We look back this time to 1985 for this article about Blackpool's family-owned fairground.
We'll start with a pretty girl on the Dodgems. This was a particularly hard ride to photograph because it was a large covered rink and was therefore quite dark inside, yet with (by comparison) blinding light coming through the side unglassed windows which affected the light meter of any automatic point and click camera.
The Tidal Wave was originally located on the south side of Watson Road. A fabulous ride particularly if you got away from the middle of the swing boat.
The Water Chute had gone up in the north east corner of the park, next to the Funhouse. It opened in 1980 but had previously operated at Manchester's Belle Vue park from 1957 to 1979, the last year being operated as a concession.
Previously on this site had been a winding waterway that was used by self-drive little "putt-putt" petrol-driven boats that in turn had, in days gone by, operated on the parks' large lake before the Log Flume was built there. The ride was called "Speedboats" but the boats had no chance of living up to that name...
Another view of the Water Chute. It was renamed Vikingar in 2000 in keeping with the new Viking-themed ride Valhalla that was opened that year following the clearance of the site of the Funhouse after the fire that had destroyed it in 1991. Vikingar closed in 2004.
The Wild Mouse was opened in 1958 and was, I think, one of only four such rides in the world when it closed in 2017.
The Grand National double roller coaster dates from 1936 and is still from my point of view the best of all rides ever existing on the Pleasure Beach. Apart from the station, hill lift and final length of track back to the station, it is hidden from view from within the park so this was taken from Bond Street which runs around the back of the park.
The Roller Coaster (does what it says on the tin) is a rather more gentle woodie coaster on the southern half of the park, with a station right against Watson Road. It was built in 1933 and used the hill lift from the earlier Velvet Coaster of 1909. It was renamed the Nickelodeon Streak in 2011 (doesn't really do what it says on the tin, if indeed the tin makes any sense at all...). As far as I know (I've not been on the park since admission charges came in) you are not instructed to undress and streak your way around the track...
The Monster! was a sleek, black, version of the old Octopus ride. It replaced the 1935 Turtle Chase in 1968, which was relocated to the south side of the park and Monster! was in turn replaced by the Ice Blast in 1995.
The Pleasure Beach Express pulls out of the station, drawn by locomotive Princess Royal in distinctive maroon livery.
In this second shot, loco Mary Louise is clearly modelled on the Flying Scotsman even down to the its designated number: 4472, sits at the platform. On a sunny day the Pleasure Beach Express would always be full to capacity. It was unchallenging even to grandparents and offered some unique views of the south side of the park, particularly if crossings with other rides occurred when the rides coincided with each other.
We caught sight of the trampolines in a previous article, but by 1985 most of the pits had been converted to ball ponds with the name Bubble Bounce displayed on the ticket box.
A temporary fairground ride it may have been, but this magnificent carousel of gallopers with its gold embellished lion heads on the top drew both riders and spectators alike.
My era. We did Blackpool every year in the 1980s. Visited last week and the Pleasure Beach looks so tired and unkempt now.
ReplyDeleteI haven't visited the Pleasure Beach in over a decade. I always thought the park was a bit tired and shabby, but I loved that about it—I thought it was charming. There was a lot of whimsy to the place that started disappearing once the gaudy Nickelodeon sponsor came to be.
DeleteThe only way I see the park now is through videos on YouTube, and from what I've seen, they've laid grey flagstones and put in new railings (at least around the Icon area). I was quite disheartened to see it this way. The charm of the Pleasure Beach seems to be fading, just like the rest of Blackpool. I'm very thankful for these old photos.
All the best.
I loved it as a 80s child. Back then it stayed open late & lit up like magic with the nightlife. You'd switched to playing the stalls with adults it felt so grown up & special. We would leave late buying some rock & those red dummies for driving through the lights. I was only able to take my own a couple times before they enforced full entry fee. I think before that we arrived still disappointed to find it was no longer a free access place but least it could be accessed cheap & we could just buy individual tickets to use on whatever rides needed ( hated there was a big ugly gate there though still) but trying to charge us full fair each when me & the Nan & littlest won't use much was the end of line. We switched to just using the pier rides after that. My kids are grown now & noticed last year even pier rides are rip off now. They probably got over run with people no longer paying to go PB. I knew making it pay to enter would be its decline & now Blackpool has become a mess such a shame. I feel sad this country will never be what was in the 80s
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