The Vintage Views column with Aled Jones - Prince’s Parade

The parade was opened in 1867 and officially named after Prince Albert Victor in 1888. Beautifully planted gardens and a Bandstand were the main attractions for the summer visitor.

A modest fee was charged for entrance and the pay boxes are clearly to be seen in the middle foreground.

The parade, with its unrivalled view of Bridlington Bay, could accommodate close to 6,000 people who came to see and be seen.

Refinement was the order of the day, being one of the first parts of the town to be lit by electricity. It was noted for the excellence of its galas and firework displays.

The cast-iron Floral Pavilion, which was built around the bandstand, didn’t exist until 1904; hence why this 1902 image shows only the gardens and bandstand.

At this time, Bridlington’s prime entertainment hub was the Victoria Rooms, a short walk down the parade towards the North Pier.

It sported a theatre, refreshment rooms, ballroom, billiard room, newsroom and reading room!

The mock-Gothic public amenity, built in 1847 to the designs of Worth and Frith of Sheffield, was named in honour of the young Queen Victoria.

The Prince’s Parade, of course, wasn’t around then; but there was a popular bathhouse nearby; it was known as Bishop’s Improved Baths and it closed in 1866, the year construction work on the Parade began.

Perched on Esplanade, the baths boasted ‘all the modern improvements’, which included separate suites for men and women. The place even offered warm saltwater baths. Apparently one Benjamin Milne, Collector of Customs, had an earlier bathhouse on the same site, about 1803.

The scene may seem tame by today’s standards, but remember, the Victorians and Edwardians liked nothing more than sitting and watching the world go by whilst listening to an orchestra, or enjoying a leisurely ‘promenade’ or stroll.

The first parade orchestra was financed by the Local Government Board, the forerunner of the Borough Council.

Led by Professor J.M. Wilson its first summer ‘season’ was in 1876. The band always dressed formally in top hats and morning suits!

The ledge to the left foreground is part of Garrison Street which pinpoints the exact location of the bygone image. The ground floor below is now altered to accommodate an amusement arcade but the interior of the upper floors remain largely the same.

The once renowned formal gardens in the postcard are no more, their beauty being overrun by a funfair. Wouldn’t it be nice to see them return and the fair removed to, say, Limekiln Lane?