From a different perspective, the seaside resort has been a key component of the arts and entertainment. An indirect assessment of the significance may be derived from the fact that, for instance, in the early 1980s professional theatres in English seaside resorts accounted for 40 per cent of theatre capacity in England outside London (ETB, 1982). Ominously, however, twelve of the eighteen theatres in England that closed between 1975 and 1982 were at the seaside, as were only five of the forty that opened.