Snaps from the North

Blackpool is brash, Blackpool is unsophisticated, Blackpool has no pretensions.

Blackpool sits on the North-West coast of England about 60 miles from where I live. Like some of the other seaside towns in this years PAW it’s in a slow decline as holidaymakers go elsewhere, to places where the weather can be guaranteed and the sea isn’t the colour of milky tea. Blackpool is unashamedly working class. There may be a Starbucks but I haven’t seen it. McDonalds and fish and chips, that’s quite a different story.

No one goes to Blackpool for the culture, to steal someone else’s line, that would be like to to Nepal for the night life. Blackpool is about fun, or rather that sort of fun that traditionally involves drinking to excess and a high fat/carbohydrate diet with an added dose of sugar thrown into the mix.

And yet for all that I like Blackpool. As I said earlier it has no pretensions, what you see is most defiantly what you get!

And so onto the photographs…

Main

Blackpool has a very large amusement park, or ‘Pleasure Beach’ in Blackpool-speak. This sits towards the southern end of the resort and attracts large numbers of thrill seekers searching out the latest rides. Of course not everyone comes to scare themselves witless, some come for the camel racing.

M8, 35mm ASPH Summicron

Alternatives

Blackpool has three piers, and unlike those in some other seaside resorts they’ve been kept in good condition and are well used. The food on them may not be sophisticated, but you know exactly what you’re getting.

M8, 35mm ASPH Summicron

As well as a few white knuckle rides the piers also have some more traditional and sedate methods of parting punters from their well earned money.

M8, 35mm ASPH Summicron

Noted for its hospitality the town likes to welcome people from all over the world, including those with whom we are said to have a special relationship.

M8, 24mm Elmarit

Occasionally people have the foresight to combine two icons in one shirt design. Two kings for the price of one perhaps?

M8, 35mm ASPH Summicron

And finally, England recently introduced a law banning smoking in the workplace. This now means that pubs are no longer thick with cigarette smoke, it does however mean that the smokers, like naughty children, have to go outside if they want a smoke.

Panasonic LX2