Once the south end of a village named Prittlewell, Southend was merely the site of the huts of a few poor fishermen until a landowner sold off the land on either side of what was to become Southend's High Street. Hotels and vacation places were rendered accessible by stagecoach from London; their development was accelerated by the arrival of railways and the visit of Princess Caroline. In the 1800s, the Clifftown development and Southend Pier - even today the world's longest pleasure pier - were built, attracting countless summer tourists.

But all this is a thing of the past. The Southend-on-Sea that was once a thriving holiday seaside town is now rendered hollow by the economic misery of recent years. Many places that thrived before the War have simply been abandoned for lack of care.