When people go there on holiday I just think why....

If I lived closer I would actually like to go again.
Maybe one day 🙂

I live near Blackpool. I've had some really good days out there. Yes, some areas are awful. Some nights there are lots of drunk people which can be intimidating. But, there are plenty of good attractions and miles of coast line. There are some really nice beaches away from the centre.

Agree. I've been on the Orient Express and to 5 star hotels. Blackpool is much more fun!

I have family ties to Blackpool. Whilst it is run down, I still have affection for parts of it!

I think it’s a shit hole but I know my toddler would bloody love it. I may relent by but would just be a very short trip

Best ever response to someone saying that they were going on a walking holiday was my wonderful grandma, and it wasnt sarcastic!

She looked puzzled and said "Why dont you catch the bus?".

I was howling because a walking holiday wouldnt be my idea of fun either!

I could say that about London (where I live).
Tourists love it but when you live there it just become a place where you live and you notice the bad more than the good.

You need to get out more ... there are some stunning places in the north West of England.

I went back to Bournemouth recently and was horrified how run down and shabby it has got. The city centre seemed full of very dodgy looking people (think emaciated toothless drug addicts) sitting in boarded up doorways and loitering and pestering you for money.

It made me feel sad as I have such lovely memories of being a child and taken to Bournemouth in the 1970s. It seem like such a twee, architype of an English sea side town back then.

If someone here is from Bournemouth, please explain what has happened?

I went to Blackpool 25 years ago with family as a teen.

We had a lovely time, went swimming at the Sandcastle, went to the Pleasure beach, played on arcades, watched a circus show and climbed the tower, rode the trams, watched an ice show. We walked along the promenade and ate fish and chips.

It always made me want to go back but I’ve heard such terrible things about it that I think it’s best left in my memories.

I’m not sure if it’s got worse in the last 25 years or if it was always bad and I just didn’t notice because I was a kid.

Can't think of anything more boring and even worse if it rains!!

I go to Blackpool because my family obsessively love rollercoasters. It is particularly good if you have a thrill seeking child between the heights of 1.3m and 1.4m. The BPB hotels are not bad really.

That is the long and the short of it.

Different strokes for different folks.
I live in a small town near Blackpool so I see it from a nearby resident's perspective.

I've been to Blackpool once since the 1980s, a couple of years ago - it was in late autumn, to see the illuminations primarily. The aforementioned lemonade was the highlight of the day 😆. The illuminations weren't as good as I remembered from the 80s. There were dodgy-looking people hanging round outside the toilets on the seafront, which was discouraging.

It really boils my piss!

Because it's got a significant concentration of activities that lots of people like, in a small area, whilst being within easy distance of the large cities where the people of the north west are concentrated. And some people don't let proximity to social deprivation put them off.

Agree though with the pp who said it's not cheap. It is all very Tesco voucher/Groupon-able though. There's scope to do a lot in a short period if you're careful and plan properly.

Well going by this thread it still seems popular 🤷

Is it still open? 🤔🤣🤣

Blackpool - the really crap-looking Pirate-themed pub on one of the piers, into which my husband and I fled to escape teeming rain, served the best pint of pub lemonade I've had in decades at an astoundingly cheap price.

It used to be a great place for a holiday. These days it's like being in a film about the end of civilisation.

After last time, I've sworn to never go again. Our hotel was a shit hole, wallpaper hanging off, mould underneath it, poo inside the half used toilet roll, threadbare carpet. The owner looked like she'd set her entire family on us if we dared complained. We left after 2 minutes saying we had a family emergency. She did ask if it was the room but surely she can see the state of it to see yes, of course it was the room. After the hours travelling to get there, I didn't want an argument with attitude woman infront of my children.

Couldn't walk along the prom without multi generational families walking into us. They clearly took up the whole space and weren't doing the done thing of pulling in so people could naturally pass. I stopped being polite after the umpteenth time and had a further four men, different families, shoulder barge into me as I stood my ground. They were absolutely oblivious to anyone else around them. The area was so run down, messy... Just screamed poverty and it was actually sad to see. Used to love it as a child but no, never again.

I go for the drugs and hookers. It's like Phuket, except you can get there direct from Salford Crescent on Northern Rail without having to change in Dubai, the fish and chips tastes better, and the pubs don't serve methylated spirits (yet... give it time).

We have always gone to Blackpool for days out, went with my grandparents when I was small and take my kids now.

We always have fun in Blackpool and that's what matters to us.
Don't care if it's a bit run down, don't care if there's a few weirdos .. we have a great time there.

I did Blackpool once in 2010-ish with SIL as a cheapy short break when ds and dniece were young - they loved the small pier, donkeys, beach and blackpool zoo where ds loved the dinosaur models and I think we did a couple of other things. We never did the expensive shows.

We stayed in a caravan which was fine, but some parts -cafes etc - were a bit run down/grubby. Don't think I would do it again, but it wasn't bad for a cheap break for young kids.

There's a massive migrant hotel on the front FYI.