There are two types of gasholder in the UK: water-seal, which are the big telescoping drums we're talking about above, and tar-seal, which are corrugated towers that don't change size. In the natural gas period, they were used to meet short-term local supply needs, such as first thing in the morning when everyone's heating fires up or factories start work.
They have largely been replaced by line-packing, which stores gas ready for tomorrow's surge by simply increasing the pressure in the main pipelines.