U.K. - Blackpool Lights - Tripping the Lights Fantastic 2010
 

If going to England the next few months or so consider visiting England's premier seaside resort - Blackpool - not far from Liverpool - to see the fabulously popular with Brits Blackpool Lights - a k a Blackpool Illuminations. If looking to get away from American tourists and immerse yourself in something locals flock to from far and near then pop into Blackpool during its world-famous Illuminations. I have been to Blackpool several times during the lights and always left thinking wow - gotta come back.

Even without the Illuminations Blackpool is a fantastically interesting place to go - practically at any time of year IME

Blackpool Illuminations Dates - Blackpool Lights 2010
Blackpool Illuminations 2010 - World Famous , Illuminations switch on times 2010, the Blackpool Illuminations history, Illuminated trams, Illumination facts ...
www.blackpool-illuminations.net/ -

2010 Details
Times/Dates
Ride the Lights Dr Who
Trams
History
Facts

Blackpool Illuminations 2010 Switch On Concert - Blackpool Lights 2010
Blackpool Illuminations 2010 switch on, who is performing in the concert where and when: All you ever wanted to know about Blackpool Illuminations.
http://www.blackpool-illuminations.n...0SwitchOn.html - Cached - SimilarBlackpool Illuminations - The official guide to Blackpool ...
Blackpool Illuminations - The Lights 2010. Blackpool Illuminations - Winner of Tourism Event of the Year - England's Northwest Tourism Awards 2009 and ...
www.visitblackpool.com/site/illuminations

Videos for blackpool lights 2010
The Official Guide to Blackpool Illuminations ...
19 sec - Sep 4, 2010
visitblackpool.com

Blackpool Illuminations 2010 Part 1
8 min - Sep 4, 2010
Uploaded by cfmsteve
youtube.com

BBC News - Robbie Williams switches on Blackpool illuminations
Sep 3, 2010 ... Mirror ball back up in Blackpool 25 AUGUST 2010, LANCASHIRE; Opera star to light up Blackpool 13 AUGUST 2010, LANCASHIRE; Robbie to turn on ...
www.bbc.co.uk/.../uk-england-lancashire-11174416

The "Lights" in Blackpool were started as a method of prolonging the season in the resort thus keeping the money flowing.

However, Blackpool is a fading place, down at heel and dirty. Whoever told you that people flock to see them, was deluded. When I was kid, we used to go to Blackpool to see the lights and ride through on a tram, from South to North. These days the quality of the piece is much reduced and not worth a trip.

The town is expensive for food, (low quality in general), hotels, maybe one good one, and low brow entertainment. The Pleasure Beach amusement park now charges to enter, even if you don't take a ride and prices are going higher all the time. The only selection of note is gay clubs as Blackpool has become something of a mecca for these.

All in all, it's a miss.

Whoever told you that people flock to see them, was deluded.>

I have been there several times during the Illuminations and yes folks flock - the main road along the sea is bumper to bumber with ogling Brits - lots of families and young folk out for a hoot - and a parade of tour buses

Guess you have not been to the Blackpool Illuminations or you would know folks still flock to them and why such a celebrity would come here to trip the lights fantastic.

Whoever told you that people flock to see them, was deluded>

I guess Blackpool Tourist folks are 'deluded' according to you?

Whoever told you that people flock to see them, was deluded>

3 million folks go - are three million folk a delusion to you?

Just proves how locals can be so so wrong at times


Blackpool Illuminations - Winner of Tourism Event of the Year - England's Northwest Tourism Awards 2009 and England Awards for Excellence 2010.

The Blackpool Illuminations will shine from 3 September - 7 November 2010

Autumn just wouldn’t be the same without a trip to Blackpool’s world-famous northern lights – the Blackpool Illuminations. Over three million visitors a year can’t be wrong!

"Over three million visitors a year can’t be wrong!"

Nor can the 58 million Britons who wouldn't be seen dead within 30 miles of Britain's largest concentration of crap hotels, ripoff entertainment, inedible food and mean-minded local politicians.

I suspect PalQ's never had to stay in the dump, or tried running an honest business there.

