Xela Posted June 1, 2021 Share Posted June 1, 2021 3 hours ago, It's Your Round said: Working from home still cheers me up, even after 15 months of it. So far today I’ve answered a few queries, updated a document, dropped my daughter off for her first day at work, been to Screwfix, Travis Perkins and Home Bargains, made a tuna sandwich and drank four coffees. Might put the gazebo back up this afternoon. This is a rare quiet day but I love how I can actually enjoy the day and get stuff done when my schedule allows. If I was in the office and it was quiet I’d have been bored stupid and still have everything to do tonight. I generally like it. Took the car out for a blast earlier. Windows open, prog rock on loud and wind through my (far too long) hair. Plus i'm getting paid. Put a few hours of graft in as well but i'm not letting a day like today go to waste. You can't do that in an office. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted June 1, 2021 Share Posted June 1, 2021 3 hours ago, Genie said: We’ve just got back from Fleetwood visiting family. Fleetwood was lovely, kids playing on the beach and swimming in the sea. Went through Blackpool. This will surprised very few people, but what a **** shithole. The place was rammed, I mean full on packed. It makes Disneyworld look like a library. It was like the walking dead with herds of people along the entire length of the promenade. Ive honestly never seen so many people in 1 place. It was like the emptying of a football stadium or concert, but for miles. I used to go to Blackpool semi regularly to see a client. Old fashioned business - liked someone to sit in front of him while he signed the paperwork. I was often only in the office for 5 mins, to get a signature, but it was a day out the office and I'm getting 40p a mile. The office I used to go to was just off the promenade by the Manchester pub? I always scheduled a meeting for about 11:30am-12:00pm so I could then have a wander along the front and have a fish n chip lunch. The sights you used to see! What a grim place. Yet I've been there on a lads weekend and had an absolute riot. I guess the adage is, you need to be drunk to enjoy the place! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted June 1, 2021 Share Posted June 1, 2021 2 hours ago, chrisp65 said: I suspect that with all the chavvy seaside / funfair resorts that what you are seeing is the Kiss Me Quick chavvy main drag. Take a walk 2 miles up the road and I bet its peaceful and lovely. But people want peaceful and lovely to be directly across the road from the car parking, good pub, dodgems, and chippy. Luckily for me, there are 5 beaches within walking distance but the average zombie doesn’t like to venture very far from the car or the Carling. Then they all go home and complain it was a bit chavvy and crowded in the beer garden. Absolutely. A pal of mine had the BH weekend away in Norfolk. He was sending me pics of the beaches - beautiful and nearly empty! People just need more imagination. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted June 1, 2021 Share Posted June 1, 2021 Gulp. I lived in Skegness in the 90s. I loved it then and love it still every time I return. Admittedly my time hasnt been as a holidaymaker so wasnt spent in Fat Louies etc. It also contained back then 2 of my favourite record shops in Herrick & Watsons and The Emporium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted June 1, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted June 1, 2021 3 hours ago, chrisp65 said: I suspect that with all the chavvy seaside / funfair resorts that what you are seeing is the Kiss Me Quick chavvy main drag. Take a walk 2 miles up the road and I bet its peaceful and lovely. Yep. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted June 1, 2021 Moderator Share Posted June 1, 2021 3 hours ago, chrisp65 said: Take a walk 2 miles up the road and I bet its peaceful and lovely Nope, not with Blackpool, you have to go about 6 miles headed south past the airport and Pontins to Blandy&Lancsland before you hit lovely, Anything north of there up to Fleetwood is a shithole Its not even that true with Rhyl either, you have to go through Prestatyn (Horrendous Pontins) to get to Rhyl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted June 1, 2021 Share Posted June 1, 2021 8 minutes ago, bickster said: Nope, not with Blackpool, you have to go about 6 miles headed south past the airport and Pontins to Blandy&Lancsland before you hit lovely, Anything north of there up to Fleetwood is a shithole Its not even that true with Rhyl either, you have to go through Prestatyn (Horrendous Pontins) to get to Rhyl Strange people that way. They pour engine oil and pickled onions on triangular fish. Best avoided. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted June 2, 2021 Share Posted June 2, 2021 (edited) NOT VERY FUN FACT: Blackpool is arguably the most deprived place in England. Measured by 'index of multiple deprivation' (which attempts to take into account many different measures of deprivation) and LSOA (a small area with about 1,500 residents), Blackpool has 13 of the 30 most deprived LSOAs in the country, and 8 of the top 10: from File 1 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2019 EDIT: Changed 'the UK' to England; forgot this was an only-England dataset. Edited June 2, 2021 by HanoiVillan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted June 2, 2021 Share Posted June 2, 2021 3 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said: NOT VERY FUN FACT: Blackpool is arguably the most deprived place in the UK. Measured by 'index of multiple deprivation' (which attempts to take into account many different measures of deprivation) and LSOA (a small area with about 1,500 residents), Blackpool has 13 of the 30 most deprived LSOAs in the country, and 8 of the top 10: from File 1 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2019 Does beg the question why? It has a big tourist pull, then the stag / hen nighttime economy. There should be a lot of money going into the town, where is it going? