Nostalgia: How holidaymakers enjoyed Scarborough in its heyday

But as these seldom-seen pictures bear witness, Scarborough’s reputation as the jewel in Yorkshire’s coastline crown was forged on providing pleasure, not pharmaceuticals. The two beaches and the boating lakes were what tourists paid to see, and in the first half of the last century they had few rivals.

Better-off visitors stayed at the Grand Hotel, once the largest in Europe, with a calendar-influenced layout of 12 floors – one for each month – 52 chimneys and 365 bedrooms. For everyone else, there were modest guest houses by the hundred.

Between breakfast and dinner, the guests poured on to the beach to make their own entertainment. But it was the 34-acre Peasholm Park on the North Bay that was the centre for organised games.

In the pre-war years it hosted so many fetes, galas and firework displays that terraced seating had to be built to accommodate the crowds.

In 1927, enthusiasts began to stage mock sea battles on the lake, a practice that continues today. Nearby were tennis courts, bathing pools and archery targets for which tuppence bought you six arrows.

Down on the South Bay was the seafront Spa, built around the source of the waters Ms Farrow had discovered. In the town’s heyday, its theatre, Grand Hall, Ocean Room, Promenade Lounge and Sun Court hosted concerts and al fresco dining for thousands of people at a time, and it became the most popular music hall venue outside London.

And while the old Futurist Theatre across the road has gone, the Spa remains – as does the revived and extended Open Air Theatre near the park.

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