Blackpool - What's It Really Like?

likelyladgal

We go in 2 weeks for 5 days self catering apartment way up north. We are mainly going for a trip up the tower and a day out at Stanley Park. It will be a break from Stoke.

bambinaUK

Lovely new seafront with the Comedy Carpet to have a look at.
Take a ride on one of the new trams up to Fleetwood and back.
Look out for 2 for 1 vouchers if you want to go in any of the attractions.
You can get into the Tower Ballroom for free if you want to have a look around.
The zoo is really good and across the road is Stanley Park which has a really nice CAfe.
It is easy to avoid the Stag &Hens if you stay out of the Tower Lounge.
Ma Kelly's up near the Train Station is a good place to go for a laugh and a bit of entertainment. A short way out of the Town Centre is the Belle Vue pub, just jump in a taxi.


And for all you complainers, is where you live so fabulous?
Do you think that it doesn't rain anywhere else?

worried_jim

I was there in 1999 on a dirty weekend just before Easter and had a great time (obviously). It's a great place to people watch, we saw an old boy in a flat cap, brogues, tweed jacket and shell suit bottoms!
In a Chinese restaurant I created panic by asking for chop sticks- took them 10 mins to find me some, I presume the locals have just managed a knife and fork on the evolutionary scale.
After the (very nice) meal I asked the waitress where would be a good place to go after (meaning bar or club) and she just said in the broadest Lancashire accent "go home"- Brilliant!

Blackpool doesn't know what it wants to be, historical resort or modern leisure venue, however this does mean that you can make it want you want. If you have never been then go you are guaranteed a good, if different, time.

curlysoo

Although I agree its a little drab in places and is full of chavs, its worth a try just the once!

At least you can say you have been?

The seafront isn´t too bad on a sunny day and the sandcastle swimming baths is good. The amusements are good just a little expensive. Madam Tussaudes is also worth a look.

Just be prepared to spend alot to get the most out of the trip. Just don´t do the mystery tour as like my friend you could end up back home :rotfl: yep the mystery location was her home town, she didn´t know whether to just go back to her house or get back on the coach back to blackpool to get on another coach home.

martinthebandit

Had a day there last year.

<shudder>

I won't be going again.

Think down market skeggy (and thats not an easy thing to achieve) combined with the worst of the spanish costa but without the guaranteed sunshine.

Its worth a day there though just for the experience.

withabix

It is better than it was ten years ago.

But that doesn't necessarily make it good.

There has been a lot spent on the promenade over the last five years and Blackpool now has a world-class tram system.

The problem is with the things that aren't owned by the public sector or the company who owns the Tower - who is going to pay to make the improvements to these parts of Blackpool?

The answer to that question is the owners of these properties - so nobody is going to do this are they, when the hotel industry in Blackpool is on a race to the bottom?

It was funny to see all of the chauffeur-driven Mercs taking the golfers to-and-from the Open this week. The only hotel they were using was the Hilton.

I wouldn't stay anywhere else in Blackpool either. I'm old enough to remember swimming at the Derby Baths, which is what the Hilton was built on the site of!

One of the problems is the effect the salt-laden wind and rain have - makes everything go rusty and eats into bricks and render on buildings. Even the Hilton looks scabby.

The result is a appearance that is more run-down than it actually is...

There is a new pop-up concert venue called Blackpool Tower Headland - god knows what they were thinking doing that on the Prom. Elton John was the opening concert for the venue and he got blown off half way through his gig! (Ta Da! - did you see what I did there????)

DCFC79

McKneff wrote: »

I went to Blackpool last month and I swear if I live to be a thousand years old I will never ever go again.

It was wet, windy, cold, it always seems to be so.

Full of chavs, people outside pubs, smoking, spitting, effing and blinding and that was only the women.

Parents screaming and shouting at their kids.
Tat shops, tat shops and more tat shops.
Rip off prices for the attractions.

Dont go, that's my advice.

Have a look at National Holidays Website, top right corners is websavers, often 5 days for £99.
Sign up for their newsletter and you get a weekly email for special offers aswell as a monthly small brochure with a 10% offer off most of the next months holidays.

Nice review there Mckneff, i went last year and thought it was ok for first time going. I think they were doing work for a tram or something along the front. The town itself was fine but nothing different to whats at home. You still have the screaming kids around and the parents getting annoyed with them. Not sure Id want to go again though, its just another sea side town, theres are others that are closer if i want go.

poet123

We live reasonably close (within 40 miles) and have not been for 12 years and won't be going anytime soon. There are nice parts to it, but in the main it is not somewhere I would ever choose to pay to stay, for all the reasons given above.

Similarly, I would never choose to stay in places like Hastings, Margate, or some parts of Brighton, and several other southern sea side towns. It is not the location it is what/who that kind of location attracts and how that affects the town over time. Not my cup of tea.

Lincoln_Imp

martinthebandit wrote: »

Think down market skeggy (and thats not an easy thing to achieve)

that would be Ingoldmells then

Reminds me of a small version of Blackpool

worried_jim

Ok Zenmaster, you have read the reviews and opinions- are you going to go?
Tell us why or why not, what has swung either way for you?



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