Oh I do like to be beside the seaside’

It’s easy to feel insignificant stood next to the vast expanse of the tempestuous Irish sea. To the people that have moved here after having built up childhood memories of weekends by the sea, why wouldn’t they want to move here? Maybe Blackpool does have a strained relationship with poverty, but perhaps it is better to be living in poverty by the seaside than it is to be living in poverty but not by the sea. The problems of living in difficult circumstances maybe there but having the sublimeness of the sea as far as you can see, and to be able to watch the waves and the tide rolling in and out might just give you one moment of clarity, possibly only for a few seconds but a few seconds is a few seconds, a few seconds of just you and the sea.

The British people love to be beside the seaside, and often a visit here is described as a “very British thing to do”. Many people associate the sea with happy memories as a child. For others being by the sea is a chance to relax by looking outward and just thinking, or to not think at all. During a hot summer’s day, many of us will flock to the nearest body of water, to simply be there. Whether that is a lake, river, or coastal promenade.  Marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols believes that ‘our brains are hardwired to react positively to water and that being near it can calm and connect us, increase innovation and insight, and even heal what is broken.’ (Mitchell, 2016)

D. Jarrett has explained the feeling of being by the sea in detail, coining the term ‘Seasideness’ in his essay ‘Seasideness: sense of place at a seaside resort.’ His research involved interviewees where they explained what specifically they like about the seaside and what it brings them. The interviewees described their childhood family holidays. They saw the beach and sea as unchanging thereby highlighting changes in the wider world, especially since childhood, and as a refuge of timeless childhood play (Jarrett, 2015). Although his research is with Morcambe in mind the two towns are less than 20 miles apart on the same Northwest coastline which looks onto the Irish Sea.

 

Introduction

Blackpool, the infamous seaside town, like many places has had its fair share of moments in the spotlight in the media through the years - good and bad. UK media has the second highest percentage in Europe of good news stories at 22% (Report, 2014), which of course means that a large 78% of the media stories are negative.  It turns out, our brains are in fact wired to want to read the negative headlines and many studies have been conducted to prove this, including one in particular that was carried out by researchers at McGill University in Canada. The research found that, despite saying they preferred to read good news, the participants did in fact show that they chose stories with a negative tone. The researchers presented their experiment as solid evidence of a so called "negativity bias", which psychologists' also term for our collective hunger to hear and remember bad news (Stafford, 2022).

 

If we narrow it down to the north of England, around one in five people feel their community is depicted unfairly by the rest of the country. Last year Tory MP Heather Wheeler was forced to apologised after referring to Blackpool as ‘God Awful’; (Engage Britain, 2022) using this throw-away term from such a person of influential person surely does nothing but reinforce the negative public perceptions of the town. Has she visited the town?

 

Despite the fact there is positive news surrounding Blackpool, albeit less than a quarter of the news, how does our scientifically proven pre – programmed disposition towards reading negative news leave the town in terms of public perception? And what has this done to the town’s reputation, particularly in the way of creative practice? Does the general population of the UK understand the thriving creative hubs here? Perhaps the town will never be famous for being a hub of creative practice as much as it is famous for stag dos and the tower, but is it a great place to be as a creative? And exactly what is it that creative practitioners are doing in Blackpool that resist the negative narrative and public perceptions?

 

 

 

History of Blackpool

 

For a town which, compared to many towns in UK, is fairly recent in comparison to the UKs rich history, the town began it’s rise when Thomas Clifton and Sir Henry Houghton laid a road across the marshes to Preston, connecting the town to places such as Manchester (Turner & Palmer, 1976). The town then started it’s interesting journey into what it is today. This happened in a relatively short amount of time and started to become something of substance in the late 1700s. Workers began flocking from the mill towns of east Lancashire for supposed health benefits. In those days people believed that bathing in seawater breathing in the sea air could cure diseases (Lambert, 2023). Many of the inns or lodging houses would cram visitors in rooms with many beds, where they would share with strangers, and the inns would even offer up jugs of sea water which guests were expected to drink to further aid their wellbeing (Lambert, 2023). This was early in the 1880s and too many visitors than space appeared to be a sign of what was to come at this early infancy of the towns unbeknownst rich history which was yet to come.

