Blackpool (a Popular Northwest Seaside Resort)
This is one of England’s most popular seaside resorts, and also one of the few cities to have a tram system, to help reduce road traffic.
If out walking, always follow the Countryside Code to keep all creatures safe. If at the coast, read about how to keep dogs safe by the seaside.
The first town in the world to have electric street lighting, today it’s a popular resort with a big rollercoaster and Big Dipper, but not really if you like quiet holidays. But it is known for its ‘Blackpool landladies’ who run hundreds of local bed-and-breakfasts. The 5pm rule years ago meant many guests were ‘booted out’ after breakfast (no matter the weather) and not allowed to return until ‘high tea’ at 5pm!
The Blackpool Tower took seven years to build, and is indeed modelled on the Eiffel Tower, and known for its ballroom-dancing competitions. The floor is designed to sway in high winds. It opened back in 1899.
Alas the city is one of the few seaside resorts that still offers donkey rides for children. Unlike abroad, donkeys here are inspected for welfare, but most parents now are choosing to move on from donkey rides.
Concerns over Blackpool Lighting Plans
Although astronomers are aware that the Blackpool lights bring in substantial tourism income, they are concerned over plans to create an artificial ‘aurora borealis’ (northern lights) by way of a 1KW laser to shine in the sky.
This would not just blight the night sky, but ruin views across the county (and also for Merseyside, Cumbria, North Wales and even Isle of Man).
The Birthplace of Sticks of Rock!
Blackpool is where rock was created, made by folding and stretching coloured toffee or sugar crystals into hard sticky sticks, which will pull all your fillings out!
Keep rock, candy floss and pebble sweets away from young children, due to choking hazards. Also read our post on keeping dogs safe by the seaside.
The upcoming sugar tax means that many brands will likely go bust (unlike soda drinks, it’s likely more complicated to make them with artificial sweeteners).
Blackpool Rock was first sold around 1902 (or created in the 1870s) when Ben Bullock began to make sticks with words like ‘Whoa Emma’ at his Yorkshire factory, after a holiday in Blackpool.
Sticks of rock fell out of favourite during the sugar-rationing of World War II, and men were not around to do the heavy lifting of the sugar mix.
Typical ingredients of a modern stick of rock are refined sugar, glucose syrup, flavours and the colours E153, E100, E122 and E129 (the two red ones are linked to hyperactivity in children).
