Blackpool - has it always been like this or do I have rose-tinted specs?

[AbsolutelyZero]

When we were kids in the 80s we visited Blackpool several times for day trips and had one week long holiday there. We stayed in one of the Guesthouses, which was well kept, and I have really good memories of how amazing the town seemed (to a kid).

I also visited as an adult for a work-related event in 2002, stayed for a couple of days and from what I remember it all seemed the same - a bit faded but great fish and chips, nice people. Less impressive as an adult but that’s inevitable.

I visited again recently on a bit of a whim and I was speechless. There’s clearly been some money spent on the promenade and that looks good but go one street back and I’ve honestly never seen anything like it - every house looks like the apocalypse just happened, literally falling to bits, rubbish and mess everywhere. All the Guesthouses seem to have gone, taken over by what look like horrible, run down HMOs. The walk from the car park to the front was unnerving, to put it mildly. Saw a fairly blatant drug deal en route too. The worst deprivation I’ve seen in the UK.

I’m assuming it hasn’t always been like this and I’ve just been oblivious - the last two decades must have hit really hard.

Anyone had the same experience?

They shipped a lot of homeless people up there years ago, lots of drugs and violence - the council took the money to take them all.

It’s not surprising anymore.

I experienced the same, and I thought it was a dive and in the dark ages. I wouldn’t visit again

Same - great memories of day trips as a kid in the late 70s to see the illuminations, long walk along the prom, fish and chips foe supper, ice cream and a go on the penny falls. Took DH about 10 years ago (he's Aussie and never been before - I'd been waxing lyrical about traditional British seaside hols). Whole place was a miasma of dope, within the first half hour we'd seen a hen throwing up outside a pub and a couple shagging in a seafront shelter. Never been back 😁

Poverty and Deprevation have hit Blackpool hard.

Like you we used to go in the 80s .. we had a week there every year. It was great for families.

For lots of reasons, things have got bad .. it’s a complicated picture. There are attempts at regeneration now, there are some building projects ongoing which will hopefully help. The problem is, work out of season is not easily come by, unless you can travel.

TBH, I think the front is better now that it has been in a while. There’s a lovely cocktail bar near the Comedy Carpet. We were last there during the Northern Soul weekender, which was great fun,

One road back from the front though .. drugs & poverty

I live in Blackpool . Tourism here, as in many seaside resorts, suffered from cheap holidays overseas. Ironically the motorway that brings people in means they can now just come for the day rather than stay . Not much in the way of employment. Some people work seasonally but hang around in the closed season getting into trouble. Lots of HMOs.People head here to disappear. Work is underway to improve and clear areas round the town centre and a new civil service hub has just opened. Investment is needed in education and creating good employment opportunities.

I've only ever been once and that was for a long weekend mid 1990s.

The seafront bit was ok and we stayed in a quite a nice hotel, but OMG it was surrounded by rundown, shabby homeless hostels.

There were houses either side and opposite the hotel that had drunks and druggies going in and out all night. The noise was awful and cars were pulling up all night dealing drugs to the people in the hostels.

Prostitution was also blatant down the side streets, even during the day.

Very similar to another seaside town. The seaside town in question has what I can only describe as a "ghetto" full of eastern European illegal immigrants living in squalor. Cases of TB have risen to a frightening degree in recent years.

Sadly you're not wrong OP.
My DH was working in Blackpool when I first met him in 1990. There were some very rough parts even then, and of course it was never a sophisticated resort even at the height of its popularity, but it wasn't all bad and I've got some very happy memories of the time we spent in the area.
But we went back last year to a reunion at my DH's old work having not visited for many years and I was really shocked how run down the town is now and how much was closed even on the front. I think most seaside resorts have suffered in recent times but Blackpool seems to have fared even worse than most. It's very sad.

Yes it's terrible

Really deprived

Never been but don't think l will bother - how sad though

Thanks everyone. I agree, it’s really sad. I do think there is enough there for it to be great with (a lot of) investment. I really hope they can pull it round - just walking round, that seemed like a massive task though, almost like it was beyond saving.

There is hope though. I recall visiting Whitley Bay about 20 years ago and it was similar - grim, run down, strip clubs and stag doos everywhere. Now it’s a foodie destination, apparently (haven’t been but intend to).

Haven’t been since I was a child but even then I remember wanting to stick close to an adult.

We went to one of our local beach’s the other week. Lots of shops have now closed even a couple of arcades and let’s face it if arcades are falling at the seaside lots of places don’t stand a chance.