Some of us have. Blackpool's real holiday business has disappeared to Turkey and Corfu. Its political convention business has been taken over by real cities that delegates and the media can get to and actively enjoy visiting: this week's LibDem conference in Liverpool is getting attendances and media coverage no party ever got in Blackpool.

And Blackpool's doing absolutely nothing about it, except allowing its local police to harrass visitors daring to criticise the inept buffoons running its fleapits (http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ripadvisor.cfm).

PalQ's gallant defence of Blackpool is quixotic. But the place is a tip, and if it can't join the 20th century, it deserves to die.

Or even the 21st century ;).
There was nothing there a couple of centuries ago, and that may be the case again soon.

Though the Tower Ballroom is still good, and I know some people who enjoy dancing there.

I suspect PalQ's never had to stay in the dump, or tried running an honest business there>

I indeed have stayed in Blackpool many times over the past few decades and always in the cheapest B&Bs, which i would not even in my terms call dumps

but i guess if you lived in one of Churchill's old estates in the Cotswolds anything in Blackpool would be dumpy to you

No haughty-totty upper crust Cotswold living Brits do not flock to Blackpool but 3 million in a few months is a staggering number no matter how you count it.

Once again be very leery of locals in cases like these - flimflanner would never rub shoulders it seems with any of his 3 million compatriots who do flock here - Blackpool is indeed blue collar though it is changing - last time i were there lots of upscale uni types and young professionals from London were coming up and patronized some new theatres, etc. One Blackpool landlord said this was a booming business now - young Londoner types coming up here on weekend hoots.

That i obviously do not know about but i do know a whole lot of Brits flock to Blackpool for the Lights

Though the Tower Ballroom is still good, and I know some people who enjoy dancing there.>

Well a whole lot from my last visit - lots of OAPs up there having a good time - the Ballroom in the Tower was packed with folks dancing to Lawrence Welk type music. A whole lot of senior citizens having a great time.

"Britain's largest concentration of crap hotels, ripoff entertainment, inedible food and mean-minded local politicians"

From a scouser those are harsh words.

http://adaptivereuse.net/wp-content/...-liverpool.jpg

When a scouser uses the words crap hotels, be warned.

Pal

Went last week on Friday night - what the hell else does a five year old want in life. Stuff the PS2 or facebook, this is cheap, good family entertainment.

....and yes there was a 5 mile queue on the M55, the place was heaving.

Thanks for the advert for a good time to be had outside the numptyland south of Birmingham.

Blackpool is without a doubt the worst dump I have ever had the misfortune to visit.

My wife and I were there in the mid 1980s and I couldn't leave fast enough. It was the first few days of September and people on the beach were wearing anoraks! The donkeys looked cold and miserable.

And only the night before we'd seen on the television in our hotel in Chester that the main sewage outflow pipe for Blackpool disgorged itself right off the beach. Lovely!

Blackpool can keep the cheap and nasty illuminations... dopey looking teapots on lamposts are not my idea of great entertainment!

I've lost count of the number of times I've been to Blackpool over the last 50 odd years. I've watched it decay over time and I don't look at through the rose coloured glasses of a US visitor. I see it for what it is, a down at heel dump that is desperate for income.

"the main road along the sea is bumper to bumber with ogling Brits - lots of families and young folk out for a hoot - and a parade of tour buses"

It's bumper to bumper because they make it one way during the lights, so everyone has to go in the same direction. They leave the traffic lights switched on, hence bumper to bumper. Yes, there are lots of visitors, but the main snake of cars and their passengers come in at one end and leave by the other. They don't stop. The "young folk" out for a hoot are mainly ASBO fugitives looking to drink too much and cause trouble--that's why the Police are so bolshie.

"Blackpool Illuminations - Winner of Tourism Event of the Year - England's Northwest Tourism Awards 2009 and England Awards for Excellence 2010."

It's the only seaside resort that does anything on this scale, it's the only resort of any size in the North West, so who else are they going to give these artificial awards to?

I still say, it's a miss and a mess!