Many of Blackpool’s major milestones in history can be identified in steel -the railway, the piers and of course The Tower. 1894 was a big year for Blackpool as this was when the tower was built after seeing how impressive the Eiffel Tower was built not long before in 1887. The Grand Theatre was opened this year too. These two huge venues were built in addition to the already established Winter Gardens theatre. This housed a skating rink too which was quite a novelty all designed to entertain and enthral guests. By this point the theme of Blackpool being an entertainment capital had started to emerge and is a common theme in the Blackpool we know today. By this point entertainment had become somewhat of a unique selling point to the town, which became a continuing trend throughout the next 150 years.

Post-war Blackpool saw its first ‘Grand Carnival’ held in 1923, costumed revellers appeared in their thousands, with dog shows, racing, swimming. It was held for a second time the following year after receiving world-wide publicity, and again the crowds came, but this time it got a little out of hand. The rowdy element which crept into the 1924 carnival was strongly criticized and there was no attempt to repeat the event. There is a whisper that has been passed through generations, that people were found to be fornicating on the streets, although there is no evidence of this it doesn’t seem to hard to believe given how Blackpool has evolved into the party capital it is now. The word ‘rowdy’ could be used to describe just about any weekend in Blackpool and could be considered the norm. But the carnival could show that given the right circumstances things could get quickly out of hand, which they often do. Police are often seen carting people away and breaking up fights on Queen Street which is host to many bars and nightclubs opening until the early hours in the morning. This could suggest that not a lot has changed in 100 years.

 

Creative Practice in Blackpool

Creative practice is the driving force behind entertainment. In Blackpool, the city has many creative outlets including shows, comedy, cabaret, drag shows, the illuminations, to name a few. Many of these kind of entertainment outlets are aimed at the general population, many of whom come to Blackpool to experience this entertainment, rather than in search of a cultural creative experience. Blackpool’s tourism industry is heavily reliant on the summer months where people arrive in their droves. But this doesn’t mean the entire town comes to a complete standstill.

There is still plenty to offer during low season. There are several creative organisations making it their prerogative to keep the creative flow all year round, involving local communities, such as LeftCoast. The Blackpool based organisation ‘delivers highly engaging and socially-useful arts and cultural projects in Blackpool’ (2023) Left Coast created the wonderful Art B&B in which every room has been carefully designed by a different artist and also is home to many community art based workshops, events and talks. Aunty Social, another community-based arts organisation, aimed at coordinating ‘a diverse programme of arts and cultural activities designed to bring people together’ (Aunty Social, 2016)

There are also a number of creatives who have come from Blackpool, such as Parker Words who is an independent author and spoken word artist working with youth groups and schools. Graphic designer Sarah Horn’s whose book en-suites available which looks at the beauty behind the garish hotel and shop fronts.

 

Nostalgia

Sense of place is perceived as having a feeling of belonging to a place and identifying with that place. Perceptions of place by urban residents interviewed in the author’s dissertation connect overwhelmingly with the themes of belonging and identity. Several comment on a sense of belonging acquired through feeling as if the place was “home” to them. (McClinchey, 2016) The feeling of homeliness and remembering where you once belonged or lived, like when you look at an old photograph, makes one feel nostalgic about the place they call home.

 

‘Nostalgia is an affectionate feeling you have for the past, especially for a particularly happy time’. (collins dictionary)

Nostalgia is an unusual emotion to convey, as it varies from person to person although some of us may share similar memories, for some it might feel comforting but for others nostalgia might be more like sorrow. It’s a deep feeling where something such as a smell can transport you back to a place, or a time; it can be that ‘warm fuzzy feeling’, sometimes tinged with a little sadness thinking about what was, and how things were, and perhaps how things have changed. The emotion of nostalgia has been explained as ‘mixing memory and desire’.

Nostalgia instigates approach-motivation, specifically, nostalgic memories of one's best self tend to motivate people to pursue a more idealized self in the future, perhaps suggesting that nostalgia is a driving force behind people wanting to go to Blackpool in search of that feeling.  Literature surrounding tourism and nostalgia connect the concept of nostalgia to heritage tourism motivations, with the idea that holidaymakers are seeking an escape from their daily life and seeking a romantic and historical alternative. (McClinchey, 2016)

Charm

‘The quality of attracting, fascinating, or delighting people’ (Collins English Dictionary page 125)

 

(Machin)
 

Many news articles like to use the word tacky as an old favourite go-to adjective, and perhaps it is, but this is what brings the town its charm. It’s not supposed to be a polished place of high class. The town is what it is, and some would say, it neither wants to be nor tries to be anything else. It’s creativity is done in its own niche way, artistic perhaps not but the handwritten signs, silly slogan hats, rude jokes and old sign written shopfronts certainly has a charm all of its own. It can be sensory overload down the promenade at times, music coming from multiple places, people shouting and singing, seagulls squawking, children shrieking. If you were to go to try and fight against the tackiness and the sensory overload of it all you’d be in a for a difficult time. Blackpool needs to be embraced in all its noisy, brightly lit glory.

