Hear the term “seaside resort” and England, or indeed Great Britain, may not immediately spring to mind. But think again, particularly you avid students of history. As the first nation to experiment with and flourish as a result of industrialization, England expanded in ways completely unpredictable to those early capitalist barons of the 19th century.

For one, workers of the mines and mills needed the odd escape from the grist and colliery, though they did not have the luxury of time to prance about Europe. Given the harsh workplace conditions of the Industrial Revolution and precious few windows of opportunity to enjoy a little rest and relaxation as a result, it makes perfect sense that seaside resorts should have developed all over the United Kingdom.

Tidy coastal hamlets were a relative hop, skip and a jump away from the mines and mills of England and of course, had the benefit of geography on their side. Lest we forget, Great Britain is an island country. Small towns along the myriad coastline, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Irish Sea, English Channel to the North Sea, thus began to cater to a new class of local tourist. Some seaside resorts almost sprang up overnight, keen to exploit the 19th century working man’s need to get away from the factory with the wife and kids for a day or two.

Of course, with the advent of affordable air travel and incessant ubiquity of package holidays to the south of Spain and Portugal, not to mention the Caribbean and Mexico, the British seaside resort is going the way of the polar bear. Places like Brighton and Skegness almost seem kitschy today. As a bevy of coastal towns across Great Britain bank on nostalgia and try to reinvent themselves, maybe curiosity’s sake is reason enough to pay them a visit.

Blackpool

For residents of mill towns in the north of England in the 19th century, Blackpool was a convenient and relatively cheap vacation destination. As a result, the town of 145,000 people in Lancashire, England became the archetypal seaside resort by which all others drew comparisons more than a century ago.

There’s a lot of lingering physical evidence to suggest that decades ago, as many as 15 million annual visitors paid Blackpool a visit. The Coney Island-like Pleasure Beach amusement park is still the most popular tourist attraction in the country, though most visitors hail from the United Kingdom. Similarly, day-trippers still flock to Blackpool beach in good, cooperative summer weather and the town has always had a strong foothold in the business conference trade. Plans are on the horizon to inject the Blackpool cityscape with more entertainment, theme park and perhaps even casino attractions in the near future.

Discover the best deals on hotels in beautiful Blackpool.

Brighton

Another quintessential British resort town, Brighton’s fortunes changed forever with the advent of the railway into the south coast of England in 1841. The city of 160,000 people became a destination for the first time, accessible to anyone who could afford the train fare.

With a Blue Flag beach less than an hour’s train trek from London, Brighton’s location is rather enviable. As a result, the seaside resort town still packs them in come summertime. The city’s festivals and nightlife have become part of London’s extended cultural fabric – a nice collective counterweight to the magnetic pull of Brighton’s sand and surf. From the Brighton Festival, second only to the Edinburgh Fringe in size, to a notable and active LGBT community, Brighton has managed to eclipse the one-dimensional seaside resort trap and stay contemporary in the 21st century.

Photo credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8