To ask what's wrong with Blackpool?

[Allnostalgic]

There have been a few threads about Blackpool lately. I haven't been to Blackpool for at least 20 years. From what I can remember it was ok but then I was a teenager.

I have been tempted to go back to see what it's all about but always see it described as being hellish. I know it's a deprived part of the country but is it really that bad? What's actually bad about it?

The problem with Blackpool is the people off their heads on drugs are attracted to the same places as the tourists so you can't help but literally in some cases trip over them. Often in tourist locations the tourist buts and the deprived areas are more separated.

We are soon going to be gentrified though as lots of “posh” people from down South are now snapping up the cheap properties!

Sorry to disappoint but no one from down south is buying in Blackpool - unless they’re an unscrupulous landlord trying to open yet another HMO that is.

It's the same as all the other run down seaside towns, it's just people talk about it more, probably because it's a contrast to lovely childhood memories.

You probably wouldn't bother to go back to Skegness or wherever you'd been on a childhood holiday (and so wouldn't notice if it's run down or not today) but Blackpool has this glamorous image in a lot of people's heads from childhood so you might say hey, yeah, let's go back there/take the kids there and then the reality is a bit of a shock.

It's one of the only UK seaside towns I've been to as an adult - the others are Brighton, which was lovely, and then Aberporth where my grandparents lived, which was exactly as it has always been but then - I've been there dozens of times plus it's not a tourist spot, and Lymington because I had a friend who lived there, that was fine, but I had no childhood memories to compare with, so I don't know if it's more or less run down.

Blackpool is the only place I have been with about 20 years in between visits so you see the deprivation. I think that's probably a common situation and that's why people talk about Blackpool but nowhere else.

We live in Manchester so Blackpool is only an hour away.
We usually just go for a day trip, quick visit to coral island, walk along the beach, bag of chips, maybe the illuminations if they’re on and then home.
I definitely wouldn’t go for a holiday, it’s an absolute dump.

I have such happy childhood memories of Blackpool. My family and I took the kids last month on the rides in the evening. We didn’t walk around any backstreets, and so didn’t experience any brash behaviour. It was so much fun. I took DS to the model railway place when he was a toddler, and we loved it. I know it’s not an elegant place, but take it for what it is. I’d go back again - may do the cycle path from Lytham.

Blackpool fan here. You make it how you want it. You go for a cheap day out, to entertain the kids, for a bit of laugh and know it’s not ‘The Maldives’.
I think there’s been a lot of regeneration and there’s still room for more. I’m glad it’s not closed down and is still striving to be a seaside town that attracts thousands of visitors.

It's a completely different level of shit hole!
Really run down
Drugs everywhere
Lytham or st Anne's are lovely.
I would not even drive through Blackpool in its current state.
It's a hovel

I thought you meant Blackpool football fan

I was going to say that it was a good win for us today!

👍hee hee
I do like the Blackpool footy strip! Love orange!

Haha thanks, but it's tangerine 🍊 😉

😆noted 👍

I like a day trip to Blackpool. Coral Island, walk on the front, bag of robo doughnuts, leave before the sun goes down.
The last time I was in Blackpool at night I was on my own after a gig at the Winter Gardens. Starving afterwards I went to McDonald's. Fortunately I was upstairs when the fighting started downstairs. Only McDonald's I'd been in with bouncers. I was glad to retreat to my hotel in St Anne's.

@sandgrown are the property buyers investors or moving there?

I live hour away from Blackpool and work for one of the utilities in Blackpool 2or3 days a week .
Ive never seem this alarming level off drug addicts people on here describe and I work
on grange park est south shore and Blackpool central

We love Blackpool and go every year, I've gone since I've been a child. We're Irish but my mum is from the North of England. When she last went 10 years ago she was gutted to see how run down it's got, and it's gone way down hill since then too. But we accept it for what it is brash and tacky but also lots of fun for the kids.

When we went this summer past my 11 year nephew commented that every shop he passed had a broken window. I feel sad that it's got like that but if you see beyond that you'll find it's still as much fun as it always was.

I work in Blackpool. Yes there are parts of significant coastal deprivation but there is also so much to offer. The Tower, Stanley Park, the Sandcastle and the Pleasure Beach! Just a mile north of the Tower and you have Cleveleys beach - the hen parties don't usually make it up there. There is Lytham nearby which is nice and if you head further afield the lovely Ribble valley!

I imagine those who have been there when they were young can see some charm about Blackpool, but having been for the first time last year I was surprised to see how much of a hovel it was. I wouldn’t go back, no way.

Hi, I'm sorry to derail the thread but I'm not sure if you know the origins of that chant.

It's about three police officers who drowned whilst trying to save a man who had jumped into the sea to rescue his dog. It's very sad.

We went last week for the day did the pleasure beach in the day which was fun and food was reasonable inside. Then watched along to the pier where the fireworks were happening, had fish and chips. Watched the fireworks and the light show on the tower. Went in an arcade and played some 2p machines.
We live in Manchester so just go for the day and there is lots to do. Yes it is a bit run down and I haven't stayed in years but good for a day trip.
Went to Lytham in the summer and it was really nice.

Very rough. Stuck in the illuminations last time we went as someone had been stabbed.

It feels dirty and grubby. It’s like time has stood still in some places- can guarantee there will be spice girls themed stuff about somewhere.

It also has a very sleazy feel. Can guarantee a lot of sleazy pervs live there who have run away from life- I can sense them as soon as I enter the place.

Stanley Park has again been voted England's most loved park
www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/people/blackpools-stanley-park-voted-englands-most-loved-park-and-declared-an-english-national-treasure-3821388

And this year its won 4 seaside awards for its beaches
www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/environment/blackpool-beaches-recognised-for-their-cleanliness-with-seaside-awards-3691680

I live just 6 miles away and go frequently. Yes it's shabby and run down but I do not recognise the comments about drug addicts being on every corner.

I must attract them then because everytime I have been to Blackpool as an adult I have encountered them and not in run down back alleys or the middle of the night either.

I went there as a child several times (and loved it) and was last there in 2018 - I didn't think it was that bad. The pleasure beach is expensive and shabby and if you were expecting Alton Towers you would be disappointed. DS enjoyed it all, the rides, the illuminations, the trams. We weren't out late in the evening and we didn't look around the town, away from the seafront.

I wouldn't go there for a summer holiday or drive hundreds of miles specifically to get there, but it certainly isn't the worst place I've seen.

We were there last week. Couldn't get over the amount of dog poo on the pavements.
Scruffy
Pleasure beach is ok it's a shame