Blackpool has had its share of problems like many other British seaside towns have experienced since the advent of cheap package holidays abroad and change in holiday pattern for the working class, for which Blackpool has particularly appealed.
While some problems still exist, the town has transformed itself in the last few years with massive public and private sector investments and professional marketing strategies, now targeting the short-break market as the recession has cut down on public appetite for holidays abroad and greater incentive for 'staycation'.
There is a multi-million pound transformation taking place on the sea front, due to complete next year, there is a new operator for the Tower (Merlin, who runs Warwick Castle, Madame Tussauds, London Eye etc), and new rides for the Pleasure Beach (Nickelodeon Land etc). The standards of accommodatuion have been pushed up by accredidation scheme and new chain operators moving in, while value for money is still second to none.
Visitor numbers increased 20% last year, and similar increase is expected for 2010. While a few years ago, on weekdays you could drive along the promenade during the Illuminations at constant 30 mph, this year it's pretty bumper-to-bumper all week long, even in poor weather. Weekends are heaving with visitors, with many visitor operators struggling to cope with demand not seen in years. There are plans for a massive indoor ski centre and a conference hall, so the town isn't standing still and wants to become a genuine year-long destination.
I live locally and have seen the transformation for myself. If you have a chance to visit Blackpool, I say come over and see for yourself. Don't come with a preconceived idea - you will sure to find some less attractive features which you frankly see in every seaside town, but you are more likely to have a good time, at value-for-money prices (if you want recommendations for hotels and eating places, just ask), while a lot of attractions are free (like international fire works competition just finished). And for football fans, there is even a premier league football on offer (hopefully for longer than just this season). Superb golf on the coast, with Royal Lytham and St Annes staging the Open in 2012, and if you still have time, a good base for exploring the rest of Lancashire, Liverpool and Manchester and the Lake District (60 to 90 min by car).

And they now boast a premiership football team

Wow! How interesting! We were just thinking of going up to Blackpool for the weekend (I guess we would qualify as those yuppie London types) ... but changed plans because the train tickets are too expensive. And I don't want to sit on a bus for six hours! Maybe we'll go next year, but it sounds like the reviews are pretty mixed.

I understand Alec's defence of the town as a local, but his post is full of planning maybes and intentions. In this economic climate there's not enough money to go around to dpo all this stuff. The Pleasure Beach has always had a new ride every couple of years, but now it charges exorbitant amounts just to walk round.

The town is still full of Eastern Europeans on benefits and welfare scroungers living in the B&B's. I don't see any transformations when I go there on business and new Tower operators won't invest too much if the return isn't there. No amount of new accreditation for very poor guest houses and hotels will push up standards when they don't have the money to spend on their properties.

The town has always had delusions of grandeur but they missed out on the Las Vegas style development that was awarded to Manchester and then didn't happen, lack of money you see and the big casino operators did their due diligence and pulled out.

It's always jam tomorrow, but the bread keeps disappearing!

flanner.uk - Read alec's local report and update your sadly outdated info on Blackpool - this is not your Mommy and Daddy's Blackpool. I am really shocked that someone usually so in touch is so out of touch on Blackpool. Perhaps a trip to Blackpool will show you the light(s)?

Been there - done that! Some years back now. Stayed in a very nice hotel starting with a K.... Unfortunately it was drizzling so the trams got all misted up inside and the lights could only be seen properly from outside.

I loved the ballroom and the Tea-dancing! I think that was the best part of our visit.
Of course Blackpool continues to export 'Rock' as far afield as the loyal customers ( ex-pats) in Australia!

As for the 'Illuminations' - Las Vegas "illuminations" ruin every other one, but I guess once a year they add a little bit of sparkle to the seafront.

PalQ,

thank you for raising the subject.

I am sure that everyone who contributed was trying to be helpful.

I have this really funny notion that there are actually people out there who might go to Blackpool and come away with a very positive experience; as a matter of fact, I will be visiting there in 2011 out of curiosity if nothing else.

I'll be certain to remember that since it is now apparently geared more toward the horrid and less-than-acceptable Gay people and their clubs which makes it a "miss" for everybody to pack along suitable defense ammunition and self-protection gear.

Dukey1.. you assume too much. At no time did I condemn gay clubs, merely reported them as a fact.

I suggest that unless you understand the factual side of my post, you keep it shut!