The ‘Now and Then’ column with Aled Jones: Looking at the old, impressive buildings on Bridlington’s Esplanade

This vintage postcard shows two ladies seated outside the Regency era house that’s now a rock shop and holiday complex. Postcard courtesy of Aled Jones

There’s something nostalgic about the Esplanade in Bridlington - it must be the old impressive buildings, most of which started life as private residences.

Today families enjoy the modern amusement arcades, not to say the splendid ice cream and gift shops.

One of the most popular attractions is the Treasure Island Mini Golf and Haunted House, with its swashbuckling facade.

But don’t get distracted by that; the property it’s housed in has a rich and long history in the community, having been a family home, a fine café, a theatre, a cinema, a nightclub, etc.

The Esplanade area as it looks today. Photo courtesy of Aled Jones

The Treasure Island Golf started out as Sandon House (9 Esplanade), a magnificent early 19th-century sea front villa.

One of the poshest houses ever built in Bridlington, it was set well back from the rest of the Esplanade.

The front comprised a huge, walled garden that must have been a joy to sit in and look across the great expanse of sea. It was in this front garden that Fields, grocers of Hull, built their upmarket Oriental Café in 1897, the subject of this week’s vintage postcard.

Amazingly, the Victorian postcard shows the actual building work in progress, offering an insight into construction methods 125 years ago. Note the half-timbered gable end (partially hidden by a scaffold), a feature that still exists today!

It shows two ladies seated outside the Regency era house that’s now a rock shop and holiday complex.

The architects were Smith and Broderick of Hull, who also created a beautiful fairytale wonderland in the remaining walled garden behind the café. Known as the ‘Garden of a Thousand Lights’, it was covered by cast-iron and glass in 1901 to become known as the Winter Gardens.

Most visitors agreed that it was the most magical sight they’d ever seen. By 1911 it had been converted to an opulent concert hall and theatre.

The Vanilla ice cream parlour next door, with its semi-circular window and second-floor bows, is clearly missing from the postcard. This is because the building wasn’t constructed until the ‘Roaring Twenties’.

The business was granted a cinematograph licence in 1912 on condition that it opened a second entrance on Promenade, as a fire precaution.

During the 1960s and 1970s the ‘New Lounge’, as it became known, operated as a popular licensed bar and restaurant, before its conversion in 1982 to Mountbattens nightclub, afterwards Liberty’s.

The building remained Liberty’s nightclub until its 2016 transformation into apartments and shops.