Blackpool

:This article is about the town in England. For other uses of the name, see Blackpool (disambiguation).

Tourism

Blackpool is heavily dependent on tourism. Major attractions include:

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• The three piers: the North (built in 1863), Central (1868) and South (1893).
• Blackpool Tower, built in May 1894, is a 518-foot-tall copy of the Eiffel Tower. It was painted gold for its centenary.
• The Blackpool Pleasure Beach amusement park, near to the South Pier.

In what is often regarded as its heyday (1900-1960), Blackpool heaved as the factory workers of northern England took their annual holidays there en masse. Any photograph from that era shows large crowds on the beach and promenade. Blackpool was also a preferred destination of visitors from Glasgow and remains so to this day. The town still has more hotel beds than the whole of Portugal. The town went into decline when cheap air travel arrived in the 1960s and the same workers decamped to the Mediterranean coast resorts due to competitive prices and the more reliably favourable weather. Today, many visitors stay for the weekend rather than for a week at a time. Blackpool is continually striving to improve its position within today's tourist industry. One controversial proposal, which has the involvement of the local council, is to transform Blackpool into a casino resort along the lines of Las Vegas and Atlantic City. This plan is dependent on the liberalisation of Britain's gambling laws.

Related Topics:
Glasgow - Portugal - Las Vegas - Atlantic City

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A controversial aspect of Blackpool's night-life is its hen and stag parties. Brides or bridegrooms-to-be respectively, along with their friends, often dressed alike in absurd or risqué attire, roam the town's many bars and clubs getting increasingly drunk. Their rowdy behaviour is claimed to discourage family visitors and has led to complaints from hotel and guest house owners keen to attract a more upmarket clientele.

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Blackpool has gained renown as a lesbian and gay destination, with clubs such as the Flamingo and Mardi Gras, the Flying Handbag pub, and many gay-only hotels and guest-houses. These tend to be inland, nearer to the North station than the sea front.

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Blackpool remains a major summer entertainment venue, specialising in variety shows featuring entertainers such as Ken Dodd. Outside the main holiday season, Blackpool's Winter Gardens routinely hosts major political conferences, ranging from that of the Labour Party with tens of thousands of delegates and visitors, to substantially smaller gatherings such as the TUC or NUS conferences. Blackpool Illuminations in September and October, consisting of a series of lighted displays and collages arranged along the entire length of the sea front (11 km/7 miles), attract many visitors at a time when other resorts' holiday seasons have ended.

Related Topics:
Ken Dodd - Labour Party - TUC - NUS - Blackpool Illuminations

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