Scarborough History : The Bather's Paradise 1766 - 1866

The 'Bathing Machines' which now appeared on the sands ushered in a new era, in which men and women, discreetly concealed, bathed in water instead of drinking it. Horses dragged the lumbering machines a few yards into the sea, where paid helpers aided the bather into the water, for what was, at first, still considered primarily a health-giving exercise, rather than a pleasant form of recreation. After the plunge, the rest of the day was given over to the traditional diversions of the Coffee House, the Theatre, the Races on Seamer Moor, and latterly on the Sands, as well as the billiards, gambling and dancing at the Assembly Rooms.

While the stagecoach and the sedan chair remained the principal modes of travel, the resort remained small and exclusive. The Prince Blucher, the Waterwitch, the Lord Nelson, and a dozen other named coaches and diligences deposited their genteel travellers at the doors of the principal inns and the newer 'hotels'. As they clambered out bruised and weary, they were assailed by the urchins from the perfumers, barbers and bathing machines proprietors, shouting merits of their wares and others soliciting tips against unnameable misfortune.

Lodging and boarding houses spread outwards from the old town, as the builder's trade became one of the principal industries. New hotels were built on the north and south cliffs, surrounded by Italian gardens, wide streets and promenades. The more aristocratic visitors of earlier times still came but was in the minority. Before the multitude, he fled into the self-contained palaces, of the enlarged Royal, the new Crown, the Pavilion and the Grand hotels. Alongside the old inns, new types of eating houses were born.