[Closed] Blackpool lights: a gaudy display on a tawdry front or a celebration of light?

No. Just no. Trust me on this.

Probably worth a visit once with your kid. Take the tram rather than walk or drive.

The promenade on the sea side of the tracks is nice, the amusements on the other side of the tracks and everything behind it doesn't look like it's been painted or updated since the 70's (including the national chains).

Don't do it in a car.

It's absolutely desperate and tawdry, they have refurbished the promenade but one block back the town is still DSS central. The lights are poxy plastic moulded things that have faded in the sunlight and the whole experience will be ruined by the need to queue all the way down the front in one monster traffic jam while armageddon rages all around you.

If you really want to see it, turn left at the end of the motorway and drive in past the airport then park in one of the reasonably OK residential streets just north of the tram terminus and walk up the prom as far as you dare.

Don't do it in a car.

Very good advice.

[s]I believe there's a night where they close the roads and it's bike only - might be a 'nicer' memory?[/s]

...in August 😳

An associate at work offers sage counsel in these matters. If they say it's good it'll be biblically crap

Allegedly Blackpool illuminations are 'great'

Judging by the queue off the mortorway last Saturday night, they are rather popular. 😕

a glittery turd.

The queue was going by 3pm on Sunday; we headed up to Abbeystead for a walk in the woods and the M6 was heavy up to the M55 junction.

shame really, i remember being taken in the 80's by mum and dad and it was great, the amusements were great and Pleasure Beach was something out of a dream.

Roll on 30 years later and Blackpool really is a shadow of it's former self. I'm sure folks using it as a hen/stag party drinkathon can't be helping

Best way is to cycle - on a weekday, never at the weekend, and NEVER on the official "Ride the Lights" night! If you want to miss most of the riff-raff and hoi-polloi, then stick to north of North Pier, or south of South Pier.

hmmm opinion seems somewhat divided.. lol.

A five year old will probably like it - you may not...

my five year old would have fun at a funeral!

It'll be an experience for both you And your 5 year old. The experiences will be different!!

Shame to hear about its current state, I used to love the annual trip with my parents up to Blackpool to go and play the latest arcade games, seeing the sit down version of Space Harrier for the first time was amazing - arcades nowadays are a bit rubbish aren't they?

The Enchanted Forest at Pitlochry is meant to be good, maybe worth a weekend trip up here...

edit: You had better be quick. http://www.enchantedforest.org.uk/

We went a couple of years ago. It was one of those things that you have to with kids cos you did it as a kids. It was a right pain in the arse, but I'm glad we did it. Bit like EuroDisney!!

Probably won't bother again though.

It was ace years back when they used to try to recreate the experience of being underneath a B-52 raid, during the Vietnam war, through the medium of fireworks. They used to launch them all off the Piers on a Friday night.

its ood for kids but if you dont know what you are doing you will be stuck in a terminal traffic jam that barely allows you to see anything

Its far better to walk it IMHO but to do that you need to knwo where to park and avoid the traffic

Its good for kids and ok to do once or twice but essentially a bit crap

But you could always leave the kids in the car in a backstreet somewhere, then go out and drink blue WKD's until you're sick, then have a fight outside a kebab house at 3 in the morning

When in Rome.....

Amateur

take your kids with you and let them fight dirty for you

I've never been to Blackpool, but it looks delightful:

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Aaaaaaaah ...memories of many happy days and nights in the Northern Riviera.....

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I remember taking a couple of my Southern Softie, Privately educated, Metropolitan London dwelling mates for a night out in Blackpool. The looks on their faces when a delightful bunch of lasses from Blackburn started demanding, rather forcefully, that they show them their man bits? Priceless 😀

I went back in 1988, fresh out of Uni with high hopes and low taste. Filled with enthusiasm I took my girlfriend from Uni with me, sort of a "woohoo let's just go, you know it [i]could[/i] be nice" MG Midget filled to the brim with clean undies and toothpaste, we set off.
Broke down on the M6, where my Father came to the rescue with a new distributor cap in hand, fitted we trundled on to then brake down again due to rusty fuel in the pump, I managed to fix that by blowing back down the pipe.. then the hood leaked in the rain.
We arrived after what seemed like 14days of hard labour to dwindling bulbs in a gale.

