Blackpool History, Mystery, Heritage and Hauntings

You probably thought my goodness what a title ! I will do my level best to make the above make sense in this blog.. For many years I have taken photographs of the area where I live  ( Blackpool, including the Fylde & Wyre of course ) heritage and history, and at times I have captured oddities, ghosts? Perhaps who knows - Just love a good old church or vintage building.  With regards to the photography side I think in all the years  taking shots, just two have been sold for £. I am not in this for the money ( if I was I would be doing weddings every weekend ) Twitter and facebook are great for finding new friends with similar interests, but alas that also brings out the idiots*, bullies and *I know better than thou people*. Have I had encounters with people like that, yes sad to say, so blocking was the order of the day, just no need in this day and age, you can propably name a few now ! The only person  that you need to please is yourself, if others like and pos

Scrooges Closed !!!!  So on social media the lovely owners posted the following 22.5.2020 The rumours are true... It is with a VERY heavy heart 💔 that we have to announce, that the award winning Scrooges Bar will not open its friendly doors again 😔 . The council have been wanting Scrooges Bar, Reform Health Club and several other land & properties we own in the town centre for redevelopment for some time now.... and a deal has finally been done.. It is always hard to walk away from a hugely successful business, but even harder to walk away from a way of life and probably losing contact with some of THE SOUNDEST CUSTOMERS any bar could ask for ❤ . Scrooges will miss you all loads. Xxx The worst thing for us is that due to Covid, we don’t get to have one last party. You don’t get to have one last mental sesh with all your mates. There will be no photographs on socials of an amazing sending off party... and that is always gonna be sad for us

You can come in , and out and in and out , it's like the hokey cokey ! What is a lockdown photographer to do ... In my case I have been sorting out my slides, photo's and postcards , I also thought I had about or around 15, 000 saved....BIG no ! it's now closer to 93,000 ! That was a shock and a new hard drive and more backups were done in the most quick of manners. I had great fun looking back on what I actually had/have some published and some have yet to see the light of day ... below is one I had written about before for a now out of print magazine and redone for the E-Zine OLM  Made me think about the things I do in my spare time and what photos am I actually aiming for in the long run?  Do I want to appear on the weather channels - nice - but folks you just get the kudos and no pay! The 'nationals' are a better bet, but again the shots used on a regular basis are quite niche, say we both took one of Blackpool Tower, one was a drone

Well it seems that a deal has been done with regards to the land that is Central Car park... the council has agreed to lease the land for 250 years to Nikal Ltd and Media Invest Entertainment who are behind the hi-tech Chariot of the Gods themed flying theatre attraction. 250 years... WOW  do the council know something we do not ! The nine year scheme is set to transform the former Central Station site close to the Promenade in a series of four phases which will create around 1,000 jobs and aims to attract 600,000 new visitors to the resort. However ! The deal means initial development works on the 17 acre plot can get under way. But plans for the first development on the site, a multi-storey car park to replace the parking currently occupying most of the site, is not likely to begin this year. A hybrid outline and part detailed planning application for the car park is set to be submitted late 2020.The man behind the project is Austrian pop music mogul Norbert

Let us explore the history of Blackpool's Palatine Buildings! A prime corner site on Blackpool’s Central Promenade is undergoing a complete reconstruction to create the resort’s first five star hotel and a museum detailing Blackpool’s rich history.   1866 - Palatine Buildings, Palatine Hotel, and The Palatine Buildings were constructed onthe Promenade this year, just to the south of the Royal Hotel, and in 1879, the 120-bed Palatine Hotel wasbuilt next door, on the corner with Bank Hey Street. Queens Terrace – a row of houses built in 1848 – was demolished to make way. The Palatine had its own ballroom, lounge bar, new lounge, and dining saloon. For a short time, it was known as the Palatine Family and Commercial Hotel, but by 1883, had reverted to its shorter name. Queen’s Terrace and the Royal Hotel stables block had stood on the site previously.                                                           merge image by Andrew Ayre By the 1940s, th