My grandparents used to have one in Felixstowe. This would have been in the 1950s when they were affordable to mere mortals. I think it would be a lovely thing to own, although not for £250k.
Classic picture here of English families enjoying the beach in Felixstowe despite the weather not being remotely beachy.
Good grief. I’m sure that things like that would never happen in Worthing.
Right. When I hear the word cabana, what comes to mind is a round or hexagonal structure with a waist high wall, a straw roof, and a bartender mixing margaritas or piña coladas inside of it to sell to people at the beach in question. Those I’ve seen plenty of. But not an actual shack at the beach.
Agree w the above.
Enclosed private sheds at the beach are unheard of in California or Florida IME/IMO.
And that “cabana” evokes images of a couple of chaises or couches under a mostly permanent roof, with little more than curtains for 3 walls, and completely open on the side towards the ocean or pool.
There are also portable cabanas which are little more than shade tents with no sides at all. People carry those down to the beach and set up their little 8’x8’ resort with their folding chairs, coolers, & tunes. Then a few hours later pack it all up and bring it home.
These look representative to me, although I can’t guarantee Google won’t redirect to different results for non-US folks: beach cabana - Google Image Search
I honestly never thought I would see Felixstowe mentioned on SDMB. But if any topic was going to be a contender for first Felixstowe mention, it would be this one. Oh or maybe container ports (hey it’s the SDMB, you never know).
I’m not so sure about that these days. The time when you would hear Worthing referred to as “God’s Waiting Room” is long gone. It’s Brighton overspill now, and they’ll get up to all sorts of stuff. 
j
Those darn senior citizens (AFAIK that’s “wrinklies” in the UK) get up to some pretty good hijinks these days too. This cite is US-centric, but decent bet the UK experience is not too different.
Net of course of the traditional “No sex for us, we’re English.” effect. Which I hope has been declining as those folks age off.
I’ve seen similar huts on the German Baltic coast and maybe in the Netherlands and the Italian Adria, too, but IIRC they were smaller and predominantly used for changing clothes, maybe also to store some beach equipment like beach chairs, rubber dinghys and toys. I also think most weren’t private, but rented out for a day to beach-goers.
It seems to be mostly a Monmouth County thing and not the beaches I would go to. I know Long Branch rents them.
I was curious about the Baltic beaches, and did a little googling before I wrote the OP. I didn’t find the beach huts (so thanks for the info) but I did find these, which I think are fabulous. I assume you’ve seen these too?
j
A friend had to give his mother a talk about condoms. “But I’m past menopause”, “mom, you need to worry about STIs…”
I can’t imagine the cabanas at my uncle’s shared lakefront for used for much “whatever”, though. They were tiny (not big enough for an adult to lie down) and mildewy, and had thin walls. The kids on the beach would hear you. (And there was lots of woods nearby, as well as homes with bedrooms…)
And Oregon and Washington. Public access to ocean beaches (even though the weather is almost uniformly non-beachy) and everything on them is a treasured principle.
I spend a lot of time as a kid and teen at the beach, but it was overwhelmingly Sandy Hook.
My Mom lived out her later years in a condo in a golf course retirement community. The talk of the place was the number of senior couples who got rousted by Security for doin’ it in or behind the shrubs on the course.
Yes, they each had a residence in the community. Yes, they each had bedrooms. But their residences also had spouses. Who would have complained about the noise.
The in-house newsletter didn’t name names, but did mention how many they busted each week. Evidently trying to use peer pressure to reduce the problem. Which idea may have backfired on them: “Hey Mabel, we made the newletter!” 
No age limits there.
The vast majority of beaches in the UK are public too, it’s just that some of them have these private huts at the back, or on the promenade that runs behind the beach.
I mean, especially on a public beach, you want a private place to change into your suit and store your stuff. I would have expected day rentals to be more common than other formats for large public beaches, but the structures are fairly practical.
You can also have a single building with changing cubbies and lockers, of course. That’s what my town beach has. It depends on how many families typically use the space at the same time which format is more practical, i think.
My sister used to rent one for her family holidays on the Essex coast. I spent some time there, and as far as I could see, they were mostly used as a base from where a family could do their individual thing.
The huts came complete with deck chairs and picnic tables, and most families bought some means of boiling water for the essential tea and even cooking a light meal. They were a sheltered and reasonably secure space that saved having to carry stuff from hotel or B&B to the beach.
There were strictly enforced rules preventing people from spending the night in them and guards patrolled during the night. I think there might have been rules about alcohol as well, but mostly ignored.
Oh yes, Strandkörbe are all over the German Baltic beaches and a very staple of beach life in Germany. Some people even buy them for their private gardens.
ETA: I found a stock photo of German beach huts at the Baltic:
Anyone in California who can’t change into /out of a bathing suit in their car or with a towel wrapped around them was clearly raised out of state.
I am encouraged to see Jabba holding what I presume must be a Caesar, indicating that there’s intelligence and good taste throughout the universe!