Looking back at the West Cliff Bournemouth 40 years ago.

Pictured here in 1980 it would only be a few years later that many of the hotels would be demolished to make way for the BIC.

The only one left today is the Court Royal Hotel with most of its life spent as a convalescent home for those who had suffered accidents in the mines or were coping with chest problems from years of exposure to coal dust.

In recent years, as the mining industry dwindled, it became a hotel for miners, retired miners and their families.