Hoe means ‘high place’ and Plymouth’s is a forceful cliff overlooking the huge sweep of the Sound. Approaching it from the landward side, the Hoe rises steadily up. From the seaward side, though, the foreshore beneath the Hoe’s cliff face is needle sharp limestone rocks and treacherous black seaweed.

The Hoe is Plymouth’s equivalent of Trafalgar Square, in that it has a weight to it. Not just the rock beneath it but the history upon it. From long-lost giants and Drake’s mindgames, to 17th century fortresses and WW2 tea dances. Generations of my family are in photos taken on the Hoe with Smeaton’s tower behind us. If the Hoe is the lodestone of the city, where the weight of its past anchors it, the foreshore beneath is its pleasure ground.

In the 1930s, the city engineer had a vision for the foreshore that culminated in what is now called Tinside Lido (1935). This deep dive looks at how Tinside came about, was nearly lost and is now thriving. It’s a look not at Abercrombie’s Plymouth, but at Wibberley’s.