Blackpool - the First Encounter
After so many years living in the North West, we finally decided to visit the marvel of British seaside resorts. We parked our car a few minutes walk from the town centre, in the vicinity of Hornby Road, to explore it from the 'backyard'.
It looked promising. The streets are filled with semidetached villas which normally would be residential; in Blackpool, many of them are small hotels or Bed & Breakfasts.
Our first good impression turned a bit sour when we stepped into Central Drive, the main road leading to the town attractions, near the Casino at Coral Island.
The Cigarette Waste Art Gallery - something to make your jaw dropped. The very thought of an invention of such an idea! What a bafflement. The whole vicinity is run down, many businesses closed. Suppose, the cigarettes' ends are dropped nearby, quickly collected and made into an art. The pavements were quite clean.
Few steps away we already could see the famous landmark, the Blackpool Tower; passing by the Smuggler's Rest hotel, a few Fish and Chips, obligatory, and some merry mural - our hopes we somewhat restored.
In recent decades, since the cheap flights to Spain had entered the market, domestic seaside towns suffered a considerable downgrade. Blackpool, being in the North, with so many deprived areas around, was hit twice as much.
The barren landscape of brick and concrete was striking. Not a single flower bed, a hanging basket, a small tree to be seen around the central shopping area. A sign of low municipal budget suffering deep cuts since 2010, putting public services under pressure.
The Blackpool Tower is a big complex of entertainment venues serving all tastes, based in the red brick square building that contains the entrance to the tower itself. The Blackpool Tower Dungeon promises to take you on a journey to the murky past with special effects, live shows, a meet with Pendle witches and diabolical ride.
If you'd like an old-good-fashion dancing experience in a lavish setting, the Blackpool Tower Ballroom is the place, before having an afternoon tea in style. Some of the episodes of Strictly Come Dancing are filmed here.
This magnificent piece of Victorian engineering, celebrating 125th anniversary in 2019, had one flaw when it first opened. Ships were sailed astray, mistaking it for a lighthouse. One wreckage can still be seen at low tide up north, in Little Bispham, and the ship's bell hangs in St Andrews Church in nearby Cleveleys.
At the top of the tower is the observation deck with a glass floor - you look through from 380 ft (120 m) right below. Not this time, thank you.
There are many more attractions in and around the tower but we had to move on - the weather was for the outdoors. So we just looked at the Winter Gardens, containing the famous Opera House, one of the biggest in the UK. Political parties conferences used to take place there, giving a helping hand to the out-of-season businesses; apparently not anymore. Too bad. For the politicians.
Regular shows and performances are still played in Winter Gardens and another fine structure of the Grand Theatre, in a great variety to choose from. The most popular must have been a resident artist, comedian, Ken Dodd. We've heard such stories about his famous three-hours shows. People from the top world of celebrities pop in as well, take Britney Spears, for example.
If Britney would merge into the customers crowd in the nearby Poundland wearing just a t-shirt and jeans, she would look like a local girl, for sure, non-recognizable.
Nearby the Grand Theatre, on Corporation Street, the pub which name intrigues and invites. We have encountered the pub's name before, having friends in Spanish Costa del Sol, who had promised to take us to their local Scruffy Murphys upon our visit and promised to have an amazing time.
Searching down origins of the prankish name, to Ireland of course, it appears to be a loose name of pubs all over the world, wanting to relate to the antics of Irish tradition. There perhaps was an old pub in Dublin run by some Patrick Murphy, whose nickname was Scruffy. No more time for in-depth research, that will do.
Fancy street lighting on Birley Street got us into consternation. So, cleary there is money for extensive public work, we thought. This project must have cost a fortune.
Six huge, steel, semicircular structures over a span of few yards on an utterly uninteresting street with shabby and scrappy buildings, few cafes, a bank, a toy shop, and grocery stores.
You would expect it to be a prime street to walk around, between continental style beer gardens, entertainment venues, casinos perhaps, elegant restaurants. No, it is not. What you've got is the Rose and Crown (below, lower right); look at its facade - it is one of the best on this street! The Fish and Chips from the North Pier would look better.
Moreover, again - not a single green twig, not a single flower or a plant stem, not to mention a proper hedge or small tree - within sight. You would expect a seaside resort to be more pleasing, comforting, relaxing.
A bitter taste of wasted money. Lack of proportion, of logic and reason, of knowledge - of the town planners. The street leads to another miserable barren plaza in front of the Opera House and St. John's, everything paved inside-out, a dreary and desolate place, as we found out later walking the Google Maps spy.
Poor people of Blackpool - having to live with someone's mad ideas, someone who is determined to make it as grotesque and doleful as it possibly could be. A mock site.
Disappointed we were not yet, as ahead of us was the main dish of Blackpool tourist attractions, the North Pier and the Promenade.
This is in another 'post story': Blackpool - the Fun in the Sun (Part Two)
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Sources:
visitblackpool.com
theblackpooltower.com
ft.com/blackpool
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackpool
tripadvisor.co.uk/Tourism-Blackpool
thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/new-owners-pub-prefer-original-name