Many things contributed to the industrial decline of Saltcoats. With the building of a harbour at Ardrossan, Saltcoats trade and industry declined. This could not have come at a worse time as, in the first half of the 19th century, the hand loom weaving industry collapsed leaving many people destitute.

One answer to the problem was to try and exploit Saltcoats as a holiday resort. As far back as the 18th century, people has come to Saltcoats beach to bathe and claim was made that Saltcoats was the most fashionable sea-bathing place on the west-coast! The newly elected Town Council took this development as one of their prime tasks.

One of the foremost attractions was the bathing pond. People had bathed at the site of old saltpans since the 1880's. However, in 1932 the Town Council, under the Shores and Improvements Committee, decided to reconstruct the pond and on June 10th 1933 the new bathing pond was declared open. The old bathing pond had been popular for nearly 50 years up to that time, but even before this people had bathed in and around the harbour.

The swimming season ran from 15th of May to the 15th of September. Youngsters queued up to get their season tickets. To get the the no. 1 ticket was a big honour. Your season ticket allowed you into the pool for 4 months it also allowed you to get into the midnight swimming from 11pm to 12 midnight. When school parties went to learn swimming most of the pupils would change in a big room called the monkey room, but if you were shy you would go into a cubical. The upper level was where people lay and sun bathed. The swimming pool was a popular venue for young males strutting their stuff (submitted by Mrs Holmes).

There must have been some excellent swimmers, for at low tide the quay-end from where they dived was almost 20 feet above the water. The new pool was a great success and visitors poured into the town and in the months of July and August, as many as 2000 people a day past through the turnstiles. Saltcoats was a very popular destination with Glaswegians during the annual 'Glasgow Fair Fortnight'.

However as the visitors to Saltcoats declined so in turn did the popularity of the bathing pond and it was eventually closed. In 1985, the building was demolished to make was for redevelopment of the area to attract tourism. Throughout the 1920's and 30's Saltcoats provided a great deal of entertainment for the visitors. The old Saltcoats Pavilion provided entertainment throughout the summer season. There were music hall turns, comedy sketches, singers and dancers and even jugglers and tumblers on occasion. Saltcoats also had its very own Sea Queen festival which has recently been revived.

There were two picture houses, the La Scala and the Countess which showed all the latest films. The regal Theatre of Mr. Harry Kemp provided shows throughout the season known as the Regal Revels. Today the Regal is now a night club, the Metro, with the La Scala being recently converted into a large chain pub. However Saltcoats is due to get a new cinema built on the site of the former old Pavilion at Winton Circus.

Saltcoats also had a roller skating rink, situated in what is now Factory Place. In 1932 the owner of the rink, Mr. J. Porteous extended the activities of the rink to include a summer holiday camp. This was an innovation for Saltcoats which attracted large numbers of young people who camped on the grounds round the rink although a dining area was provided in part of the rink. The one drawback to this was that the camp was strictly for men only.

On of the most popular features of Saltcoats entertainment was the bandstand at Melbourne Terrace. Saltcoats Burgh Band and visiting bands from all over Scotland performed most Sundays and at evenings throughout the summer season. As you can see from the picture it was a popular event. Sadly however, the original bandstand no longer stands but the local Council did build a simpler type stand along at the shoreline on Montgomerie Crescent which makes for a nice rest stop for enjoyable walks along the promenade.