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The Fylde - Around Blackpool
This page is a personal view of the areas around Blackpool, on the West of the Fylde plain. Blackpool is Europe's largest seaside resort, and has more beds than Portugal.
Golden Mile The Golden Mile and Tower	The Golden Mile is the heart of Blackpool. A mixture of circus and Las Vegas, it is a coastal strip of slot machines, amusements, freak shows, novelties, gaming and fast food. The name is said to have several origins. The nicest is based on the golden sands that lay just across the promenade. More likely the name arose from the facade of the buildings and the slot machines in them, glistening with the flash of chrome, shiny brass, copper and nickel coins, giving the sense of a mile of flashing gold. It is equally probable that the name was coined by the showmen and entrepreneurs who made their fortunes from the strip. It was their "golden mile". To-day it remains a larger than life experience which you will either love or hate. The best video games, the most up to date amusements and the latest fads and crazes will always be quick to appear in this strip where a the proverbial fool should have considered himself lucky to have held onto his money for so long already.
The Piers Central Pier	There are three piers in Blackpool, logically named North, Central and South. In the old days, the area from North Shore down to North Pier was considered the posh end of town (and still is, in a relative sort of way) From North to Central Pier things deteriorated a bit, and this is where the middle income families would holiday. From Central to South, and around the Foxhall district, The 1950's equivalent of "Essex Man", beloved of politicians might have been most at home, and beyond South Pier to the end of town the knotted hankies held sway. So the piers formed (or reflected) the physical manifestation of the social class structure of Blackpool's visitors in the early part of the century. But we fickle humans become more sophisticated in our tastes and piers are expensive things to run. They grew less popular, and produced less revenue. This led to quite significant decline. They still have Summer Variety Shows and much of what you would expect to find, but if you look closely, you will see the jetties where Isle of Man Steamers once tied up and anglers jostled for space, are now storm ravaged remnants of their former glory, and some of the theatres are being demolished to make way for Ferris wheels and the like.
Pleasure Beach The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach	If the Golden Mile is the heart of Blackpool, the Pleasure Beach is its soul. The spirit of Phinneas T Barnum lives on at the Pleasure Beach. Superlatives like biggest, fastest, highest and most terrifying, roll easily from the tongue with no hint of untruth. If you like fairgrounds, sideshows, candy floss, hot dogs and loud music together with all the other trappings, then this is the place for you. Without doubt, the most terrifying roller-coaster ride in the UK dominates the skyline of South Shore, and with a near vertical first drop toward the sea (on the LEFT of the picture), it is a potentially heart stopping experience enjoyed (if that is the right word) by the many who visit from home and abroad to make the Pleasure Beach Britains top amusement park.
Squires Gate Squires Gate Lane	Squires Gate is the southern boundary of Blackpool, separating it from Lytham and St Annes, The name actually derives from the gate that once divided land in the ownership of Squire Cifton of Lytham from the invading hordes of Blackpool. To-day the dotted line in the centre of Squires Gate Lane remains the boundary, but the area is now (slightly) more famous for Blackpool Airport (which is actually in the Fylde Borough Council area!). There are flights to Ireland, and regular helicopter flights to the offshore oil rigs, together with a flourishing flight of private pilots (nicknamed "The Martini Set")who reputedly whiz off to Ireland or France for Sunday lunch. My own experience of the airport is limited to a honeymoon to Jersey (now too many years ago) where a plane called a Dart Herald (The sort with a propeller and a long twisted rubber band down the middle of the aisle between the seats) bumped us along on the start of married life. Land adjacent to the airport is now also being developed as an edge of town commercial and retail park.
Mereside Mereside Windmill	Mereside is inland from Squires Gate and is mostly a residential area with a large area of Council owned housing. Its sub district of Clifton ranges from residential to out of town retail and light industrial/commercial uses. It is probably most famous for being the motorway junction into Blackpool, the Tesco store, and yet another restored windmill. This windmil is a memorial to Alan Clarke author, poet and historian who died in 1935 and was given to Blackpool Council by Cornelious Bagot to be kept as a monument for all he did to put Blackpool on the map.
Marton An old cottage and building plot adjacent	Although part of, and within the boundary of Blackpool, Marton is a different world. It is probably the oldest part of the area, and its importance lies in the highly productive peat moss soil overlying sand producing excellent growing conditions and where a market garden industry flourished until the 1960's. The older families of Marton refer to themselves as "Mossers" and have much in common with their more agricultural counterparts in "Over Wyre". Marton moss used to be one of the main UK centres of glasshouse tomato production, Tomatoes, together with crops of lettuce and Chrysanthemums that fitted in on either side of the main tomato crop, formed the livelihood of most moss families. When the Dutch Government subsidised the cost of greenhouse heating oil in the 1960's the British Government did not respond, and home grown tomatoes became uneconomic. Consequently, the Marton glasshouse industry collapsed, the old cottages and ways of life are disappearing, and much of the market gardening land is now built, or being built, on.
