Blackpool’s New Maps And Signs
I’ve criticised Blackpool in the past, as lacking maps and information. But they have at least got started on a visitor-friendly information system.
I think it is true to say, that most of the locals and visitors I talked to, said that the town had been getting better in the last couple of years.
These maps and signs should lead to fewer people getting lost.
But there were no signs pointing you to the trams at the station and the tram stops didn’t have any maps or even information about how you use the tram.
Blackpool And Huddersfield May Get Direct Services To London
I’m leaving the may in the title, as nothing is cast in stone yet, but according to this article, Network Rail have found the space to squeeze direct services to Blackpool and Huddersfield from London into the schedule, by a new train operator called Great North Western Railway.
The services won’t be running until 2017 at the earliest, as trains have to be ordered and built.
And who knows what will happen in the negotiations?
Blackpool Is Finally Going To Link The Tram To The Train
I must admit that I don’t like Blsckpool and this post in my view sums up the seaside resorts attitude to visitors.
As I say in the post, Blackpool doesn’t have many useful maps, but one of the biggest problems is that the newly rebuilt tramway, doesn’t link up to Blackpool North station. Imagine if a main line station like Kings Cross or Paddington didn’t connect to the London Underground.
But Blackpool updated the trams a few years ago spending over £80 million. Surely, this upgrade could have been stretched to connect the trams to the station.
At least now this missing link is being built according to this report on the BBC.
Hopefully next time I go to support Ipswich at Blackpool, I’ll be able to get on a tram at the station to take me to the ground.
A Very Good Football Trip
As I said here, my trip to Blackpool, yesterday, started well at Kings Cross.
As I had a few minutes before the Glasgow train to Preston, I had time to visit the Virgin First Class lounge at Euston. I think some companies charge extra for the lounge if you’re on a cheap ticket or close it altogether at weekends, but Virgin don’t seem to penny pinch like that at Euston.
The train was on time to Preston, but it did look very much like rain.
Approaching Preston
As I had booked to Blackpool North station, which is a walk of three kilometres to the ground, I asked if I could use my ticket to Blackpool South station, which is only about eight hundred metres. I was informed that there would be no problem by someone from Northern Rail! I certainly hadn’t found a Jobsworth.
The guy on the train gave the same story and I arrived at the station to walk to Bloomfield Road.
Walking To Bloomfield Road
I made it in plenty of time, walking in the sun, although the weather was threatening.
It really started to rain, just as I got under cover in my seat.
The match was a topsy-turvy affair, with Ipswich winning with the odd goal in five, scored in stoppage time. Ipswich were one-nil down at half-time, so unusually for a manager, Mick McCarthy threw caution to the wind and played with four forwards across the field.
He got the result all the Ipswich fans wanted and you do wonder, if he hasn’t found the best way to use the talent he has available.
I must admit, I did look at the two Blackpool goals last night on the BBC and I can’t help feeling that if Cresswell and Smith had been playing, one or both of these goals might not have been scored.
In the end the Ipswich fans all went about their journeys home happy with the result, so the two Blackpool goals didn’t matter.
As it connects better to the London trains, I decided to do the long walk to Blackpool North station. However, I didn’t have to walk all the way, as I found a 14 bus, that went near the station. There was the usual silly ticketing palaver, you get with a bus pass outside London and I do wonder if bus companies have shares in those that produce ticket paper.
I got a crowded train to Preston fairly easily, but it arrived there, just as a Euston train was departing. A Virgin employee told me, I had an hour to wait, but as I had an Off-Peak ticket I could take any train. I then realised, it would be nice to eat something, so as a Manchester Piccadilly train was alongside, a gluten-free supper in Carluccio’s at Piccadilly station beckoned. I could then take one of the more numerous trains to London. The Virgin also told me, that the Manchester to London trains weren’t busy, as City and United weren’t playing.
Where had all the Jobsworths gone?
I had my supper in Carluccio’s at a fast pace and made the 19:35 train with ease. I had intended to upgrade to First, but as I got four seats and a table to myself in Stearage, I didn’t bother. In fact the fifteen pound upgrade, I didn’t buy, virtually paid for my meal in Carluccio’s.
As I’d arrived in Piccadilly virtually dead on seven, I’d ordered, waited for and eaten my meal in about half-an-hour, whilst checking the news and the football results on the excellent wi-fi. So with luck, I’d be able to go straight home from Euston and catch the start of Match of the Day.
I did! It had been a very good trip.
