Oh we did like to be beside the seaside! The pictures which show the heyday of Blackpool as THE British holiday resort



Collection of images show the popular seaside town of Blackpool, Lancashire, at the height of its popularity



Images, showing Britons enjoying the beach while wearing knotted hankies, date from 1870s through to the 1960s

Ph otographs released by The Blackpool Gazette who are tweeting them everyday from @TheLostArchives account




Nowadays, the seaside resort of Blackpool is looking rather tired. But, as this remarkable collection of images show, this was not always the case.



The images show the Lancashire town at the height of its popularity from the 1870s through to the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s.

Scores of Britons can be seen enjoying the sand between their toes, while wearing knotted hankies and tucking into ice creams - or indeed enjoying some Blackpool rock.



Meanwhile, families can be seen packed on the beach with hardly a spare inch of sand between them.

Run aground ships, couples larking around on the promenade, horse drawn carriages and the iconic Blackpool Tower are captured in full glory in others.

In other black and white snaps, mobs of holidaymakers can be seen descending on famous faces - including Frank Sinatra.



All of the images have been released by The Blackpool Gazette who are tweeting them everyday on the twitter account @TheLostArchives.

This collection of historic images shows the town of Blackpool - which became a popular holiday location in the mid 19th century - through the ages. In this picture, dated 1895, men and women in traditional Victorian dress can be seen enjoying a clear day while children play along the beach

Crowds on the town's Central Promenade in the late 1890s. The Lancashire resort was an unknown sea-side hamlet until, in 1871, a private road was built allowing potential visitors to get to the area with greater ease

The HMS Foudroyant, an 80-gun third rate of the Royal Navy, ran aground near to the town's North Pier on June 16 1897. Stagecoaches began transporting people to the seven-mile stretch of sand in 1871 - increasing tourism to the coastal resort

Laurel and Hardy on their visit to Blackpool in August 1932. In the early 19th century, two locals Henry Banks and his son-in-law John Cocker erected scores of new buildings in the town - and its population grew from less than 500 in 1801 to over 2,500 in 1851

With Britain on the brink of war, Blackpool was more popular than ever in 1939, pictured. In the late 1840s, following the completion of a branch line to Blackpool from Poulton on the main Preston and Wyre Joint Railway line, the town was inundated with visitors

The outdoor bathing pool and paddling pool area nearing completion at Squires Gate Holiday Camp, circa 1930s. Throughout the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s and beyond, workers would visit the town for their annual holidays in so-called 'trades fortnights' or 'wakes weeks'

Entertainer Sir Harry Lauder with family while he was performing at the Pleasure beach Ice Drome in 1939. Starting in the 1850s, Lancashire cotton mill owners would annually close their factories for a week to service machinery - and workers would go to Blackpool, a practice which also became known as wakes weeks



Crowds of holidaymakers on the beach at Blackpool in the 1950s. In 1863, the North Pier was completed and it quickly became a main attraction for elite visitors. Central Pier was completed in 1868, with a theatre and a large open-air dance floor Jugs of tea for the beach, oysters and - of course Blackpool rock - was waiting for the crowds on the Golden Mile in the 1950s. Much of Blackpool's growth and character from the 1870s onwards was due to the town's pioneering use of electrical power and, in 1879, it became the first resort in the world to have electric street lighting

Crowds gathered along Blackpool Promenade as Princess Margaret's car arrived at Talbot Square in 1954. Numerous famous faces flocked to the town - perhaps to enjoy its donkey rides, fish-and-chip shops and theatres and, by 1890s, it would regularly see 250,000 holidaymakers a year Billy Butlin - the South African entrepreneur whose name is synonymous with the British holiday camp in Blackpool in the 1950s. By 1921 the town was visited by 8million people every year and had certainly cemented its status as 'the archetypal British seaside resort' Frank Sinatra, pictured with his arm raised in the middle of the shot outside the Clifton Hotel, Blackpool in the 1950s - by which time its population had grown to 147,000 Two women chatting on the railings in Blackpool in the 1950s - a famous picture taken by Bert Hardy. The girls now been identified as Alice Sumner aged 21, left, and her friend Norma Edmondson, aged 19, right Pictured left to right: Babette, Eric Morecambe, Ernie Wise, Jimmy James, The Trio Vedette, David Galbraith, Bretton Woods and Shelley Marshall posing on the sands in 1959 in front of the Blackpool Tower Crowds on Central Beach during a hot spell in 1964. As people's ideas of a family holiday changed in the 20th century, the town's popularity began to decrease

The Golden Mile in 1980. Despite a dip in popularity, Blackpool's major attractions today still include Blackpool Tower, Blackpool Illuminations and Blackpool Zoo

Blackpool seafront in modern day. The resort was voted Britain's favourite seaside town by travel website TripAdvisor