Blackpool - A Short History Of Tourism In The Resort

Blackpool is a holiday resort on the Lancashire coast in the North West of England. Attracting some ten million visitors a year, the town is the most popular coastal resort in Europe. Historically, Blackpool owes much its success to its proximity to the industrial towns of Lancashire with their large urban populations. Lancashire, and in particular Manchester, was the centre of the industrial revolution which took place in Britain during the nineteenth century. At this time Manchester was an extremely important manufacturing city; it was the focal point of the cotton trade being surrounded by mill towns such as Bolton, Bury, Rochdale, and Oldham with their spinning and weaving industries. Hundreds of thousands of people flocked from the countryside and from further afield such as Ireland to work in these factories and mills, and the population of Manchester and the nearby mill towns expanded rapidly. These developments took place around fifty or so miles from Blackpool – if only people could get there.
For hundreds of years, Blackpool was little more than a quiet seaside village. It was hard to reach being surrounded by bogs and forests. It wasn’t until 1781 that the first road was built into the town, which enabled people to arrive by stagecoach. Even then the resort wasn’t easily accessible because the journey was uncomfortable and time consuming: it could take a whole day to travel from Manchester and two days from Yorkshire. It should be noted as well that there was very little in terms of recreational facilities for visitors in Blackpool at this time. There was a short narrow grass promenade, a theatre, a bowling green and an area for archery. The main attraction was the sea shore: people walked or rode along the sands and swam in the sea. They even drank the seawater which apparently was a highly fashionable activity in those days.
What really changed everything was the arrival of railway in the Blackpool area. In 1840 a railway was constructed with the original objective of transporting passengers to Fleetwood a town lying to the North of Blackpool. Sir Peter Hesketh, the founder of Fleetwood proposed to build a seaport and holiday resort on his land there. The development of Fleetwood never came to full fruition, however, and the railway ran into financial difficulties. It was only rescued by passengers from the Lancashire mill towns, many of whom went on from Poulton station to Blackpool travelling by horse drawn forms of transport such as wagons. In 1846 a railway station was constructed in Blackpool itself enabling visitors to come directly into the resort. It was now fairly cheap and easy to get to Blackpool and people began arriving in ever increasing and unexpected numbers. They came not only from Lancashire but from all over the North of England. In 1863 another railway station was built in the centre of Blackpool to help cope with the thousands of people who wanted to get to the resort.
The huge numbers of people now coming to Blackpool provided the impetus for local business people and the municipal authorities to improve recreational facilities. In the next forty years Blackpool was transformed. Three piers were opened; Blackpool Tower was constructed, the Winter Gardens and Opera House were built, the Blackpool Illuminations began, the development of the Golden Mile was initiated, and ambitious plans were put in place to create a large amusement park – which would eventually become Blackpool Pleasure Beach, now the most popular holiday attraction in Britain.
The infrastructure of the town was vastly improved. A gasworks was built with gas street lighting, a water company was formed and a piped water supply was provided, electric street lighting was introduced, and work began on the tramway system. Some idea of the impact of tourism on the resort can be gauged from the fact that in the late nineteenth century Blackpool could accommodate around a quarter of a million visitors – over seven times the permanent population of 35,000 people. The success continued into the following century, with visitors staying in ever increasing numbers. At its peak, Blackpool was receiving around 19 million holiday makers a year – nearly half the population of England. Photographs of Blackpool in the period after the Second World War vividly illustrate the popularity of the resort, showing the entire length of the Promenade and beach crowded with people
In the early 1960’s Blackpool went into decline, as did all British holiday resorts. Just as cheap rail travel brought the crowds to Blackpool in its heyday so cheap air flights took them to the sunny beaches of the Mediterranean coast and their more dependable weather. However decline is a relative concept. Blackpool still attracts around ten million people every year and many supposedly flourishing resorts would consider themselves fortunate to have such large numbers of visitors.
George Edmunds is involved in the Blackpool tourist industry, being the manager of Blackpool Holiday Flats. He also takes a keen interest in local history.
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