Yahoo News After last year's washout of sewage and rain, Blackpool businesses are banking on a bumper summer
Blackpool has weathered many a storm. No matter what the world throws at it, many of the resort's business say they can always bank on one thing: The Scots.
It's a tradition that dates back as far as the 19th Century. Back then, Glasgow Fair Fortnight used to be a popular trip for people living across the border.
Initially a week-long holiday, factories and shipyards would shut all over Glasgow. Workers would enjoy some recreational time, usually on the Ayrshire coast.
Then in the 1840s, the spread of the railways put Blackpool within easy reach and a love affair was born. Many families still make the trip, and during school holidays, the spread of accents mean it'd often be easy to mistake the Promenade for the banks of the Clyde.
But not this year.
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Carol Hancox has run The Potter-inn on Bond Street for over 20 years. As a family-run café, she relies on trade from holidaymakers who flock in for something to eat, before making their way to the top attractions nearby, including the Pleasure Beach and Sandcastle Waterpark. Now though, businesses like Carol's fear they can't even rely on that.
She said: "I've never known it this quiet, in May. I have never known it this quiet - it's half-term! Kids are off school and look how busy I am. This is half-term and if this is what the season's going to be like, I am dreading it. I might not survive.
"When everybody had the same school holidays, it was really busy. Now schools have changed.
"My daughter's school is off for two weeks, at Easter they were off for one, whereas my friend down the road, they were off for two at Easter and only one now."
Looking at the numbers, the seaside resort is a veritable boomtown. Figures from the council showed 2023 was a bumper year in terms of numbers - it is now attracting 20 million annual visitors, with events such as Christmas by the Sea and the extended Illuminations season playing a huge part.
Still, many traders say they found last summer tough - some describing it as 'the worst there's ever been'. Most weekends in May, June and July were hit my miserable bouts of rain and wind.
Sewage leaks on the Fylde Coast also drew national attention. In June 2023, a ruptured pipe during hazardous stormy weather saw the system overwhelmed - and sewage flowed into the sea, leaving beaches unsafe for swimming.
Speaking on Radio 4 at the time, Blackpool Council leader Lynn Williams said: "People are fed up with this but this has to be down to the government and Environment Agency. They have to hold water companies and United Utilities to account.
“There needs to be legally bounded targets. The advisory notice is not to go into the sea but the beaches are not impacted. Please do come, just don't have a paddle right now."
This year, it's probably fair to say any malaise is not down to a lack of effort from the Council. Each year, the authority invests more than £2m in destination marketing - and an extended winter season, they say, has seen people flood to the seaside at a time when most other similar destinations are closed.
The resort's biggest names, the likes of Merlin and the Pleasure Beach, are focussed on collaboration, which many believe is driving the town forward. The vehicle for this is the Tourism BID (business improvement district) formed in July 2021 out of a need to recover from the impact of the Covid pandemic.
To combat this, Blackpool Council and central government have invested millions into regeneration projects for the town, building a new Holiday Inn hotel, a £13 million Showtown museum and £21 million Backlot Cinema complex.
But while grateful for investment, some business owners say this is at odds with what they see on the street. People are struggling. 32.9% of children are living in poverty in the town, reams and reams of shops have been boarded up for years and people are feeling left behind.
On a Thursday afternoon in May half-term, the rain had relented. But some of these streets looked unusually quiet. Gyspy Petrulengro is a clairvoyant operating on Bank Hey Street. She says traffic has been slow recently and if nothing changes, her 40-year-old business is at risk.
The clairvoyant told LancsLive investment needs to head towards the people who call the seaside resort home, as well as those who spend a week on the beach.
"There's too many homeless people on the streets," she said. "People come to me every year and every time they've come this year, they've said to me 'it's the last year. We're not coming anymore'. It's losing its family image."
Petrulengro says the town has changed and something needs to be done. "For the past few years, Blackpool is not how it used to be," she added.
"I get regulars and they come to me year after year after year and they're saying the same thing to me. That's it, we're not coming back to Blackpool.
