Southend-on-Sea were regular visitors to the show. The last show was held in 2012; an attempt to revive the show for September 2015, as the Southend Airshow and Military Festival, failed. Southend-on-Sea was formed as a municipal borough in 1892 with the functions of local government shared with Essex County Council. In 1913 the borough was enlarged by the former area of Leigh on Sea Urban District. In 1914 the enlarged Southend gained the status of county borough, exempt from county council control and a single-tier of local government. The county borough was enlarged in 1933 by the former area of
Clacton-on-Sea across to Calais until the early 1960s. Butlins returned after the war. This, the building of the nearby chalet town of Jaywick, caravaning. and the movement of retired Londoners into the area, largely transformed the town from being an East Anglian resort into an extension of East London. In 1964 the town was in the national news when Moped Mods and motor-bile Rockers clashed on the sea front and arrests were made. Since around 1970 several well-known local buildings have been demolished, including the Art-Deco 1930s Odeon Cinema (an architectural loss to the town), the Warwick Castle pub, the Waverley