Beach bars with sand, parasols and lounge chairs are becoming more popular in places far removed from the Dutch sea side, according to new research published on Tuesday.

The number of beach pavilions has increased 4% to 413 over the past five years, hospitality advice bureau Van Spronsen & Partners found, and there are no signs growth is slowing down.

The beach pavilions are proliferating inland in particular, researcher Guido Verschoor told broadcaster NOS. ‘You see them in cities, or on the banks of rivers such as the Lek.’

‘Summers are getting longer, with 50 sunny days and 40 reasonably sunny days. That will do me,’ Richard Fick, owner of Beachclub Klein Scheveningen on the banks of the Lek near Utrecht, told NOS.

‘This place came on the market five years ago and as the weather is getting better and better I thought why not.  Fick, whose club is open year-round, says some 1,000 to 1,500 people come to the river on a good day.

However, most beach pavilions are still to be found on the coast, with Scheveningen, Zandvoort and Veere in the top three, the research showed.