advertisement


On holiday in Blackpool

As a kid, in the sixties, it was cheap and cheerful. The beach has good sand, none of yer pebbly Southern shite. But it's been a dump for a generation or more now. Not been since before I got married, nearly 29 years ago. Mrs P-T keeps suggesting we go, just for a laugh, but she's from Yorkshire so she's imagining something like Scarborough but facing the other way. There's no way I'd stay overnight.
Lol. That was my hope. But Scarborough is a class act in comparison. When not in comparison, Scarborough is also a bit of a shithole.
 
It hung on to the dying embers of British seaside holidaying after the reliability of the weather and the novelty of Spain established itself. I suppose their customers are dying out now and the type of attractions they’re offering are not of much interest to young people. Covid is a big business opportunity though.
I reckon, at a guess, 20% of the beach front businesses are not open. Much more on the roads behind. The hotel owner says the big issue now is staff; here one minute, cautionarily isolating for ten days the next.
 
It’s not just the package holiday that has killed Blackpool.
Way back, almost every visitor went there by train, coach or bus. Because of that, they didn’t have the time to go home at night, so stayed in a B&B. If you’re going to stay one night, may as well make it two.
Then cars came along, and so people could go for day trips, lots for everyone to do, then they could drive home in the afternoon.

My parents had some people stay, from the Rochdale area I think, who were so poor that the only holiday they could afford all year was a few nights at Blackpool, BB&EM. At the time, one B&B on the south shore area was so desperate for customers that they were charging £5 pppn, then giving you a pound in the morning to go and find your breakfast in town. And it could be done!

I spent three months in a Blackpool hotel in 1991 while training with BAe for Saudi. It was sort of ok then, but I don’t suppose a group of recent ex-forces guys was going to meet much trouble.

My parent’s guesthouse is now a weird looking private residence, as are nearly all the others in the street (Gynn Avenue). It makes me a bit sad, but I don’t know anyone who goes there now, and I’ve plenty of friends and family up north.
 
Used to go most years to see the illuminations etc. We'd just drive up and back in the day, never stayed. Had a couple of trips as a teenager I think, again can't really remember much aside from the Grand National.

Being from Notts/Derby area our destination was always Skeg Vegas, my Gran and Grandad had a static van at Ingoldmells so they'd spend most of the summer there and I'd go for a couple of weeks every year during the summer holidays, was alright I suppose, now it's a bit like Blackpool and you couldn't pay me to go.
 
Never visited Blackpool , I don't think I ever will. I just envisage kiss me quick hats and a broken nose :D.
 
Blackpool’s alright! Mrs L’s parents lived there. There’s some lovely beaches, go down to St Anne’s or up towards Rossall. Beachwise we prefer Fleetwood. Fish and chips from Bispham or Cleveley’s kitchen. Their steak puddings are awesome too. The pleasure beach still has the best wooden rides in the UK. It won’t be on this year but the air show is great and free. The front is lovely, walk from the Tower down past the pleasure beach. There are two periods the Scots are particularly noticeable, around now as they’re out of school before we are, so prices are down a bit, then late in September. Get up to Fleetwood on a tram, go over to Knott End and have a breakfast/brew at the cafe ove there. It’s a bikers caff, so you should like it.
If you want some posh go down to Lytham, that’s lovely. There’s a nice park there to walk round. Stanley Park is also lovely.
 
I'm intrigued as to the occasional respectable looking asian, possibly indian, families I keep seeing. Slimmer, in nice conservative colourful clothing, tastefully made up. No false lashes, tats or tits showing, no swearing. They look cleaner and healthier.

But what are they doing here?
 
I'm intrigued as to the occasional respectable looking asian, possibly indian, families I keep seeing. Slimmer, in nice conservative colourful clothing, tastefully made up. No false lashes, tats or tits showing, no swearing. They look cleaner and healthier.

But what are they doing here?

I suppose it might be like taking kids to the zoo.

“Let’s go and see some drunken fellow Brits trying to enjoy themselves in a complete dump. Kids, chips only, no burgers. And no feeding the animals.”
 
There's absolutely loads of Scottish people here right now.
Glasgow Rangers supposed to have been playing Blackpool in a friendly tomorrow night. Postponed due to one or more Blackpool players testing positive apparently.
Loads of Rangers supporters decided to stay anyway.
 
Lol. That was my hope. But Scarborough is a class act in comparison. When not in comparison, Scarborough is also a bit of a shithole.

Unfortunately correct. I used to like Scarborough, but the local council seem to have gone awol. Not a bit of a shithole now though, it's a complete shithole.
 
Fish and chips from Bispham or Cleveley’s kitchen

Fylde coast chippies? Some recommendations:

Various locations - Seniors
Lytham - Whelans
St Anne’s - St Anne’s chippy, The 3 Fishes (if it still exists)
Blackpool - The Cottage
Cleveleys - Kays, Fish loves Chips
Thornton - Thornton chippy
Fleetwood - The Fish House, Granada fish bar, The Dolphin
Knott End - Knott End chippy

Not that I’m an expert.

EDIT: Forgot to say there’s a framed photo on the wall in the Granada bar showing George Osborne eating in there, just in case that puts you off. Worked for me.
 
Last edited:
I don’t think I’ve been to Blackpool since the 1980s. It was always cheesy, old fashioned but great fun in its own way. Fun fair was always a fine thing. I remember it having a half decent record shop somewhere too, but I can come back with records from anywhere. Home of Section 25, The Membranes, and more famously, pfm’s MatthewR.
 
My auntie and uncle had a guest house in Blackpool, it used to be our family holiday going to stay there, usually only going Saturday evening while Wednesday, as my mum and dad had a shop, so we’d go after the shop shut on a Saturday, then tied it in with half day opening on the Wednesday, obviously this was the golden era when shops closed on a Sunday…

I loved Blackpool as a child, we were on the go none stop, on the beach, amusement arcades, the piers (all 3), the Pleasure Beach, the zoo, up to mischief with my half cousins, down to the tower (free entry, uncle worked as a fitter/plumber as well as running the guesthouse), the outdoor pool next to the south pier, etc etc, overall they were absolutely brilliant times.

As I have grown older I’ve been back many times and I see it just like any other northern coastal town, very much working class, yes, a bit rough and ready, but they’re great places and still provide a good holiday for families/couples who can ill afford anything else.

So Blackpool (and Scarborough/Bridlington/Filey) get my thumbs up, they are what they are.
 
Did Whitby and Blackpool in the same year. Not only a softy southerner from Kent, I had just come back from a hippyish summer in Morocco. I spent the winter in Sleights just outside Whitby. I’ve never been so cold in my life! Lovely area mind and I was kept alive by being the guy that burnt all the wood on the building site that eventually became their hospital. Got a job across the country at Ambleside as a hostel warden for the summer. There I met a glossy, exotic Tasmanian that I had my best ever sex with. When she and her two companions got jobs in Blackpool I just had to have another nibble on that particular cake. Even cycling there didn’t damp the appetite. Flock wallpaper, clashing carpets and the fifth spiralling down the promenade are my abiding impressions after the obvious…
 


advertisement


Back
Top