BLACKPOOL

Blackpool North station	A multistorey car park cunningly disguised as a factory	Brutalist architecture at it's worst near Blackpool North Station. The person that designed this building obviously thought there was still a tax on windows	A delightful looking pub	North Pier, genteel and relaxing compared to it's rowdier rivals
Part of the massive Winter Gardens complex	This view needs no introduction		Another side of the Winter Gardens	This huge and somewhat 'interesting' structure is right on the seafront. To the left is the chip shop where I had lunch
	Part of the infamous 'Golden Mile'	The huge Coral Island amusement arcade, definitely the biggest one I've seen	Mr T's amusements. The A shaped arches are fantastically tacky	Blackpool Police Station. Several other towns in Lancashire have a Police Station identical to this one and they all blend in with the surroundings as well as this one does.
A classic open top tram	Blackpool's Central Pier. The structure at the pier entrance very much reminds me of the Clarence Pier Pavillion in Southsea	Central Pier. The ferris wheel is a fairly new addition although I didn't fancy going up there as it was pretty windy!	Louis Tussaud's Waxworks	Central Pier
The Golden Arches on the Golden Mile	Central Pier. These amusements featured a loud bloke doing horse racing but no bingo :(	All the fun of the fair	Blackpool viewed from Central Pier	Central Pier. Beware the sideshows here, they try and drag you in to fleece you!
North Pier viewed from Central Pier. You can just about see the hills of the Lake District in the distance	View from Central Pier	Blackpool viewed from Central Pier	Blackpool viewed from Central Pier	Central Pier
Blackpool viewed from Central Pier, this shot is dominated by the huge Pleasure Beach roller coaster	Blackpool viewed from Central Pier	Blackpool viewed from Central Pier	Central Pier	The promenade
A delightfully salubrious looking pub	Central Pier again	Central Pier	The Happy Scots Karaoke Bar (closed). The guy that runs it is defying the smoking ban apparantly!	The Happy Scots Karaoke Bar (closed).
Promenade. The Golden Mile is mainly comprised of hotels and guest houses between the Central and South piers	Promenade	The Golden Arches (again)	Blackpool's South Pi - the pier for the mathematically inclined.	Another delightful looking pub
Wow, such a gaudy facade!	A huge indoor water park for the kids as well as a casino (not for the kids)	Blackpool Pleasure Beach	The Casino building has never actually been a Casino, however it is a fantastic example of thirties Art Deco architecture and has recently been restored.	The Big One. There is no way I'm going on that! I wanted to go on some of the traditional wooden roller coasters but they only sold tickets in bunches of £25 at a time, what a con! So much for free entry. I voted with my feet.
Is it a sculpture or the remains of a rocket that's crash landed? The promenade near the Pleasure Beach is being done up to make it more upmarket.	More art	The long and winding road	Britain's tallest roller coaster, the Pepsi Max Big One. Going down wouldn't be so bad, the thing I hate with those rides is going up and getting higher and higher and dreading the drop...	The 'Casino'
Pleasure Beach	A selection of trams	Open top tram although not in the traditional green and cream livery	More trams	The Pleasure Beach
Spot the tacky model of Thunderbird 3, crafted from a fairly liquid bottle and sticky back plastic	A ride on a classic open top tram. Excuse the picture quality of the next few images, they're screen grabbed from my video camera.	Pat's Bingo
Fantastically zany roofed Tourist office	Top of the tower	North Pier. There is nobody on the beach, partly due to the major earthworks taking place and partly due to the weather. It wasn't particuarly cold but was was quite windy.	Bin and gone	Classic electric traction
	Look at the state of the beach! I never did find out what they are doing	North Pier. No tacky 'Regulation Darts' or amusement arcades here, just tram lines with no tram and a carousel. This pier costs 50p to go on but it's worth it as it aims to recreate the Victorian heyday of the pier. Plus your 50p gets you 2 free rides on the carousel or half price refreshments.	The North Pier theatre is looking a bit sorry for itself	View from North Pier.
View from North Pier.	View from North Pier.	View from North Pier.	The carousel, North Pier. As it was free, I had to have a go! I haven't been on one of these for years but lots of other 'adults' were also reliving their childhood!	Looking North from near North Pier
Skip this one	The Funny Girls drag/cabaret venue. Presumably this used to be an Odeon or other cinema of some kind.	Funny Girls	Oh no, it's the return of the car park!	Paisley pattern illuminations, apparantly designed by Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen.
Seaside rock!	Harry Ramsden's...Blackpool has to be the king of Fish & Chips	Boots with a futuristic (in the 70s) lift shaft	Pricebuster, a cross beteen a cheap shop and an indoor market. This place has been there for at least 20 years now but it was originally a Woolworths	Make yourself welcome...this is part of the Palace Discothèque complex
The Palace Discothèque	The Golden Mile, viewed from the footbridge by the Palace Discothèque complex	Coral Island. Every entrance to this huge place is different. Mind you, a lot of their amusement machines seemed to be broken when I went in.	The Palace Discothèque complex. It is difficult to pigeonhole this architectually, it's too decorative to be truly Brutalist but it's very sixties	"The World Famous Palace Discothèque" complex. The Palace Discothèque is so famous that a Google search reveals very little about it
The promenade	The Tower. They charge £15 to go up it these days which includes 'fabulous' fun for all the family, such as a circus and kid's playground. Personally I'd rather pay half the price and just go up the tower.	Another shot showing the earthworks taking place	The Golden Mile	Central Pier
Mr T's fabulously tacky looking amusements	Mis-shapes	Is it a square? No, it doesn't have any corners. Is it a circle? No, it has straight edges. The Palace Discothèque complex was sent to frustrate geometry teachers all over the world	I think the Palace Discothèque was so famous that it had to close	Peeling concrete @ The Palace
Peeling concrete	The Palace Discothèque complex. The towers above the stairs are specially designed for pigeons and seagulls to roost in so that anyone passing underneath gets attacked	Pricebusters	Through the um...squircle shaped window	Funky
Blackpool at it's best	Coral Island, home to a great Prize Bingo game where I whiled away an hour or two	A man dressed as a statue and the Blackpool Towers needs a new sign reading "The Blackpool Tower, Circus, Kiddies Adventure Playground Etc"	BHS	Although blue and yellow were very popular colours in the early sixties, Blackpool seems to have the highest concentration of buildings exhibiting this colour scheme outside Portsmouth
What a great looking pub	The Golden Mile in all its glory	Golden Mile	The promenade	The Syndicate, apparantly Britain's largest nightclub.
Streets to the East of Blackpool	The Winter Gardens	Fifties retail architecture	North Pier	A carnival atmosphere was gathering as afternoon gave way to evening as Blackpool was that night hosting a leg of the World Firework Championships
North Pier, where all the fireworks were being set off from				The illuminations are switched on.
		This specially illuminated tram was offering a guided tour of the illuminations
Part of the illumiations has a Dr Who theme, obviously sponsored by the nearby Dr Who exhibition	Central Pier Ferris wheel
				There were loads of these guys selling glowsticks
		The Pump & Truncheon, recently re-opened and about the only 'proper' pub in Blackpool

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