower Ballroom at Blackpool with its dance floor of mahogany, oak and walnut looks spectacular. The white turrets of Spanish City also look inviting, and this unusual building in Whiteley Bay also offered lots of shows. It inspired Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits's song 'Tunnel of Love!'

Unfortunately, some of these attractive towns have suffered from a decline in recent years. However, a regeneration project is enabling restoration of the famous dome of Spanish City, and there are other signs of new life. Hopefully, this book will help. If I were English, it would certainly inspire me to visit many of these towns!

I received this free ebook from Net Galley in return for an honest review.

Very interesting and fun! Don't know how you miss out Blackpool when you're talking about piers though! :)

I absolutely loved this book! In fact as I reviewed it digitally I can add that in this instance the e-book does no justice to the superb collection of photos and picture images that the author Lucinda Gosling has brought together to illustrate this relevant social history of the British seaside.
Only recently has it once again been revealed that living by the seaside boosts mental health, makes people happier and more relaxed. Let's face it a journey to most parts of our wonderful coastline(even with motorway delays or bus replacements for trains) soon dispel travel chaos when the salty air and sea vistas come into sight.
Yet the growth of cheap foreign holidays and flights and access to tropical beaches across the planet have dulled our senses to the charms of the British seaside on our own doorstep. Perhaps terrorism and the hell of airports( and many airlines who treat passengers with revulsion) will make us revisit the plethora of resorts that we have on this small island.
The author has dipped into many postcards and photos from the Mary Evans Picture Library and other magnificent pictorial collections of the early 20th century. Even today I still send postcards on my travels (much to the embarassment of my sons and friends no doubt!) However they will continue to shine a light into an ever dwindling personal written observation of our travels today when selfies, Instagram and email/texts do little for the traditional travel experience except display our egos through social media.
I lived for 30 years in Bexhill-On-Sea East Sussex (which I was delighted to see featured in a couple of photos) This is a resort doing its best to retain its image of Edwardian tranquility (with the added modernist icon the De La Warr Pavilion) and is halfway between the more brash (yet increasingly trendy and therefore costly) Hastings and the elegantly designed Eastbourne(now not just the retirement . Both have a place in the book because of their piers (both of which were nearly destroyed by fire in recent years) yet have risen like a seaside phoenix to once again claim their roles stretching out stylish promenades into the sea.
I was brought up near the windswept Norfolk coast, lived 40 minutes from Brighton( which appears just a little too much if there is a criticism) and have spent some fun days -and nights- in classic B & Bs in Blackpool and Bournemouth (political conferences always used to take in a seaside jaunt each year).
I am immediately going to buy the hardback version of this and possibly - as I now live in landlocked Nottingham- have a day trip to Skegness.
This isn't just black and white nostalgia. Social history is revealed in the seaside. The beginnings of Bank Holidays in 1871 and the arrival of the railways allowed workers to escape the grime of the city for the seaside. There are also the disparities (now just as relevant) between the northern resorts like Blackpool and Bridlington struggling to survive, compared to the growth of cultural Margate and second home Padstow (or should we call it Rick Stein's Cookery World). They still reflect the delights of our coast but also the inequalities across the north/south divide.
Do read this book, then armed with bucket and spade go forth and rediscover our seaside.

I loved this book,looking back over the years,at how people have changed and how happy they was,and how fashion is so different,I love postcards,a very good book,and there is a pic of Llandudno where I live,a must read if you love postcards.

When most Americans think of a vacation by the sea, they don’t think of Great Britain, but the island nation is, after all, surrounded by water and lined with beautiful coastline, both rocky and sandy. Here is a look back at holidays on the water, from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century. From ever-changing bathing costumes to grand seaside hotels and beach shacks, this is a delightful look back to a simpler, lovelier time

A nostalgic look at the British seaside featuring a host of photographs from a bygone age. Well worth reading and viewing.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this review copy.

This is a fantastic book. I just knew by the title that I would love looking at the pictures in this book. I love old pictures, especially of the seaside and of places that I know and have been to. This book was full to the brim with varying pictures of seaside towns and places. The pictures are obviously, as the title states, images from the past and they range between early 1900’s to 1970’s. Some of them are pictures of places, some are pictures of people, but they are all delightful and I’ve sat and pored through them, enjoying looking at every single one of them.

There is very little writing in the book, just a short intro for each chapter and a short description for each photo, detailing the place and year if known. Some of the places I know very well and enjoyed looking at them and comparing them to how it looks now, such as Blackpool, Margate, Weston Super Mare, Brighton and Llandudno. The pictures spread out across the country from the East coast such as Filey, Skegness and Scarborough; Kent such as Margate and Ramsgate; South Coast, such as Bognor Regis, Brighton and North West such as Blackpool, Southport and North Wales.

I’m so glad I got this book and have really enjoyed looking at a well presented selection of old pictures. My favourite views are from the 1970’s and I myself have collected many seaside postcards from this area - if the author is reading, I’d love to see another book like this but with more recent pictures from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s to compare how they’ve changed!! Please!!