In 1929, Eastbourne was pretty much the last seaside resort to incur charges on the beach for bathing as it tried to hang on to its “elite” resort status. many other resorts had relaxed charges by this time, but Eastbourne’s Corporation insisted that towels, deckchairs and bathing machines had to be used on the beach and paid for. it could be very expensive – the equivalent of £70 per day in today’s money for an average family. It earned the corporation a good income – something like £300,00 per year in today’s money.
But on September 13 1929, class war hit Eastbourne’s beach when around 150 men and women, wearing mackintoshes over their bathing suits marched onto the pebbles in an act of civil disobedience. Stewards tried to get names and addresses from the group so that reprimands could be issued but the act hit the national press. Naturally the people of the nation were on the side of the bathers. By 1932 nearly all these types of charges had been abandoned.
More info: https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/engelsineastbourne/2021/03/18/the-mackintosh-rebellion-1929/
You can hear a podcast about it here: https://podcastaddict.com/coastal-stories/episode/96072451
Photo: Eastbourne Pier from an old postcard