One Blackpool born artist has captured this very charm in her own unique way. Sarah Horn a successful graphic designer who describes herself as a ‘real Sandgrownun’ (essentially means ‘grown in the sand’). It’s a term local’s who were born here use to describe their heritage, as opposed to the more widely known Blackpudlian, although no few from the town use this. Sarah has always had an interest in typography and has made it her job to showcase Blackpool in this specific way, through the signage and typography used by hotels and B&Bs. Sarah has created this beautiful postcard sized book which is a collection of photographs she took whilst studying for her degree in Blackpool. The photographs have captured the essence of nostalgia through the typography used and seeing them altogether instils the sense of pride that the hotel owners – many of them just local people who live there themselves – would’ve had at the time of opening and hopefully are welcoming visitors every season now.  Her book is called ‘En-suites available’ which is the phrase that features on many of the signs themselves. It suggests to us the history of the B&B, nowadays that an en-suite is expected, whereas many years ago the guests of Blackpool piled in to boarding houses and shared bedrooms and bathrooms. This is a reminder of the towns past.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Horn, 2021)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life in Blackpool

It is well known that Blackpool is famed for its tourist industry and not a lot else on the surface. It would just take a quick google search and the first thing you’d see would be pictures of the famous tower, beach and promenade and there’s not much doubt that when the town is brought up into conversation, these sort of pictures spring to mind. The tourist centric nature of the town connotes memories of holidaying in the resort, nostalgic memories of family rides out in the car, and maybe the first to spot the Tower sticking up on the horizon from the M55 motorway got 50p. Candy floss, donkey rides and deck chairs. For some, the memories are perhaps wild stag dos and hen dos, where all the worries of real life are allowed to take a back seat for a few days, and where the sea air can be allowed to fill the lungs and worries wash a away with the tide, at least for the time being. Sandcastles on the beach on a hot bank holiday’s weekend. It’s nice to think that the town has provided many happy memories and stories for millions of people over the years, old and young. Even in winter time there is fun to be had with fish and chips whilst walking though the Illuminations. There is certainly something here for everyone.

But behind all the bright lights and smells of freshly made donuts; not far from the main promenade are some of the not so famous parts of the town or perhaps infamous to the locals, such as Central Drive (affectionately known by the locals as ‘Central Dive’). It is one of the arterial routes leading up to the town centre. If you wander down this bustling street you will find many convenience shops and second-hand shops selling all sorts, with people congregating outside chatting. In summer you could find people day drinking with their tops off sat on an old 3-piece suite in an overgrown front garden. During the day the atmosphere could feel quite convivial although most locals would likely say they wouldn’t choose to walk down there at night. One local ‘says she sees evidence of the danger on a daily basis on the street outside’ (Live), 2022) The signs of poverty are visible, and the area is quite run down.

There is a stark contrast between the town in February compared to July for example, with the out of season winter months sometimes bringing a melancholy atmosphere. The weather in the winter months can be fierce. ‘There’s cold and there’s cold’ as a northerner would say, and the coastal winds can make parts of the town, especially the promenade, almost unbearable to walk down. The winds have been known to hold a person upright.

Cheap as chips

For working class families or those on the breadline, a day in Blackpool could be enjoyed for next to nothing. The book ‘Bloomfield talks’ (Bloomfield Road being a road that comes off the notorious central drive, and also home to ‘The Seasiders’ AKA Blackpool Football club) was created by local artists where all the work features is by the people who live in the area who don’t consider themselves artists. One of the locals explains ‘’it didn’t cost us anything – we’d just buy packed lunches, or pies and sit on the sands all day” (Vik, 2009).  They are right - the beach is free, the illuminations are free, albeit they do try and make you pay a donation, and chips are literally as cheap as chips, not as cheap as they once were but it can be said with confidence that a day out here can be had for just a few quid.

