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.

When I was little I used to think Blackpool was fairyland/LasVegas combined. Then I grew up and realised the grim truth.

Blackpool's main role in life is to make every other seaside resort look better and, I have to say, it does this very well

Sorry to sound a twat but you are deluding yourself if you think that all of Blackpool's problems stem from tourists. One of my friends went to the photography college there and he said that Blackpool residents live like it is the Wild West.

I remember The Secret Millionaire in Blackpool and it made grim viewing. The residential parts are even worse than the town centre, believe it or not. It was like looking at a war-torn country. And on 999 What's Your Emergency, they are all Blackpool residents that are ringing up because they've been battered by their own kids. :( It is very deprived and where there is deprivation, there will be drugs/violence. It's not nice at all. None of it.

I agree with the other locals on here. I am not originally from Blackpool. I'm from Oxford which is just as shit, if not shittier in some parts as Blackpool is. I think most major cities have their shit areas. Blackpool central promenade and the surrounding streets are the shittiest parts of the town mainly caused by holidaymakers.

It's like when my sister comes up to visit from Oxford and we sometimes do the holiday thing and have a walk down the prom, she will say "fucking hell there are some right mingers in Blackpool aren't there"....ummm yes but most of them don't live here bright spark.

I've not been to Blackpool for many years my dh goes every year for a punk festival. He says its fine for that purpose ie going to the winter garden and listening to a lt of bands. He does say though that its very rough at night lots of sirens etc. I think it's sad it used to be a place for all Brits to flock too.

Sorry Aqua, I don't mean to be a Blackpool Basher. I bet it has some nice things that I wouldn't have seen on a hen weekend incorporating Uncle Brian's Grief Hole and Yates's on three floors.

Maybe we could have a MN meet-up there and us nay-sayers could be shown the error of our ways.

I do remember going to a nice Italian restaurant actually

Poor old Blackpool. My dad spent many a happy holiday there as a child. I was there a few years ago, staying in a village a few stops away on the train, with a friend from the area. To be honest, we had a great time! We rode the trams (I'm a vintage transport geeks), looked round the charity shops and at night went to a club with a revolving dancefloor called the Sin-dicate. At the age I am now, I doubt I'd enjoy the latter place, but when I was 19 and drunk, I thought it was great!

'Blackpool residents live like it is the Wild West'

There is a rather fabulous shop near my house that sells line dancing gear and cowboys boots, I always wondered how it managed to stay open!

Locals have no choice other than to accept the seediness and damage that the tourism industry brings as otherwise the place would suffer from even more deprivation than it already does. The 999 show was fascinating, but not representative of all residents!
Obviously not all problems are caused by tourists, but a pretty hefty wodge certainly are. The emergency services and the health services are overstretched dealing with out-of-towners.

There are strong and well established communities in this area. We're all fucking skint, and we all hate the fact that we can't go near the town centre during the summer or take the kids for a walk down the prom of an evening because of piss-heads but we suck it up and accept what they do to our home, because we need the industry.

You could always go to Poulton, or Lytham instead. The nightlife is just as rowdy, but a lot posher

One of the grimmest places on earth, once had the 'pleasure' of going there on a day trip. At least I get to cross it off my list now I suppose, just have to visit Belarus and Chernobyl to complete the set.

Why anyone would choose to go there for their holidays blows my mind.

There?s something very melancholic about some seaside resorts who had their heyday was over half a century ago but Blackpool is just depressing.

DS would bloody LOVE Blackpool. He is all about arcades, tat shops and flashing things.

I wonder if I might take him for a day in the 6 weeks...

Marmalade my two would spend all day on the 2p falls.

Wow just found this thread, I think I must have bumped into some of you in my misspent youth and possibly misspent not so young anymore

Jenks - check
Scrooges - check
Tache - check
Blue room / Hogs Head / Stanley Beer Engine / Blue Room again - check
Galleon - check

I don't think Brenda is doing too well now, last I heard she is an alcoholic (no surprise there) and needs a full time carer.

I kind of agree with the general feel of the thread, Blackpool centre is horrible but the surrounding areas are nice.
Some South Shore is horribly deprived, average life expectancy for a man is only 66.

Can't believe no one has mentioned the scariest ride at the Pleasure Beach, the Wild Mouse. I've seen people come off that with nose bleeds.

That's what DS loves, Sparkling. I once gave him £4.50 for the 2p falls. Do you know how long £4.50 bought him on the 2p falls?

THREE HOURS.

Oh I don't mean to bash Blackpool either.

It is rather depressing in seaside towns whose heydays were years ago. I lived in one. And lots of hotels were converted to bedsits in the 80s which had a real impact. It is a real shame. Thankfully no hen and stag culture, that must be hellish to live amongst.

The problem is a small part of the town, as I've said like most towns and cities, you get your shit areas. I think we've all established its not the best place for a family holiday.

As a resident though, you rarely associate with that part of the town very often. Unfortunately my job means I deal with the type of people featured on 999 Emergency (in fact I knew quite a lot of them through work) but what I love about living here are the friendly born and bred in Blackpool locals, living an hour's drive from Manchester centre and The Lakes, living a ten minute walk to the promenade and the sea where there is a lovely beach and miles of cycle track (I'm not talking the brash end). Being surrounded by picturesque villages and lovely small towns like Lytham St Anne's. a great zoo and park, fabulous schools and leisure centres and when you have small children there always seems to be something going on in Blackpool. I'm not saying you don't get that in other towns but really as a local it's really not that bad.

Squoosh, I can honestly tell you that very many people go to Blackpool for their annual holidays year after year.

I know. I don't get it either.

You mean Brenda is still alive? Holy shit. She did a cracking Steps impression.

I think the Blue Room is now shut and last time I went into Scrooges half of it was bloody missing!

The Blue Room is closing if not shut already, a real shame.

marmalde the residential part of town i live in is lovely. We are certainly not war-torn and it has been a long while since i saw a cowboy.....do get your facts right, it's not a ghetto and we're not all standing by the cash machine at midnight (whistles to self quietly :-D)

Hell, I was navigating the bit that is to be the new sainsburys recently and remembered the nights started in scrooges and finished in the tache. Happy days!!!!

She was a few years ago, I don't think she's going to make it to a ripe old age.

I heard the Blueroom shut down a few weeks ago. No idea what will happen to it.

mumandboys did you ever go to Barney Rubbles above the Tache, that really was an experience.