Birth of the West’s own Blackpool
growth of coastal destinations.
Towards the end of the 1930s, around 15 million people were going on holiday to the seaside around the UK, often by train. Rail was the most popular way to get to destinations until the early 50s, as private car ownership was low.
The high water mark for domestic seaside holidays was in the early-to-mid 1970s, when 40 million people holidayed in Britain. In the 1950-70s, hotels and guesthouses were the usual fare for most families. It was the Thomas Cook organisation that started to promote foreign holidays in the early 1950s with all-inclusive package holidays to Mediterranean resorts. Guaranteed sunshine and cheap holidays eventually decimated the traditional British seaside holiday.
The opening of the station at Severn Beach in 1922 unleashed development opportunities. Stride and family were builders. Many of Stride’s fine and sought-after residential houses are still to be seen in Bristol’s suburbs today.
Stride started to erect wooden bungalows and larger houses in an expanding Severn Beach, laying down Osbourne Road, Beach Road and Beach Avenue. He built a restaurant and six shops opposite the old tennis courts. It was at this point a well-connected riverside/ seaside resort began to emerge.
On Whit Monday 1922, the first trains ran from Bristol to Severn Beach, and as a result of mass publicity 11,000 people made the trip.
Other attractions began to spring up in the 1920s and 30s: an amusement
Holidaymakers arrive at Severn Beach in the 1920s park, including a woodenframed roller coaster, and a Ghost Train ride were introduced. Over the years, Stride promoted Severn Beach by arranging water carnivals, ‘personality girls,’ seaside reviews and dance competitions.
Severn Beach became a popular weekend getaway pre-war for the residents of Bristol and beyond. It benefited from lax licensing laws, thus drawing visitors from a wider area. There were numerous cafes and pubs, a funfair, large hotel, boating lake, pleasure gardens and the popular outdoor Blue Lagoon swimming pool (also built by Stride), which packed in visitors during the summer months (perhaps it was deemed more attractive than bathing in the muddy sea).
Most of the attractions were located in the space between today’s concrete sea wall, the green space immediately behind and the High Street.
Family legend says Stride imported sand into Severn Beach in order to create a proper beach, but it was washed away at the next high tide.
Over recent years, pretty much all of the resort facilities have disappeared. Only a few fragments remain of the amazing pleasure beach and where Stride’s Blue Lagoon once stood. The Blue Lagoon drew good crowds well into the 1960s but was finally demolished in the 1980s. The land was subsequently redeveloped for housing, green space and the huge sea defences we see today.
Most of all, decline of the pleasure beach was due to the changing taste of the British public. By the 1960s, the arrival of the motor car meant fewer people visiting by rail, and motorists were finding other holiday destinations more attractive.
Bristolians are fortunate to have a range of seaside towns to visit within easy drive: the Victorian towns of Clevedon and Westonsuper-Mare, muddy Portishead or seven miles of sand and dunes at Brean.
The town was also effectively bypassed by the building of the M4 and Severn Bridge (1966). Before then, drivers had used the nearby Aust Ferry (car ferry services operated from 1926-66). Severn Beach was almost cut in half by the arrival of the Second Severn Crossing, opened in June 1996 (now named the Prince of Wales Bridge).
Today we have many options, from weekend city breaks to farflung adventure trips. We take for granted the ease with which we can book a package holiday (Covid permitting). But don’t overlook Bristol’s closest riviera – it has moved on and has found a range of different attractions from its glory days as the ‘Blackpool of the South West.’
Walk along the extensive paved promenade and admire the new and extended coastal defences, part of the Severn Way footpath. Head towards the protected salt marsh, a site of special scientific interest, where thousands of birds stop by on their annual migration. Look out for the diverse range of wildlife: occasional seals, peregrine falcons. Stop for tea and cake at Down’s Bakery and admire the selection of vintage photos.
Today you won’t see many physical traces of the holiday resort that once was. But look out for the interesting noticeboards erected by the Pilning and Severn Beach History Group and follow their signs for the heritage trail. This will help bring the surprising history and much changed form of Severn Beach to life.
Special thanks to Doug Nethercott for a vintage photo (overleaf) and personal insights into the Severn Beach story.
For more Seven Beach nostalgia, and details of centenary events, see pages 22&23 overleaf.
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TO go alongside the history of Seven Beach’s rise and fall on the previous page, we’ve looked into our own and other picture archives for a bit of nostalgia.