For those who want to enjoy the place with a bit more luxury the town now boasts 5* hotels such as the brand-new Boulevard as an attempt to entice a different demographic. As well as some award-winning restaurants such as Michael Wan’s Mandarin – a Chinese restaurant ranking 7th in the top Chinese restaurants in Europe, it doesn’t always have to be fish & chips and burger stands.

Blackpool currently sits surprisingly in 72nd place out of 1181 as one of the most creative towns and cities to live in the UK, with fellow seaside town Brighton and Hove ranking number one. It is interesting to think about what the stark differences between the towns are.  However, Blackpool is still at the top when it comes to seaside destinations, ‘recording 19 million visitor nights for 2018’.  (Moss, 2020).  These figures show that Blackpool outshines Brighton in the way of visitor numbers, and people are still flocking here in their millions, despite public perceptions being somewhat negative. Perhaps people love to hate it or hate to love it.

Whilst Brighton has the Royal pavilion and many boutiques type eateries, Blackpool is unpretentiousness with its no-nonsense approach to things like signage and shopfronts. It is what it is, there is even an arcade which offers a cup of tea for 10p – you can’t go wrong.

 Recent Blackpool newspaper headlines:

 

(Walsh/Shutterstock) & PA), 2022)
 

(Blackpool Gazette,2023)

 

(Blackpool Gazette, 2022)

 

 

It’s clear that the town has become the poster child for poverty-stricken seaside towns. These headlines come from the local news too. But where did it all go wrong for the town? The statistics are quite staggering, but you could ask, if 141,100 people in 2021 (ONS, 2021) live here, then why do they live here? Were they born here? Or did they move here in search of childhood nostalgia they once experienced? The population has virtually stagnated with a 0.7% decrease in population size, whereas neighbouring towns appear to have increased.

The town was ranked 4th in the cheapest places to rent in the UK topped by Stoke, Bradford and Sunderland, Blackpool being the only seaside town on the list of ten towns (O'Neill, 2022). It’s easy to see that Blackpool could be preferable given it’s by the sea and has plenty to do especially for children.

 

 

Unfortunately, Blackpool has topped the country’s drug fatality rates for more than a decade (Independent, 2021). To walk through the town centre the drug use is often apparent an obvious as the problem here in Blackpool is well known amongst the locals, and many visitors.

One artist living in Blackpool has turned his life around from a life of drugs with little to no hope through creative practice as an outlet. Christian Fenn, who goes by the artist’s name ‘SECA ONE’ studied art at college and after a few difficult years he found his way back to art. Whilst changing his life and simultaneously improving the appearance of the town centre with his murals and has gone on to create leave a trail of his ART around the world. He goes by the tag name of Around every corner of the town there is graffiti murals a lot of them on the walls of the more dilapidated areas, they really give these parts of Blackpool an exciting new look.

 

Some of the most run down areas which are notorious for such, still instill a huge sense of hometown pride. The community of Bloomfield Road and the surrounding area came together and created a wonderful book called ‘Bloomfields Talks’. It is an archival collection of stories, pictures and children’s annotated drawings. Who would’ve thought that there was anything interesting to write about when at first glance the area looks so run down and that not a lot is going on. Luckily not far from Bloomfield road, part of the town nearby is set to undergo a massive regeneration and works have already started. This is part of the government’s ‘Levelling-up scheme’. In addition to this Blackpool’s promenade has undergone huge changes in the last decade with the new Tower headland, which is now home to one of the UK’s largest art installations – The Comedy Carpet. The creative enterprise quite literally cements Blackpool’s history of comedy and showbiz featuring catchphrases from over 850 writers and comedians.

Vice documentary

In Vice Documentary ‘Blackpool The Las Vegas of the North, which was filmed in 2009 takes an honest look into to the town interviewing many different characters, and characters they are indeed. Colourful language a-plenty, where it seems no discussion is taboo or out of bounds, you are quickly introduced to the quick witted and brash humour of the people of this town. The documentary goes into detail about the adult industry in Blackpool such as live sex shows and ‘blue’ comedians. It was filmed in 2009, perhaps the stag and hens of today are after something a bit different. Times are always changing. Revellers from with strong Northeast accents being interviewed in a joke shop laughing and joking at the risqué novelty gifts on display are asked what they like about Blackpool.

‘It’s like fantasy island when you come to Blackpool’.

‘You come here and you lose all your inhibitions’.

‘Act like an absolute knob head’. (When asked about the routine when visiting Blackpool).

These are some of the things the holiday makers have said during the interview. It maybe doesn’t seem too different from the attitudes of carnival goers in the 1920s.

