Back to Blackpool

Just back from Glasgow via Blackpool, Lytham and the Ribble Valley.

The primary purpose of our mini break was to see my mother-in-law in Scotland but last Christmas my wife gave me a voucher for an overnight stay at a ‘luxury hotel and Michelin star restaurant’ in Lancashire and this week was one of the last opportunities to redeem it before it was out of date.

But first, Blackpool.

My wife had never been to Blackpool, which surprised me, so after staying at a b&b off the M6 on Wednesday night (more on that later) we followed the signs and eventually found ourselves in a line of slow-moving traffic on the famous Golden Mile.

There was rain in the air but it was half-term so the piers and promenade were awash with families and children.

The longest queue was outside the Blackpool Tower building above which rises the Tower. It’s also home to the Tower Ballroom which viewers of Strictly Come Dancing will be familiar with.

My first visit to Blackpool was in the late Seventies. My parents had moved from Scotland to Cumbria and one evening when I was home from university in Aberdeen we drove down to see the Illuminations that were devised, I believe, to attract visitors from October to December - in other words, beyond the traditional summer season.

I had never seen anything like it. Viewed after dark the Illuminations were hugely impressive.

But what left the biggest impression on me that night was the Pleasure Beach (‘the UK’s favourite amusement park’) with its Big Dipper and Grand National rollercoaster rides. Suffice to say, never again!!

Since then every visit to Blackpool has been work-related.

In the Nineties there was an event at the sprawling Norbreck Castle Hotel that I was contractually obliged to attend.

In the Noughties I went to several party conferences in Blackpool including the 2007 Conservative conference when Forest hosted a post smoking ban party with smokers crammed on to a small balcony overlooking a busy main road.

I wrote about it here (Morning after the night before) but the preceding post (Blackpool beached) is probably more pertinent:

To Blackpool for the Conservative party conference where, tomorrow night, we're hosting the second of our party conference receptions.

By all accounts, this is the last time any of the major parties will hold their conference in this part of Lancashire. The only surprise is that the Tories have come back for one last hurrah.

My first experience of Blackpool was as a wide-eyed teenager. I'll never forget my first sight of the colourful trams, the famous Illuminations, and - the most vivid memory of all - the Pleasure Beach with its terrifying rollercoasters!

Today, Blackpool has far less appeal. Much has been written about the hotels, the crumbling buildings and concrete promenade that hark back to a different age - and, sadly, it's all true. No-one in their right mind would come here for a holiday, far less a 21st century party political conference. What were the Conservatives thinking?!!

A bit harsh perhaps but since then and prior to this week I had been back to Blackpool just once.

In April 2011 I was invited to address the Clubs & Institute Union’s AGM in the Opera House. As I wrote here (The smell of freedom):

It was the first union meeting I have attended (I felt like a member of the Politburo as I sat on stage!) but I felt enormous warmth and a great sense of camararderie. Society has changed and working mens' clubs have been a victim of that change, but there is no sense in hastening their demise with unnecessary and petty legislation.

Often overlooked as an anachronism in the modern day, the working men’s clubs represented by the CIU suffered enormously from the impact of the smoking ban and other factors beyond their control and their numbers continue to fall.

It’s a world I knew very little about until I was invited to visit a working men’s club in Luton and that led to the CIU offering their support for Forest’s Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign.

They even sent a delegation to a reception we organised on the terrace of the House of Commons in July 2011.

But that’s enough about the CIU, and Blackpool. You want to hear about Lytham and the Ribble Valley, right? Watch this space.

PS. The b&b off the M6 (junction 33) was a stunning barn conversion worthy of Grand Designs.

We had planned to have dinner at a nearby pub but having booked a table in advance we got a last minute email saying the pub would be closed so our booking was cancelled.

Our b&b hosts came to the rescue, offering a smorgasbord of local meats and cheeses plus homegrown tomatoes and other vegetables grown in their garden, all beautifully presented on a large platter.

There was wine too and breakfast was an even bigger triumph.

Warmly recommended.

Below: Our b&b barn conversion bedroom