Easter. Brings to Britain a Lively Post-war Holiday

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27057, 16 April 1949, Page 7

Easter. Brings to Britain a Lively Post-war Holiday

NZPA Special Correspondent

Rec. 9.26 p.m. LONDON, Apl. 14. With lighting restrictions removed for the first time since before the war, more petrol available for holiday motoring, and fine, warm weather predicted for most of the country, Britain is expected to enjoy one of its liveliest post-war holidays this Easter. Traffic by road and rail is expected to break records. Some 2200 special trains, which will run to holiday resorts in all parts of the United Kingdom, are expected to carry well over 1,200,000 passengers. Bookings to France and Belgium had already set new post-war records by Thursday afternoon, and to meet the heavy demand for air passages to the Continent the British Overseas Airways Corporation has trebled its normal services. By Saturday, 16,000 tourists will have travelled on the four cross-Channel steamer routes to Paris. This is the largest number of Easter travellers to Paris since the war. In Britain itself, bookings for the south coast and West of England seaside resorts and for Scotland and the North of England are particularly heavy. Eleven hundred extra motor coaches will be added to the normal

services which radiate all over the country from the Victoria coach terminus in London. In many cases all seats on the iong-distance running to Scotland during Easter have been sold for more than a month. The Automobile Association has issued 10,000 route guides to motorists, and an official of the association said thai with the extra petrol now available it was expected that the majority of the 2,000,000 motorists in Britain would be on the road during the holiday.

The removal of restrictions on Neon lighting and advertising has led to competition in illuminations between several of the popular seaside resorts Brighton has decorated its famous pier, the seafront, and the royal pavilion with hundreds of coloured lights, and Torquay will have its rock walks and piers floodlit.

The recent slump in holiday bookings has prompted many resorts to undertake extensive repainting schemes and other measures designed to enhance their attractions. At Brighton, bulldozers have been used to skim off all the surface sand so that fresh, clean beaches will await the Easter holiday crowds. Pleasure steamers and small craft have been newly painted, and hotels and restaurants spring-cleaned and re-decorated.