The Gordon Promenade on a hot summer's day sometime in the mid-1920's. The shelters that used to be there, and provided somewhere to sit in shade, were built in 1906. The beach, without groynes, seems to be free of mud, compared to later years. The promenade was at one time, a salt marsh, and was leased from the War Office in 1886, at the cost of £10 per year.
In 1890, Mr. G. M. Arnold, who had been mayor of Gravesend eight times, gave a further area to the town. The bandstand was erected in 1890 at the cost at £100. The early promenade had a wall, which was built partly of bags of cement, which had been salvaged from a schooner, 'The Spring', when it was wrecked. These bags could still be seen until quite recently, when the new river defences were built.

Of course the shelter in the picture above is long since gone, and the front of the promenade was rebuilt some years ago incorporating better defences against high tides. The most noticable difference in this picture of the promenade, is the new flats that can be seen at the far end, beyond the Gravesend Rowing Club. These are built on the site of the Merchant Navy's old Sea Training School.
The building with the radar on the top, that can just be seen past the flats is the Port Of London Authority's Thames Navigation Service. The river traffic is controlled from this high tech building, from London to the Thames Estuary. And the pier beyond is the Royal Terrace Pier which contains the offices of Smith Howard Towage Ltd, who own most of the tugs on the river.