She didn't seem very amused at all, I think she kept the same undies on too..

All those pictures highlight the problem Blackpool faces, it relies on all those people coming here to keep afloat, but all those people keep everyone else away

I haven't been for maybe six or seven years. It's certainly an interesting spot for a night out. And to aid your recovery the next day, go and get yourself a Sunday lunch and a lap dance for a tenner.

Me and a couple of mates have joked about going recently; it'll never materialise though. I don't think it has the same draw when you're in your thirties.

We had a family outing to Blackpool a couple of weeks ago. It was ok. Although that might have been because I dropped the rest of them off outside the pleasure beach, then buggered off to Lytham for a six hour walk along the coast with the dogs, before going back to collect them. Not a pleasant coastline when you live in north west Scotland, but strolling along is strolling along and it suits me just fine. On collecting them we had to endure an hour in Pizza Hut, which is like a normal Pizza Hut but shitter. Then a drive along the promenade to get back to the main road. Apparently the illuminations were above us as we did so. Can't imagine anyone in their right minds going there for the sole purpose of looking at some light bulbs.

Can't see Blackpools finest getting baps ooot f'ladz, can you?

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a search prompted by your post bikebouy turns out that quite a few famous people come from Blackpool, including: Lennie Bennett and Syd Little!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_from_Blackpool

I've got a mate in Blackpool so I go regular and don't even notice the Tower, Beach etc as it part of my life.

I'm only 25 mins away in the car on a good day.

It is popular. Like has been said, the traffic going can be awful and I agree with what has been said above about the place. I went last weekend with my other mate, his wife and kids to the illuminations.

It really is a split between families and the above pictures of stag and hen do's. My advice :-

Don't Drive through unless it's a Weekday and not in School Holidays. I've been through in 30 mins in the past weekday night in term time.

If you want to avoid the above scene, keep the sea side of the tram tracks.

If you get a tram, it can get like a sardine tin. It was awful the other night and I asked the conductor what the passenger limit was and just replied " as many as we can get in...."

Kids should experience it but more than once it can get samey

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The real shame about Blackpool, is that for this 'stretch' of the North, it's a pretty nice plot of land.

It gets really good temps, a healthy whack of sun when surrounding ares are in cloud, has some lovely stretches to the south (St Annes, Lytham, Ansdell etc) and is a piece of cake to get to. It could, and does, accommodate bloody thousands on a lengthy seaside stretch.

Blackpool itself though, when filled with business and the such-like, is stuck in a perpetual race to the bottom. They are trapped having to charge peanuts, they get monkeys in return, and of course can't reinvest in their B&Bs/hotels to bring them up to a better standard.

I feel for the council who appear to have invested a heap-load in revised trams, new front etc and I really hope it works out.

If somehow that cycle could be broken, it would be a pretty decent place for a seaside break.

The lights are still shit though.

A few years ago I was hosting a visit of a delegation from the Swedish MOD to do some factory acceptance tests. One guy arrived a day earlier than the others and I agreed to take him out for the evening - we were staying in Parbold. At a loss I decided to drive to Blackpool - he was from Ostersund, a regional town about 2/3 up Sweden. I told him not to be offended for where I was taking him - he kept asking me why it was there - it was October and pissing rain - and why did people go there? I remembered being driven there as a 10 year old in 1975 all the way from Leeds, to turn around and go back - it was shit them....

I rarely made it as far as blackpool illuminations when I was a youngster; it was usually Morecambe; Frontier Land and Happy Mount Park - what joy!