Yes it’s absolutely hideous. Went to a gig there a few years ago- walking from the carpark to winter gardens was an experience. Lots of people absolutely off their head on spice and HMO’s with people fighting in the yard. Winter gardens area was ok. Also have been to the big water park recently with the kids and that was grim too, lots of very strange and creepy men on their own in the pool area. Kids loved it, I hate it. Really menacing and depressing.

I think most seaside towns have an undercurrent of deprivation if you step away from the promenade. They attract a relatively transient group of people working and living seasonally. Blackpool is the most famous and the most impacted. There are very high levels of addiction, CSE and poverty which are difficult to tackle. That said I still love it and it’s like nowhere else.

We went for one night back in 2017 on our way back south from Scotland. I can honestly say I will never go back. One of the few places in the UK where I actually felt unsafe during the day. Apart from along the seafront, which was buzzing.

I think it's definitely been like that for the past 30 years. It's great on the front - in fact it's nicer now than it was maybe 25 years ago- but night times, and further back from the front, it's been grim for a long, long time. It's one of the most deprived areas in England, and you can see why.
It's still fab for a day out with little kids if you stick to the prom. Or the zoo.

I haven’t been since the early 90s but I’m sure I read it has one of the lowest life expectancies in the U.K. It is definitely extremely deprived and has been for some time.

Stayed there for a week on a work trip 2 years ago. My work booked me into a B&B on the Palatine Road. The taxi driver warned me not to walk back alone at night and pointed out a couple of brothels en route. The B&B had a weird vibe and I barricaded my door with a chair every night. Saw people staggering about on spice at 11am, and a fight outside a pub involving broken bottles one night.

The whole town is grim and depressing. Feel v v sorry for families with young children trapped there, it’s an absolute shit heap.

Only been once about fifteen years ago for a ‘romantic’ weekend away with my now husband. Let’s just say ‘we don’t talk about Blackpool’ and I fully vet romantic weekend planning ever since 👀 I was shocked how awful it was 😬 I really hope things change for the better and it receives the investment and support it so clearly needs.

Whitley bay on the other hand has had a massive glow up! I used to go as a kid and was really suprised when we took our Dd to caravan holiday a few years ago!

Sadly, Blackpool began its decline when cheap holidays abroad became popular and Manchester/surrounding area factories began to close. In order to attract business, guest houses started offering cheap rates for hen and stag groupd...
It is now one of the most ompoverished towns in the UK
Even the Pleasure Beach is not opening some rides thi year, or only opening them at weekends because of falling numbers and staff shortages.
Yet the countryside surrounding Blackpool is gorgeous.
So sad

It’s got to much potential but it leaves a bad taste in the mouth to visit. Seaside towns have ben economically hit for decades and that creates complex social problems, making the economic ones even harder to solve.

Whitley Bay has come on in leaps and bounds. We quite often do the prom walk between Tynemouth and Whitley - coffee in Cullercoats and lunch or ice cream in Whitley or Tynemouth. Some nice shops in Whitley now, too.
Definitely worth a visit.

It is very sad. A lot of seaside and coastal areas have similar issues too. Mainly as they are seen as cheaper areas for housing. A lot of bnbs/ hotels will rent rooms through the winter season for very cheap rates making them attractive solutions for councils with huge emergency accommodation pressures and seaside areas are desperate for the money so will take money from other councils to emergency house their residents. Unfortunately services become stretched and some councils see It as an opportunity to offload some of its more tricky and problematic residents. It creates a transient population with very little support.

Blackpool became a bit of a dumping ground for homeless/ people with complex mental health issues/ people with severe addiction issues a few years ago. Other councils were paying Blackpool council to take their residents with issues but the infrastructure to support these people was not there so they just ended up roaming around. Recently they became the place the government decided to house a lot of people waiting for their asylum claims to be processed. Again not adequately funding or providing the necessary support services.

Blackpool was massively impacted by the cheap package holidays abroad and ended up attracting the stag and hen crowd which on the whole can be a pretty grim group to attract due to the anti- social behaviour that comes with the territory of big rowdy stag and hen dos. They have tried to attract a more family market recently. There is promise for the investment in the seafront area. But requires an awful lot of investment in support services and proper year round employment opportunities.

I take the kids i work with to Coral island quite a bit as part of their reward/ treat. I bloody hate it and keep my eyes glued to the kids.
The prom at Blackpool is nice but as mentioned a street or two back, it's a different story. I've seen people spiced off their heads like zombies, people fighting, etc ,it's just a mess.
Apart from work I go to Blackpool regularly to go to the Bootleg Social as they have some great bands on. I'm OK here, I know where I'm parking and have never seen trouble in this area.

A little further back from the deprived areas Blackpool becomes nice again with some lovely well kept houses and areas.