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted June 2, 2021 Share Posted June 2, 2021 4 minutes ago, Genie said: Does beg the question why? It has a big tourist pull, then the stag / hen nighttime economy. There should be a lot of money going into the town, where is it going? They're the roads just back from the promenade, eg this is the second most deprived: https://mapit.mysociety.org/area/78814.html As I understand it, this occurs because Blackpool has a load of unused hotel space, and so hotel rooms are used by local authorities to house asylum seekers and other people in need of urgent housing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted June 2, 2021 Moderator Share Posted June 2, 2021 17 hours ago, bickster said: Nope, not with Blackpool, you have to go about 6 miles headed south past the airport and Pontins to Blandy&Lancsland before you hit lovely, Anything north of there up to Fleetwood is a shithole Pontins has been demolished and is now houses. Blackpool is horribly deprived. Seasonal, bottom of the market tourism, low paid, insecure work. Massive drug problems. St Annes isn’t much better, but like you say once you go a little further there’s some lovely places, though there’s still plenty of tourists, they’re not really hidden gems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted June 2, 2021 Moderator Share Posted June 2, 2021 Cheap holidays in other people's misery as someone more rotten than me once wrote 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted June 2, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted June 2, 2021 4 hours ago, blandy said: Pontins has been demolished and is now houses. Blackpool is horribly deprived. Seasonal, bottom of the market tourism, low paid, insecure work. Massive drug problems. St Annes isn’t much better, but like you say once you go a little further there’s some lovely places, though there’s still plenty of tourists, they’re not really hidden gems I always thought that Blackpool had the longest season of any holiday resort because of the lights. You would think that gave it an edge on other resorts. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted June 2, 2021 Moderator Share Posted June 2, 2021 1 hour ago, sidcow said: I always thought that Blackpool had the longest season of any holiday resort because of the lights. You would think that gave it an edge on other resorts. Yeah, the illuminations extend the season, though TBH it dies at the end of summer and then goes back up for a week or so when the lights are on. Thing is though, like I said, it's bottom end of the market - all the rich folk go to abroadia in the autumn. Sitting in a traffic jam in the rain and wind looking at gaudy lights is somehow not to their liking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted June 2, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted June 2, 2021 Just now, blandy said: Yeah, the illuminations extend the season, though TBH it dies at the end of summer and then goes back up for a week or so when the lights are on. Thing is though, like I said, it's bottom end of the market - all the rich folk go to abroadia in the autumn. Sitting in a traffic jam in the rain and wind looking at gaudy lights is somehow not to their liking. Oohhhh. Abrodia sounds lovely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted June 2, 2021 Moderator Share Posted June 2, 2021 I once spent a night in the Norbreck Castle Hotel sometime in the late '80s whist ferrying the band Black about, they were filming a Sat morning kids TV show "It's Wicked" It was a shithole back then and from the reviews it seems its still the same shithole. Even now they only appear to be chargng £40 a room and by the sounds of it, they haven't changed even the wallpaper since Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted June 2, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted June 2, 2021 1 minute ago, bickster said: I once spent a night in the Norbreck Castle Hotel sometime in the late '80s whist ferrying the band Black about, they were filming a Sat morning kids TV show "It's Wicked" It was a shithole back then and from the reviews it seems its still the same shithole. Even now they only appear to be chargng £40 a room and by the sounds of it, they haven't changed even the wallpaper since It'd have to go some to beat the Grand Hotel at Scarborough. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted June 2, 2021 Share Posted June 2, 2021 (edited) 11 minutes ago, bickster said: I once spent a night in the Norbreck Castle Hotel sometime in the late '80s whist ferrying the band Black about, they were filming a Sat morning kids TV show "It's Wicked" It was a shithole back then and from the reviews it seems its still the same shithole. Even now they only appear to be chargng £40 a room and by the sounds of it, they haven't changed even the wallpaper since We stayed there about 15 years ago, a massive dump then. It was some Scottish bank holiday so the place was overrun with shit faced Scots. Fighting, screaming, setting off the fire alarms in the middle of the night. Edit: I just remembered when we arrived we demanded a new room because the floor wasn’t even level. As we drove past last week we told the kids about what a shit hole it is. My grandparents have a lot to answer for settling down up there. We keep falling for the trap “it won’t be too bad” and it’s always worse. Edited June 2, 2021 by Genie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted June 2, 2021 Share Posted June 2, 2021 9 minutes ago, bickster said: I once spent a night in the Norbreck Castle Hotel sometime in the late '80s whist ferrying the band Black about, they were filming a Sat morning kids TV show "It's Wicked" It was a shithole back then and from the reviews it seems its still the same shithole. Even now they only appear to be chargng £40 a room and by the sounds of it, they haven't changed even the wallpaper since They have country music weekends and Butlins reunions. I have not attended either. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted June 2, 2021 Moderator Share Posted June 2, 2021 1 hour ago, Seat68 said: They have country music weekends and Butlins reunions. I have not attended either. They used to do all kinds of shitty theme weekends even back then, I used to get mail about them five times a year addressed to Mr Tom Bassey until I moved flats. The person who booked my room, knew my address but couldnt remember my actual name but came up with Tom Bassey from Tom Jones / Shirley Bassey (He knew it was something Welsh). The name Tom stuck in certain circles for a good while and my mate Roy Corkhill still calls me that to this day. How they laughed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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