In a few years time, going from London to Blackpool will be a lot easier, as they are electrifying the line from Preston, as part of the major electrification between Manchester, Liverpool and Preston. It has also been stated that this will mean a tour-hourly service of faster electric trains to and from London. But as I’ll still have the problem of getting a decent gluten-free meal on the way down, but as it will be a greatly improved service from Blackpool to Manchester Piccadilly, I can still go via Manchester and have a decent meal, whilst changing trains.
In fact, if like I did, you have a ticket from Blackpool North to London, you will have several stations, where you can change onto a fast train to London, if you just missed a direct train and didn’t want to wait two hours. You could change at Preston, Manchester Piccadilly, Liverpool or even Wigan North Western.
I can’t help but feel, that this long-awaited electrification is going to make a lot of difference to the whole of the triangle based on Manchester, Liverpool and Blackpool.
It should have been done years ago!
Off To Blackpool Today
I’m going for the day to see my football team; Ipswich Town play there.
I’m dreading part of it. Breakfast at Carluccio’s in St. Pancras will be it’s usual good standard and the Virgin trains to Preston will probably be excellent, but the local train to Blackpool will be it’s usual crap self. Then it will be a walk in pouring rain to the ground, as only locals can fathom how to use, the town’s Third World bus system. But that is probably an insult to places like Goa, where I explored the area on the buses with a titled blonde widow. I think she was rather disappointed, in that she didn’t get her bottom pinched. But then the people of the sub-continent, are generally very polite and courteous.
At least though, the rain will wash the pavements of Blackpool of the vomit, that they seem to be paved with.
The football will probably be terrible because of the rain.
It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.
Blackpool Suffers A Couple Of Tremors
This report on the BBC says that Blackpool has been shaken by a couple of earthquakes.
They must have been really major, as BBC Breakfast isn’t reporting the tremors this morning. Perhaps, they couldn’t find a reporter and film crew, who wanted to go!
I wonder though how many people believe this is all down to fracking? I did check comments on a report in a tabloid and there were a few comments, suggesting that the anti-frackers will blame fracking.
An Open Letter From The Leader Of Blackpool Council
This letter written by the leader of Blackpool Council and published in the Blackpool Gazette has been discussed on the BBC.
I couldn’t resist penning a reply.
In 2011, to raise money for Cancer Research after the death of my wife and son from the disease, i visited all 92 Football and Premier League clubs alphabetically by public transport.
Of all the towns and cities I visited Blackpool was the worst and most visitor-unfriendly. Turn up at any station and try to get a bus to Bloomfield Road or even find a map. Compare the town to Bournemouth, where the public transport is easily understandable.
But after my experience of Blackpool, I kept asking people I met, within day trip distance, if they ever went to the town. A plumber from Wigan said that he never went although he had many times until a few years ago. But now if he wants a day by the sea, he’ll go to Liverpool or Southport.
Blackpool needs a real change of attitude and must look at everything it does to make sure that it does the best for everybody and every business in the town.
Incidentally, I’m an Ipswich Town supporter and travel to a lot of away games from London where I live. I’ve done Blackpool twice, but I suspect never again, when I can enjoy the friendly atmosphere in places like Barnsley, Burnley, Derby, Hull and Nottingham.
I’m also a coeliac, which means I must have gluten-free food. Last time in the town, all I found was a banana and a coffee. Compare this to the lovely meal I had in that noted holiday resort called Crewe.
As it is I think I kept it quite mild!
A Bad Day For Living Alone
Today is probably not going to be a good day. It’s going to rain all day and the football is in Blackpool, the town with the streets paved with vomit. I suppose the heavy rain forecast for the cess-pit of the Lancashire coast, will clean it up a bit, but it’s not the weather to visit a town without any gluten-free food.
So I’ll just stay here and listen to the radio in between watching the football on Sky.
I can’t even go to bed, as I don’t have a lady to make it more comfortable.
At least with the cafe opposite, I can go there and have a coffee in between the rain showers.
I think I’ll look for a matinee at the theatre. At least, I can catch the 38 bus from round the corner direct to Shaftesbury Avenue. Singing in the Rain anybody?
Blackpool is the Smoking and Pregnancy Capital of England
Apparently according to this report from GPs, 30.3 % of pregnant women in the NHS Blackpool area continue to smoke, as against 20% for the north as a whole. By contrast in NHS Brent in London, the figure is just 2.8 %.
I would suspect that Blackpool doesn’t need a mayor, but a real Norland Nanny, to sort them all out. Preferably with an AK-47!
The Anonymous Widower 