"The streets smell and the pavements, well you can see for yourself, they never clean them. It won't be long before it's finished completely. I know from year after year, by now it should be booming - it's nearly June."
Next door is Sarah, who runs two stands selling ice-cream and Blackpool rock, as well as gifts and souvenirs for holidaymakers. She says a phone box opposite the stalls are having a detrimental impact on business, as they're visibly defaced.
Sarah also spoke of another eyesore nearby. Poundstretcher is shut and boarded-up over the road, and she says intervention and money needs to be spent there and not "on the front". She added: "It's just a joke and it's hard enough in this present climate, things are tough.
"Then to come down to this and you're on pins for what's going to happen, there might be fighting or this, that and the other."
Another impact on the seaside town is the unreliability of an English summer. Last year, it was the 11th wettest since 1836 and the sixth wettest March and July - something that will have a huge impact on a town that relies on its seaside charm.
Carol from the Potter Inn explained: "The thing is, when it's raining then people will go into places, The Tower and Sandcastle, things like that. I do think it has a detrimental impact on people visiting Blackpool.
"You can get up and go, 'let's go out for a day trip!' Then go, 'oh we won't bother, it's raining' - so they're not going to come.
"But our weather here, I don't think it's the same as the rest of the North West. It does have a detrimental effect on people going out, spending, day trips. I see them now and they have lunch bags with them, rather than coming out and having something to eat."
Talking about last year and how a summer of almost relentless rain impacted Carol, she said a decision to extend Blackpool Illumination season over the winter came as a godsend.
"[Rain was a problem], but luckily in July and August I picked up a lot of business from school trips. Kids were going to the Pleasure Beach and all the coach drivers came in here, that was like three or four days a week.
"It made a big difference. The illuminations are good for us, they've kept them on until January the last two years - it has made a difference during the winter and the weekends."
Jim Mitchell has worked at Greasy Joe's Burger Bar, a small kiosk selling hot dogs, cheeseburgers and doughnuts on South Promenade for over 20 years. He says in 2021, the year after the coronavirus pandemic took a hold, trade was "very good" but has since dipped again.
Jim says the miserable forecast is a worry for the business. He said: "It's all about the weather. It's all about the weather forecast, not the weather. Last week it said thunderstorms, no one was here." Reflecting on the May half-term and it's uncharacteristic quietness, he said: "It's the weather as well isn't it?
"Everyone's skint as well. People aren't going to Blackpool, or anywhere else. They're having picnics as well."
A Blackpool Council spokesperson said: "Our multi-million regeneration projects currently underway across Blackpool show just how committed we are to making Blackpool better for everyone. The benefits of this huge scale investment are clear to see and our town is currently seeing some exciting changes, including new places to shop and eat, new housing, better public transport and more modern, greener streets.
"We are creating a more attractive place to live, with a thriving economy, leading to more jobs for local people and environment benefits such as energy efficient housing and new public open spaces. The new £90m investment from Homes England’s Brownfield Infrastructure Land Fund will be used over the coming years to catalyse vital regeneration projects in some of the most deprived areas of inner Blackpool.
"Over the coming months, we will be undertaking an extensive programme of community engagement and consultation with residents, outlining the extent of the proposed work including details of a potential first phase.
"Each year, we invest more than £2m in destination marketing and free events such as the Air Show Weekend, Switch-On, World Fireworks, the Illuminations and Lightpool Festival all of which give a direct benefit to local businesses across the borough.
"Blackpool has been vibrant over the half-term – not least because we have seen more than 25,000 visitors from across the world either watching or taking part in the international dance festival at the Winter Gardens – an event that benefits the entire tourism economy in Blackpool, many of which are small businesses.
"The two-month extension of the Illuminations season coupled with the introduction of the hugely successful Christmas By The Sea event has extended Blackpool’s season into the winter months, bringing in an estimated six million visitors at a time of year when most seaside resorts are closed.
"The ongoing investment in what is one of the biggest programmes of free entertainment in the UK, coupled with the introduction of new attractions such as the Holiday Inn, Backlot Cinema and Showtown are among the many reasons why Blackpool remains the UK’s most popular seaside resort with more than 20 million visitors a year."
