One hundred photographs and personal essays capture the ambiguities and eccentricities that define a day at the British seaside.

Many in Britain look back with fondness on memories of paddles in the sea and picnics on the promenade. Yet the seaside can also be a place of faded glory and acute deprivation. These tensions have provided fertile ground for documentary photographers who have sought to capture the enduring British tradition.

A sociocultural exploration of the British beach through the works of four of Britain’s best-loved photographers—Tony Ray-Jones, David Hurn, Martin Parr, and Simon Roberts—this book explores our changing relationship with the seaside since the 1960s and holds up a critical and affectionate mirror to a much-loved and quintessentially British experience. The book also includes personal essays, material from each of the photographers’ archival collections, and twenty newly commissioned works by Martin Parr.