The Box is a major cultural and heritage attraction and archive, which opened in Plymouth’s city centre in September 2020. Its collection, formally the South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA), is the regional film archive for the South West of England, comprising the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and Television South West (TSW). It also includes a significant number of donated film collections dating back to the early 1890s.
This film is part of Free
Holiday Season on the English Riviera
How are resorts on the English Riviera gearing up for the latest tourist season?
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Overview
TV reporter Del Cooper is on the English Riviera at Paignton and Torquay looking at the first holiday weekend of the 1970 tourist season. In the early seventies many Brits were enticed away by new low cost package holidays to Spain and France and English Seaside resorts had to compete with the more exotic locations even though the unique selling point for staycationers was usually the superior toilet facilities!
Traditional holidaymakers on the English Riviera were working families from the Midlands and London who were able to train it to the sandy beaches with or without the promise of good weather. British Rail had begun to respond to the higher demands of the school holidays and holiday breaks such as Easter by providing extra services for the mass great getaways of yesteryear. Changes to working practices and leisure have in recent times led to less dramatic exoduses from the cities to the coast at holiday time. The sun hasn't always got his hat on, nonetheless staycationers still brave the seafront promenade in stoic fashion, hip hip hip hooray!
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