people started to visit in significant numbers. Hotels, guesthouses and amusements duly sprang up
Felixstowe also had the benefit of a spa, and its popularity rose even further in the wake of a royal visit in 1891: while the Emperor of Germany visited Queen Victoria - his grandmother - his wife and children enjoyed a holiday there. By the time the pier was opened in 1905, day-trippers were arriving in thousands for bank holiday weekends.
From the 1930s to the 1950s many holidaymakers enjoyed a week at a Suffolk resort, but the advent of package holidays abroad led to a decline and tourism came to rely largely on caravan parks, and day trips during the school holidays.
This was a setback common to most British seaside resorts, and it left many of them 'all at sea'. Lowestoft, however, was about to benefit from the North Sea gas and oil boom as it was well placed to act as a service centre for many of the rigs. This helped for a number of years, although off-set by the decline in fishing and ship-building.
Felixstowe was even more fortunate, having the benefit of the container port, which expanded as tourism declined, and continued to flourish.
There are other guided tours round this site that you might like to take:
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