The scenes filmed in between the interviews appears to focus on the less aesthetically pleasing parts of the town and can look quite downtrodden but the tone is quickly brough back up when the dialogue restarts.

Filming from inside a busy Queens Hotel on South promenade the Self-proclaimed Queen of Blackpool Pat Mancini (the owner of the Queens Hotel) when asked about the town believes: ‘it’s not gonna die, absolutely not, with the regeneration of the promenade and the town centre, we’re gonna have a new blackpool. A new blackpool that going into the 21st century. (Capper, 2008)’ When you hear her say these words you truly believe her, she clearly believes in the town and many others feel just as strongly as her. While the town may have ‘gone down’ abit in recent years it would take a walk down the newly regenerated promenade to see that it certainly is on the up. UTMP or ‘up the mighty Pool’ as locals would say, particulary when referring to the local football team The Seasiders’

Creatives paving the way for a positive Blackpool

Parker Words

‘Blackpool Always starts a conversation’.

Nathan Parker, AKA Parker Words, is an independent author and spoken word artist from the town. With a career in youth work, his love for poetry kicked off substantially during lockdown where Nathan managed to amalgamate the two and he now regularly works in schools and youth groups. He hosts workshops captivating younger audiences and encouraging them to engage in poetry and spoken word; thus, helping to build their literary confidence. Having mental health struggles of his own he is a keen advocate of mental health and speaks honestly and openly about this. Nathan has created a brilliant promotional video for the ‘Love Blackpool’ tourism campaign. This features his inspirational poem about the town being recited by the people that live here. There is a cross section of \Blackpool’s society and includes the people behind the organisations helping shape the future of Blackpool’s future creative landscape. Examples Include, LeftCoast, The Grundy Art Gallery and Aunty Social.  ‘Blackpool always starts a conversation’, a line from the poem – this holds true – most have a story or some kind of link. It’s emotional video provoking a deep sense of hometown pride and sense of place. One of the lines in the poem really stands out ‘The headlines of hopelessness feel endless but our essence they do not capture.’ The negative headlines clearly don’t phase the people involved, they are full of energy and love for the town. It’s a masterpiece, anyone anywhere would watch it and want a piece of the action.

LeftCoast

Left coast describes itself as ‘Highly engaging and socially useful arts’.

With funding from The National Arts Council and the National lottery, the community art organisation has secured funding to supply creative power for the town and plan to continue to do so for the next ten years at least.

Working with different artists, there has been many art projects, one of them being ‘miss inform’ which ha where the artist Jenny walks up and down south promenade dressed aas a showgirl, it doesn’t look particularly warm, but no body bats an eyelid. You can expect the unexpected in this town . The comical video features guests such as ‘Mr Meaner’, ‘Miss Cheif ‘Squire S Gate’ in order to add their take on the history of the area. Containing some facts, it is humorous takes on things, such as explaining that the on Bond Street haberdashery is really the headquarters for MI5. The whole thing is a frivolous take on a historical tour of the town, guaranteed to make you smile. The facts are quite easily distinguishable from the made-up stories where, one collectible toy shop owner ‘Mr Retour’ describes how the tower was supposed to be a spaceship which was to be launched into space in 1783.

As well as oragnising many community art projects Lefcoast has been the power behind the now independent Abingdon Studios which was founded in 2014 and recently has featured artists from around the world. The studios also work closely with Blackpool & The Fylde College’s School of Creative Arts to offer a shared studio space for graduate artists, as part of a professional development programme to support young and emerging artists (Abingdon Studios, 2022

 

 

 

Lightpool

 

(Lightpool, 2023)

In addition to the Illuminations people know and love, Lightpool festival is a further extravaganza of light art installations, live performances and 3D shows. It’s on every October and the best thing is it’s free just incase the illumainations aren’t quite enough. It offers an art trail, which is tour of outdoor places and some of the oldest buildings in the town which have been transformed into wonderful light shows. The festival seems to appear overnight which huge installations popping up on the promenade.

 

 

CONCLUSION

Blackpool is moving forward, positively in to the 21st century. The government have great confidence in it, with in vesting millions. Locals perhaps haven’t had confidence in the government for a long time, but they are finally starting to see results with the regeneration of the promenade and the massive project underway on Central Drive. The bottom line is, Blackpool is looking good. It all eels very promising. The town feels more of a creative buzz than ever. The creatives mentioned are so determined to keep creating, as well as making opportunities to those who may not have had a creative outlet before.  