Normoss The Newton Arms	Normoss is on the eastern fringe of Blackpool, near the border with Staining and Poulton. It is a quietish mostly residential to agricultural area, and not really famous for anything, except perhaps being one of the bits of Blackpool that is fairly near to Blackpool Zoo and Victoria Hospital.
Layton Layton Centre	Layton is a bustling place, probably almost a small town in itself. It is just far enough out of town to merit its own shopping centre, yet it is on one of the main routes into town, so it attracts some passing traffic that was otherwise heading to town. It used to be famous for "Billy Smith's Scrapyard" - an Aladdin's cave where you could buy and sell anything from scrap metal to army surplus. That is now long gone and replaced by houses. To-day it is famous for a very large cemetery, the "Layton Institute" a sort of Working Men's club, a very large biscuit factory, and a pub on the top of the hill called - what else- "The Windmill". Yet another of the infamous Fylde landmarks.
Claremont Claremont Road	This district runs more or less from Layton toward the fringe of town. It is a residential area, out of the way of visitors, and in the main has a range of older terraced and semi detached houses. It was mostly famous for having a progression of four large schools, Claremont Infants, Junior, Senior Boys and Senior Girls, most of which are now gone and built over with houses. It also had the Blackpool North Station Railway sheds, where steam engines and small boys with "Ian Allen" train spotting books could always be found poring over the merits of some "Jub" (Jubilee) class locomotive that had hauled visitors from afar. To-day it is not really famous, but it does have a bit of green space called Claremont Park, and some of the most hideous speed humps and traffic restrictions a motorist could ever hope to find.
The Gynn Gynn Square	Slap bang in the middle of the poshest part of the promenade you will find "The Gynn". Its epicentre, Gynn Square, (which ironically is a roundabout) is at the confluence of the promenade and two major arterial roads. Some of the grandest hotels like the "Savoy" and the "Cliffs", will be found here. They are now a bit outdated by modern chain hotels like the "Stakis", but they retain much more soul. Apart from "Uncle Toms Cabin" - which retains its reputation as an "in" spot for a pint, the most famous thing at the Gynn was the Derby Baths building, a magnificent 1920s style square cut building, clad in primrose yellow ceramic tiles. This wonderful building was demolished in an act of crude irresponsibility, matched only by the deplorable lack of aesthetic sensitivity in those who ordered its destruction, Many, like me, still mourn its passing thirty years later.
Warbreck The Water Tower Warbreck Hill	Warbreck runs inland from The Gynn, as the holiday accommodation gives way to residential property. Warbreck, like Richmond, is famous for its hill, although it is a very small one. Halfway down the hill was the Brickcroft, the onetime source of clay for many of Blackpool's terra cotta houses and hotels, later the source of much pleasure and learning as children fished and watched frogspawn turn into tadpoles then frogs in the flooded claypits, whilst older siblings would focus on other aspects of reproduction in the many hollows and secluded spots. All this is now gone, even Crossleys Woodyard (reputedly where Noah got his kit for the Ark) has been replaced by a B&Q and Comet satellite. The DSS complex still remains, where clerical bureaucrats would have wandered abroad in wonderful departments like "Chilben" (Child benefit) and would converse with their friends in "fis" (Family Income Supplement) or "Sup Ben" (Supplementary Benefit). However, the most famous bit of Warbreck is the Water Tower, a concrete cylinder of a building that everyone who passes looks at in amazement and wonders what it is/was for.
Bispham Bispham Tram Station	Although it is part of Blackpool, Bispham has always seen itself as separate, and rather "better". One did not come from Blackpool, but from Bispham, and often from "Bispham Village" to give even greater distance. It is famous for a few things, including Red Bank Road (The end of Blackpool for Bisphamites) The tram sheds (just down the road from the tram station), that became a small Sainsburys, a fire station, the headquarters of the Blackpool and Fylde College, and a small shopping centre. As you have guessed, Bispham is a fairly quiet sort of place compared with Blackpool, which is always described as being just down (never up!) the road.
Norbreck Norbreck Castle Hotel	Norbreck only exists because of the Norbreck Castle Hotel, an imposing castleated monster of a hotel, with function rooms of cavernous sizes and heating bills to match. It is an oasis of facilities for visitors in a tourism desert between Bispham and Anchorsholme. It is thus very self contained, and very good at meeting the needs of functions, exhibitions, conferences, group breaks and so on. Without it, the district would probably disappear into either Bispham or Anchorsholme.
Anchorsholme Anchorsholme	Anchorsholme is difficult to pin down. Some of it is easy to find, because it is called Anchorsholme Park or Anchorsholme Lane East and West, but the rest could easily be confused with Bispham or Cleveleys. It is not really famous for anything except being somewhere that trams go through, and if it were not within the Blackpool boundary, it would probably be part of Cleveleys by now.

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