Blackpool pleasure beach

I've just read they've posted 2.7m pre tax losses for the last financial year.
Now this post might not be everyone's cup of tea and no doubt a lot will say so what, however if you've got kids be that little ones or teenagers you'll know most of them always want to attend given the chance, I know my lot do.
Last year think it was around May time, it was 35 quid per head to go into the park for the day which was discounted down from £55.00 regardless if you used the rides or not.
The amount of money that they are loosing surely must come from the practice of charging per head regardless.
I'd have thought it made more sense to have a ticket/wristband saying you've paid to ride and one just saying visitor or the like
The amount of foot trade revenue they've lost, not only on food and beverage, arcade machines but parents grandparents taking toddlers in for a hour or so could easily reduce most of that loss you'd have thought.
Guess they've shot themselves, in the foot once again

 

My great grandad used to be the brake man on the Big Dipper, so it was a special place for my grandad and our family.

Like most things in the UK it's now overpriced, underloved, and not a patch on what it used to be.

 

Also announced a new £9 million pendulum ride, so not sure they are too concerned.

 

It’s an absolute sh*thole is Blackpool. Went out after the game there last season and it was proper bleak. Not been to the Pleasure Beach in two decades so can’t really comment. But if it’s anything like the rest of the area, I’m not surprised it’s losing money.

 

Life is a roller coaster.

 

Agree with that 100%! I’d not been for 30+ years before going for a match there a few years ago. I got there early so had a wander along the sea front and then ended up in the streets behind navigating my way back to Bloomfield Road. Awful wherever you looked. So run down - maybe it always was but when you’re younger everything probably looks better.

I suppose the town is all about the sea front and the Pleasure Beach but it’s not somewhere that interests me. Even the beach looked unappealing. I’ll not be back. The match was rubbish as well!

 

Last time I went other than for footy was a stag do about a decade ago. All the pubs on the front were busy in the afternoon, but it was dead at night.

 

I used to frequent Blackpool every October with the lads, for well over 20 odd years we went for a boozy weekend and it has always been a seedy dump, but the memories I have and the laughs we had will stay with me forever.
It is a sh$thole though.

 

Yeah, we were stunned at how dead it was.

It’s a shame.

 

Totally agree, rip off Britain at its best.

 

Great memories of going for lads weekends in the 80s & 90s. It really was something to look forward to. Even when we went on club trips, there were favourite clubs and pubs for the older end.

One good thing about it being quiet last time though, was we ended up at the north end and found the pubs the locals use. It was quite busy up there.

 

I imagine cheap flights have killed Blackpool

 

The town has been been given a £90m housing regeneration grant by the govt over the next few years… I reckon it needs more than that to make a noticeable difference.
It’s sad

 

Especially now the airport's shut.

 

We used to go every year with the lads on FA Cup final weekend. So many good memories. Always went down the Pleasure Beach on the Sunday before we set off home. A round of crazy golf and hit the arcades, mostly for the Ridge Racer Full Scale machine. Last time we went was just for a day out at the seaside with the kids and it was so bleak I could've wept. No entry to the pleasure beach. Surely a nominal cover charge for visitors and then a card like Clifton Park where you could pay as you go for rides etc would fare better as it was pretty much deserted.
Found out later that the Ridge Racer had been ripped out anyway and left outside to rot with the rest of the resort. Such a shame - a retro arcade place would've loved it now!

The front was wall to wall pensioners bus trips and 2 streets back you're in smackhead central.

 

Me and my wife love Lytham St Anne's which is basically next door to the south. Can walk forever on the beach but the preferred walk is from the pier at St Anne's, to the right (north), towards Blackpool, and then back again.

When driving in, and then back to the M55 on the way out, you are essentially skirting the outskirts of Blackpool, and my impression is that that whole area is quite well to do. Sure, the centre of Blackpool is a proper grim shithole but get out of the town centre and there are some nice places and plenty of money. And I can't think of anywhere we go where the number of new build estates is so prevalent - there are dozens of them.

 

I remember going as a kid for the Illuminations. It wasn't until I grew up and went overseas that I stopped packing a Duffle Coat for holidays.

San Francisco bought streetcars from all over the world for the MUNI system. I always look out in Summer for the open topped ones from Blackpool.

 

As a kid I was always thrilled to go there, so exhilarating.

 

We went in February just off the cuff there was a magician’s conference from all over the world on in winter gardens couldn’t get any pub or many cafes in the afternoon or evening loads of yanks there just kept thinking what they thought of the place

 

The haunted swing blew my mind first time