It would appear the resorts itself picks itself up every year after difficult long winters, ready to welcome the new influx of guests and visitors, it always keeps on going, never wanting to give up, perhaps like the resitdents here, everyone keeps going. No one is giving up on it yet and as Pat mancnini said ‘it will be back’ if it ever left.

There is a human need for nostalgia which Blackpool can provide for many. Memories are being created as we speak, and hopefully this can continue to inspire creativity from within the town. The numerous creative projects in the pipeline, are showing no signs of slowing down. Blackpool has used the negative aspects to its advantage so far… to inspire creative practice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References  

McClinchey, K.A. (2016) University of Massachusetts Amherst scholarworks. Available at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1727&context=ttra (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

Abingdon Studios - one inch to the left (2022) LeftCoast. Available at: https://leftcoast.org.uk/projects/one-inch-to-the-left/abingdon-studios/ (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

About (2023) LeftCoast. Available at: https://leftcoast.org.uk/about/ (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

About Us (no date) Aunty Social. Available at: https://www.auntysocial.co.uk/about1/ (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

Blackpool - the Las Vegas of The North (2008) Video. VICE. Available at: https://video.vice.com/en_uk/video/blackpool-the-las-vegas-of-the-north/55b62f6c446a492b56668c9b (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

Gratrix, G. (no date) Bio, Art. Available at: https://garthgratrix.com/about/ (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

How your area has changed in 10 years: Census 2021 (no date) Home - Office for National Statistics. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/censusareachanges (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

'I'm dying, I need help': Inside the battle to turn around england's drugs death capital (2021) The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/blackpool-drug-crisis-heroin-addiction-b1901984.html (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

It's just not true! One in five people say their community is depicted unfairly (2022) Engage Britain. Available at: https://engagebritain.org/news-its-just-not-true/ (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

Jarrett, D. (2015) Seasideness: sense of place at a seaside resort. dissertation.

Lambert, T. (2023) A history of blackpool, Local Histories. Available at: https://localhistories.org/a-history-of-blackpool/ (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

Live), (I.L. (2022) The Lancashire Streets described by residents as 'The wild west', LancsLive. Available at: https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/wild-west-palace-dreams-streets-23636821 (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

Moss, C. (2020) A tale of two seasides: Why unpretentious blackpool beats overrated Brighton, The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/articles/blackpool-vs-brighton-covid-summer/ (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

O'Neill, K. (2022) Blackpool named as one of the most affordable places to rent a three bed home, LancsLive. Available at: https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/blackpool-named-one-most-affordable-24100214 (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

Report, H. (2014) UK media among the "most positive," survey says, PRovoke Media. PRovoke Media News and insights from the global PR industry. Available at: https://www.provokemedia.com/latest/article/uk-media-among-the-most-positive-survey-says (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

Stafford, T. (2022) Psychology: Why bad news dominates the headlines, BBC Future. BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140728-why-is-all-the-news-bad (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

Turner, B. and Palmer, S. (1976) The blackpool story. Cleveleys, Lancs: Palmer & Turner.

Vik, G.S.& (2009) Bloomfield talks ... Kartoon Kings.

 

 

Images

Machin, L. (no date) Leigh Machin - my photos/videos. Available at: http://www.leighmachin.com/showmedia.asp?MediaSectionID=8&ShowAll=true (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

 (2021) En-Suites Available.

Walsh/Shutterstock), (I.I. and PA), (I. (2022) Poor housing is why Blackpool is worst in England for poverty, says resort MP, LancsLive. Available at: https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/poor-housing-blackpool-worst-england-25650778 (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

Blackpool is heading towards 'victorian levels of poverty' with wages down 8.4% since 2010 (2023) Blackpool Gazette. Available at: https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/business/blackpool-is-heading-towardsvictorian-levels-of-poverty-as-resort-wages-are-84-lower-than-in-2010-3973105 (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

Cancer charity shocked by the number of people dying in poverty in Blackpool (2022) Blackpool Gazette. Available at: https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/people/hundreds-of-people-die-in-poverty-every-year-in-blackpool-3719264 (Accessed: April 27, 2023).

Lightpool Festival at Blackpool Illuminations - with visit Fylde Coast (2023) The Blackpool Illuminations. Available at: https://www.theblackpoolilluminations.info/lightpool/ (Accessed: April 27, 2023).