To think Blackpool is a bit shit

[Cutitup]

Just came back from Blackpool and it was utter shit. Why haven't the council there made improvements and made it a decent place to visit?

There is hardly anywhere halfway reasonable to eat, it looks completely broken and unloved. There is just so much potential for development and it could be the "Orlando" of England. Instead, it's just shite.

I've come away thinking I don't need to take my children to Africa to appreciate what they've got: just take them to Blackpool.

On a good note, the beach is very nice. Shame about the drunks weeing all over the stairs to the beach and leaving beer cans everywhere. I saw broken Britain in Blackpool and I shall never go back again.

[MuddlingMackem]

WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant Sun 04-Oct-15 01:40:43

Then we spent 3 1/2 hours trying to drive through and see the flipping lights.
We joined the carpark queue at 8. Dd fell asleep at 10, so she missed lads of it. We got to the glitter ball just after 11:30, and it wasn't even on.

[thefutureofpolitics]

Yes, I fully understand that ilovesooty, I think you either failed to understand the point I was making about the lack of jobs in Blackpool or you are looking for an argument which I am not prepared to engage in in an otherwise pleasant chat room. As you rightly say, given that JSA was a very minor few week blip, one that my partner and I worked very hard to get out of and I don't even live in Blackpool anymore, it is irrelevant. It was simply a point which seems to have been blown out of all context and I am sorry that it obviously riled you so much.

[LeaveMyWingsBehindMe]

I've just realised this thread is from 2013.

[LeaveMyWingsBehindMe]

FFs stop being so snobby. We are going to Blackpool next week for our holidays. We stay in a caravan site in a lovely village and avoid blackpool at night. The dcs love it.

Yes it is run down but for a day at the pleasure beach,the seaside,donkey's and ice cream then whats not to like?

So let me get this right - you voluntarily spend money to go on holiday somewhere that is run down, and where you don't feel comfortable going at night, because it has a good funfair, some donkeys and some ice cream shops?

Couldn't you go to Cornwall or North Norfolk or somewhere nice for all those things? They don't only have them in Blackpool you know.

[WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant]

It was a shame about the drunks and dodge-the -vomit, as bits of the place were lovely.

The trams were every 10 minutes! That is an unbelievable amount of public transport for us. Even if many of the passengers were rude and shoved my buggy with dd in out of their way.

The decorations on the sea front were brilliant. Dd loved them.

With a bit of input from somewhere (maybe better education for bar staff/not serving already drunk people? Higher police presence? I don't know...), it could be a brilliant place. Scruffy is not a problem. Unsafe is...

[seastargirl]

We have family there, every so often I think ooh it'll be lovely to go and see them and have a day at the seaside, every time I leave saying never again!

I remember going to use the loo in a bar on the front once when pregnant, it was like walking into a nightclub at 2 in the morning, yet it was lunch time. Very strange!

[Ohwhatfuckeryisthis]

I remember going there in the 70s on visit from abroad with dm. It was still quite tacky then, but not in such a sleazy way as when we went ten years ago. Friend with kids from Australia, we were all [shocked] at 11am at the falling over pissed up hens and stags. Dodging piles of vom. We got full on flashed by group of men (with young girls in tow). In McDonald's.
In the 70s though, we had great fun going to The waxworks, Dr who exhibition, the arcades, pleasure beach full of not terrifying rides. I know it was 40 years ago, but it was great for families.

[ilovesooty]

It was job seekers' allowance. Not "only look for work commensurate with a first class degree which will pay your mortgage allowance"

Still as you say since you're not claiming benefits now it's no longer relevant to your lifestyle.

[thefutureofpolitics]

Hi clockbuscanada, it is good to hear from somebody who saw those wonderful concerts there too. The concerts were always my favourite part of Blackpool. I also remember seeing Cast there supported by (the greatly underrated) Longpigs (Richard Hawley's band) who were actually better than Cast.

[thefutureofpolitics]

I don't have difficulty understanding how JSA works ilovesooty, I have difficulty understanding the mentality of those in the job centres telling me that I could flip burgers, (a) with a first class honours degree and (b) which would not have given me the money required to keep the home I had at the time etc, it was simply an implausible and ridiculous suggestion which would have been about as useful as a chocolate fireguard. The aim of job centres is to get people back into work, yes, but they should really take various factors into account. It was more a comment on the limited number of suitable jobs in the area and the difficulty some encounter when trying to reach their potential there. Anyway, it is not an issue because we have our own business and I am doing a Masters degree. Thank you for your input, I hope I have explained my post in a satisfactory manner.

[trian]

This is what happens when you let air fares be unsustainably low and then don't put in place measure to deal with the impact this will have on your own country's tourist industry. We all have to take some action against this (ie voting well) unless you're in such a bad position yourself that you can't take action. It affects so many places in the UK.

I love Blackpool and intend to take my kids one day, but it won't be as stress-free as it should be, because the behaviour of some of the people that go there is desperate. I'm not toooooo bothered by the adult-on-adult drama (although obviously it's important that kids don't see sexual acts), what's upset me most when I've gone there is adults verbally abusing their kids in the street. This happens where I live too, but not to the same extent.

