Brighton of the North

Brighton? Well, not really. Blackpool has got sand, not stones for a start. And not just the Palace Pier and a rusting ruin cut off from the back but three piers, all with entertainment due to start when the country gets back in gear. And of course the Tower, visible from much of the Fylde peninsula and the same age as the Eiffel Tower.

Lockdown hasn't been kind to Blackpool but due to limited overseas travel, it's said to have had a good summer. But late September is most definitely autumn and apart from at weekends, it's gone pretty quiet again. Since my last visit 12 years ago, there's been some impressive development around Blackpool North station but some of the other streets are very run down and need creative thinking from the council. There's talk of a "Silicon Sands" project if enough techie entrepreneurs can be found.

Blackpool has always been the capital of traditional comedy, the natural home of Ken Dodd, Tommy Cooper and Morecambe & Wise. More left-field stuff---no. Music follows a similar pattern, with Sinatra and Elvis imitators everywhere. It's a perfect time warp.

The wind, which can kindly be called bracing, pursues us around the Tower and the North Pier, from which the other piers are visible. The Tower pokes its head again above a place hopefully taking you to Cuba (image 4) and the back streets show that street art is alive and well (5). The final image shows how enterprise can be used to convert what could have been a hairdresser's or newsagent's into a micropub, and very good the beer is too: just half a dozen tables but 4 local brews and a draught cider, with friendly management you would never find in the barn-like places. In the background is the Akash, an Indian restaurant which we first visited 20 years ago; Sammy, the owner, makes us feel very much at home and serves an excellent chicken tikka masala.Les mer