Thank you to everyone for your amazing old views of Blackpool. Have you got any hidden away that you’d like to share with us? Just email them to jane@theRabbitPatch.co.uk. Full credit given.
Enjoy looking at photos old and new?
- There’s another page of old Blackpool photos from our very own archives here at Live Blackpool.
- Take a look around the History section too and find out more about the growth of this amazing town!
- These are some of our current Blackpool photos
- If you just like looking at pictures, there’s plenty of your current Blackpool ones here too
- And do you remember the Circus parade along the promenade?
Your Amazing Old Views of Blackpool – from Above
Mark sent these pictures in that he scanned from his grandads old negatives. He says “I’m guessing they’re from about the 1920’s or 30’s. Thought you might be interested.” We’re always interested!
The building bellowing smoke at the right of the Tower is The Palace. Now the site of Sands Resort Hotel.
The next photo is looking south from the top of the Tower. This is Blackpool Central Railway Station at its busiest. The railway lines that disappear off the top of the photo now form Seasiders Way and Yeadon Way. Of course this huge plot is currently a car park. Soon to be redeveloped as Blackpool Central.
Grandfather and Grandson
Julian Watson got in touch to share these old photos of Blackpool from their family album.
Julian says “These were taken by my late grandfather John Allen during his visit around 1958. They include the beach looking north towards The Tower, near the Golden Mile with my Nan and her family walking the streets, the seagulls near the North Pier and the clock at Stanley Park.”
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Here’s another 1950s beach one, also looking north. It’s amazing to think that at the southern end of the beach the gap between the pavement and the beach was so small there must have been overtopping of the water in any storms. It looks like just a small step down onto the sand.
Julian adds “I took these later colour ones some 30 years later in October 1988. There’s the teapot, strawberry, lemons and pears and musical instruments that were the theme of that year’s display along with Lewis’ and The Tower. I stayed in the Arncliffe Hotel for that trip.”
Happy Holidays
“My earliest memory of Blackpool was in 1974 at the tender age of eight when my parents took me for the first time. We stayed on the North Shore and I remember vividly very large headed characters with small bodies and their heads swayed from side to side, along with the Butcher, Baker and Candlestick Maker, three in a tub.
“Down at the Pleasure Beach I loved the rockets. They were great – you could pull a bar towards you to control the height of your rocket. The best thrill was pulling it right back so you were high in the sky above everything else with just the monorail and roller coaster taking up a higher vantage point.
“Down on the ground they also had a teacup ride with saucers and a teapot. Sadly, when I inherited the family photographs, there was no record of that trip but it remains in the memory!
“Since then I have made many visits, and in more recent years over to the Blackpool Grand to see the King of Comedy Ken Dodd. What a trooper he was… yes, the shows gave high value for money due to their longevity. The trams had stopped well before the curtain dropped for the night, but once he had you in his power there was no escaping the hilarity! It felt like a bubble of love and laughter delivered with skill and passion for his craft. There will never be another like him.
Thank you Julian for sharing your old Blackpool photos with us. It’s a really interesting look back into the history of the town.
Have you got any photos to share? If you have, email them in to jane@theRabbitPatch.co.uk and we’ll add them to the article. Full credit given, of course!
Your Amazing Old Views of Blackpool – Made in Berlin
Thank you to John Cooke for sending in your old photos of Blackpool.
John says “I came across this old postcard some 20 years ago. As you will see the scene is simply titled ‘South Shore Blackpool’ and appears to be manufactured by a company in Berlin.
No date is shown on the face of the postcard, but the reverse reveals it was sent under an Edward VII half penny stamp. Whilst not 100% legible, the postmark appears to show a time of posting as 9.15pm (yes PM) on Nov 25th 1903. The windows in the buildings, the tram, streetlights and the moon are all cut back to the back layer of card. When held up to a light, all these features appear to be illuminated.
More of Your Old Photos of Blackpool
Many thanks to Stuart Dixon, who sent the next batch of photos to share.
Stuart says “For family reasons, my wife and I left Blackpool a few years ago after living there all our lives (60 years). I’ve been clearing out and thought these might be of interest. My late father-in-law was a keen photographer – slides in those days.
Stuart added “I don’t recall the Woodhouse shop fire so the date is a guess, probably mid 1960s?”
Both of these fires are before our time here at Live Blackpool (just!). So we couldn’t quite work out exactly the Woodhouse shop was (or what it sold). But top marks to our resident expert in all things local history, Nick Moore. Nick tells us that the shop was on Clifton Street opposite the Tivoli pet shop and arcade.
Likewise, we couldn’t place the position of the next two photos which Stuart sent us. Have you got any idea?
Your Old Photos of Blackpool – fire at RHO Hills
Do you remember the fire at RHO Hills? What year did it happen? These also Stuart Dixon’s photos.
JC Banks, General Dealer
Stuart Dixon also sent in this photo, saying “There’s another photo in the collection of Arthur Banks (and maybe his father) outside the shop on School Road on the Moss. It’s opposite St Nicholas’s school, now a house only.”
Do you know anything about this gent and his business? We’d love to hear what you know.
Lee Kelshaw contacted us to say that the gent in the photo is his great grandad.
Maureen Morris is Lee’s mum. She clearly remembers spending many happy hours at the shop as a child. The people in the photo are her grandad Arthur Banks and her great grandad John Charles Banks.
The shop was at School Road opposite St Nicholas School. Like Arkwrights from the tv sitcom ‘Open all Hours’, it sold everything.
The vehicle in the photo is a mobile shop. It was still full of tinned food when he died in the 1970’s. Sadly her grandad was murdered in a break in.
Have you got any photos to share? If you have, email them in to jane@theRabbitPatch.co.uk and we’ll add them to the article. Full credit given.
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My dad and I watched the RHO Hills fire, we saw the flames from our attic window and went to see what was going on.
Can’t remember date but must have been approximately mid 1960s
Woodhouse’s furniture shop was on Clifton Street, opposite the Tivoli Pet Shop.
JC Bank’s store and petrol station on School Road was closed after the vicious murder of owner Arthur Banks on the 25th of March 1980. In the early 1900s, JC Banks had been a general dealer of “oil, hardware, glass, china, and tobacco”. He had made deliveries around Marton in his black van, registration number FR5523, before his son Arthur took over the business. I used to cycle there in the 60s, to get paraffin for my dad’s lamps.
Thanks Nick, that’s really interesting!
Looking at the photograph it would appear to be prior to 1974, the fire appliance livery is all red and it appears to have Blackpool Fire Brigade on. I was in Lancashire County Fire Brigade based at Fleetwood, our appliances were aluminium sided. Blackpool Fire Brigade was absorbed into Lancashire Fire Brigade in 1974 along with the Preston, Blackburn and Burnley brigades on local government re- organisation. A friend of mine was in Blackpool borough and may remember this fire, I’ll ask him. I also went to RHO Hills fire from Fleetwood with our crew.
Looking at the old photos of Blackpool,the Woodhouse shop fire is most interesting.This shop sold furniture and carpeting so the blaze would be particularly intense,so it is to the firebrigades praise that they contained it.