It is at least affordable and there's quite a bit for kids to do, so that means that some kids get a holiday whereas otherwise, they wouldn't.
On a separate note, the food is generally abysmal for vegetarians! I love you Blackpool and I hope more is done to make you safer (although I draw the line at social cleansing, I think for some people that live there they would benefit from a bit of help to get out of there, to move somewhere where they're more likely to be able to get a stable job instead of just seasonal work).

[clockbuscanada]

politics I was at that Pulp gig, and the Manics one too. Also saw Suede there and a fantastic Bjork/Saint Etienne gig. Well worth the drive from Scotland. I used to follow the Manics all over the UK, Blackpool was always the tour highlight.

I had completely blanked out forgotten about the Tache until this thread.

I stayed at the Hilton in Blackpool this summer and it's a bit run down but much much better than the Hilton in Bristol where I stayed a few weeks ago, or the one in Aberdeen where work puts us up sometimes.

[ilovesooty]

I think it's a good thing thefutureofpolitics
that you only had to claim jobseekers ' allowance very briefly. You seem to have had difficulty understanding how it works.

[VulcanWoman]

All is redeemed when you stand in the Tower Ballroom.

[TimeToMuskUp]

We went yesterday for a day out with DS1's Cubs troop. We live not too far from a bit of a run-down Midlands ex-mining town, so are no strangers to run-down-scruffiness but Blackpool felt a bit dirty.

Our friends DC had a token stolen from his hand by a grown adult in an arcade, getting on the tram an elderly man in front of us was sworn at by two young girls for being too slow and getting too near to them, there were two people so spangled on the beach they were unconscious on the steps (one next to a pile of vomit).

Having said that, DS1 loved it and desperately wants to go back in October half term. DH almost died of shock visiting Skegness in the summer (terribly middle class posh holidays as a child) so Blackpool would tip him right over the edge.

[AFewGoodWomen]

The front has been radically revamped and is now clean, the teams look great and are a nice throwback. The Pleasure Beach is the same as it's always been but for two things: the stupid entrance fee and the cleanliness. It is immaculate these days.

It is a shame it has not had a true revival because it could be a very traditional seaside resort. We go with the kids for a day trip once a year, they enjoy the experience: fish and chips on the front, sticks of rock, wind and rain.

We have never come across the out of control hen and stag nights not pools of vomit.

[WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant]

Today, we went to Blackpool.
Ds had fun in the ripleys place.
We squashed onto the tram (had to park nearly in fleetwood)
It took an hour to drive up the sea front, looking for a parking place.
We tried to go in Pizza Hut for tea. The queue was out in to the street, but there were empty tables inside.
Eventually, we found a nice (but disorganised) Chinese to get some tea.

Then we spent 3 1/2 hours trying to drive through and see the flipping lights.
We joined the carpark queue at 8. Dd fell asleep at 10, so she missed lads of it. We got to the glitter ball just after 11:30, and it wasn't even on.

The town is run down and scruffy. Not too bad. Bearable.

But the hen parties/stag nights/general drunks really let the place down.
One guy was releasing several gallons of used beer at the edge of a pub car park. He was so wasted, he didn't notice the row of cars he exposed himself to.

Stop serving the drunks!
Get some decent traffic control in for the lights.
Come on Blackpool, pull yourself together!

[thefutureofpolitics]

Yes, and also the lowest life expectancy in Britain apparently, along with a high suicide rate and massive drug and alcohol problems. Yes, and working in Blackpool over a number of years, it just seemed to get worse and worse. I started working there when I was 15 on work experience with school and then got kept on until I went to university the first time around. It was always a bit rough and ready but it seemed to have gone downhill rapidly by the time I returned after university and by the time I finally moved away for good, it was atrocious.

[thefutureofpolitics]

I am incredibly jealous! I still have my massive Pulp posters from that era, two from the Blackpool concert (one of Jarvis and one of the Misshapes / Sorted for E's and Whizz sleeve). I was raised on the whole Britpop thing. Oh Jarvis swoon

[FanOfSpam]

One of the most economically-deprived places in Britain. Massive unemployment and horribly high levels of child sexual abuse (seaside towns attract lots of transient drifters and fairground workers who are difficult track and monitor if they are sexual predators).

It is a wasteland of poverty dressed in sequins and stripper shoes. I was a stripper in a club called Eden on the promenade for eight years and the degredation - by day and by night - of Blackpool each year was soul-destroying to be a part of.

[x2boys]

Sorry you will be jealous now we were standing on the park benches dancing with pulp in 1995 at round hay park for free also saw pop will eat it self and chumbawamba (I get up again )

[thefutureofpolitics]

That is so cool! I love Pulp so much, one of my all time favourite bands! The concert I saw was just magical with Jarvis just generally being a legend and Stereolab (another favourite) supporting. I think the Winter Gardens is a beautiful concert venue. The White Stripes used the space amazingly doing their little acoustic thing in the middle of the show on a little stage on the side of the venue.

[x2boys]

Both my mum's brothers went to boarding school in Blackpool In the 1940 and fifties they was 12 yrs between them my mum remembers visitING then a d going to the tower ball room a lot

[x2boys]

I saw pulp headlining in round hay park in leeds as .a student for free in 1995.

[thefutureofpolitics]

The shows and concerts were always my favourite part of Blackpool. I saw my first concert there ... Pulp, just before Christmas 1995, when Disco 2000 was in the charts, still my favourite concert of all time. Then Manic Street Preachers, Radiohead, White Stripes etc etc.