Blackpool illuminations

  • Thread starter Thread starter ganganvince
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I like Blackpool.

Cheap and cheerful trip if you look hard enough.
 
Two Gun Bob said:
Sand Tropez my arse!

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Blokes sat on the beach in their suits, fantastic. There’s a pic of a very young me on the beach there taken in 1969 and it could easily have been a still from that reel.
By the 80s, we tended to prefer to spend more time in Fleetwood, but still went to Blackpool for at least a day out every year, though I’ve not been since about 1990.
Bill Bryson in ‘Notes from a Small Island’ said that Blackpool was ‘cheap, provincial and dire’ but ‘does what it does very well’. Sums the place up perfectly.
 
Thought I’d give this thread a bump as just got home from Blackpool to see the lights.

Can’t begin to say how shit they are now - Pleasure Beach end of the prom is abysmal and it only gets slightly better as you get to central prom area. None of the old trams covered in lights were running and no lasers either.

Couldn’t believe how dead it was too - Blackpool is seriously on its arse from a tourist pov. Many hotels are boarded up and it’s even more depressing than I remember.
Such a shame.
 
BLUEYESTU said:
Thought I’d give this thread a bump as just got home from Blackpool to see the lights.

Can’t begin to say how shit they are now - Pleasure Beach end of the prom is abysmal and it only gets slightly better as you get to central prom area. None of the old trams covered in lights were running and no lasers either.

Couldn’t believe how dead it was too - Blackpool is seriously on its arse from a tourist pov. Many hotels are boarded up and it’s even more depressing than I remember.
Such a shame.
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That's a shame, used to love taking my boys 15 years ago. Mumsnet slagging it off as well this week.

The old-style entertainment just isn't as popular, though it does have some really good craft bars and food courts now.
 
I went a few weekends ago on that windy weekend. Unfortunately I didn't get to see much of the place as you were battered the moment you left the hotel.

But from what I saw it's exactly what I expected i.e Benidorm (minus the old town bit) with bad weather. I quite enjoyed the 'lock in' at the hotel because it had entertainment throughout the weekend anyway.

I get the feeling Blackpool is suffering from our self deprecating view on our seaside towns and forgetting that just because somewhere is a bit naff doesn't mean you can't have a good time there. I'd like to go back when it's less windy and get about the venues a bit.
 
unicorn said:
That's a shame, used to love taking my boys 15 years ago. Mumsnet slagging it off as well this week.

The old-style entertainment just isn't as popular, though it does have some really good craft bars and food courts now.
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about that time we took our kids there to see the lights - never again. Full of stags and hens, swearing and suggestive acts ( saw a guy getting his knob sucked in a side alley - by a woman I hasten to add - and had to usher the kids away double quick. )
 
Southport was nice last time I went a few years ago, has it gone downhill? Was certainly nothing like Blackpool which is rough as anything. Sandcastle is still decent though.
 
crooky said:
I went a few weekends ago on that windy weekend. Unfortunately I didn't get to see much of the place as you were battered the moment you left the hotel.

But from what I saw it's exactly what I expected i.e Benidorm (minus the old town bit) with bad weather. I quite enjoyed the 'lock in' at the hotel because it had entertainment throughout the weekend anyway.

I get the feeling Blackpool is suffering from our self deprecating view on our seaside towns and forgetting that just because somewhere is a bit naff doesn't mean you can't have a good time there. I'd like to go back when it's less windy and get about the venues a bit.
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I’m going to Blackpool next weekend. My mates have booked a hotel with evening entertainment, so we don’t have to traipse about.
 
Franny 1234 said:
Try morecambe,Rhyl or Southport
And you will be totally saddened.
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Lack of investment is the root cause - go to the south coast and you will see places thriving better but mostly because there has been investment there. For over a decade Govts moved "people with complex lives" to cheap hotels to save money meanwhile other places were knocking theirs down and having new ones built.

Where I live 2 coastal towns - one Redcar that I have long described as a low class Blackpool (yep imagine that) - boarded up shops - crappy housing etc - two about 5 miles down the coast Saltburn which is genteel and oozes Victorian charm (with house prices to match) - the difference is cash
 
bluethrunthru said:
about that time we took our kids there to see the lights - never again. Full of stags and hens, swearing and suggestive acts ( saw a guy getting his knob sucked in a side alley - by a woman I hasten to add - and had to usher the kids away double quick. )
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Last time I was there I saw a fella crawling on his hands and knees, wearing a pair of plastic tits on his backside, being followed by another fella crawling on his hands and knees attempting to suckle the false nipples.

This was 2pm in the afternoon, central promenade.

It’s an image I just can’t wipe from my memory, must be nearly 20 years ago.
 
The other abiding memory of Blackpool I have is finding a finger-nail in my lasagne at Carriages.

And standing on the prom at 2am for an hour near Christmas (about 3 degrees) because some twat wanted to smoke a fag in the hotel.

Fucking hate Blackpool.
 
Citizen of Legoland said:
Last time I was there I saw a fella crawling on his hands and knees, wearing a pair of plastic tits on his backside, being followed by another fella crawling on his hands and knees attempting to suckle the false nipples.

This was 2pm in the afternoon, central promenade.

It’s an image I just can’t wipe from my memory, must be nearly 20 years ago.
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its no longer what it was for sure
 
dronefromsector7G said:
Were the Tories having their conference there at the time?
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where I worked our Unite annual conference was there every year at the Imperial Hotel - supposed to be posh but a fucking dump. Last one I attended was about 8 years ago but over a decade ago hotel staff were trying to "discreetly" escort hookers off the premises. Despite the name the hotel was anything but Imperial - I'd say careworn at best - but the whole town was on its uppers over a decade ago. From childhood experiences thats sad but it shames a former seaside gem. Look at the past how celebs moved there whether to play football for Blackpool for just to be there (Jimmy Armfield to George Formby and so many others) because it was the place to be. Not any more.
 
Perhaps make it a centre for accommodating asylum seekers - with all of the government funding and support that comes with it? Some hotels seem to get paid a fortune if they make their place available so a possible win-win.
 
Have many happy memories of childhood holidays at Blackpool . The last time I went was about 15 years ago it seemed rundown and depressing not the Blackpool I remember.
 
Why have a extended weekend stay in Blackpool over similar places in Europe which also have cheaper beer,food and accommodation. Not to mention the weather.
 
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