First Leisure Corporation Plc was a leisure operator in the UK between 1981 and 2004. Originally based in Soho Square, London, and with other offices in Blackpool and Leicester, its operations included Blackpool Tower, the town’s Winter Gardens and all three Blackpool piers, as well as five other piers, health and fitness clubs, nightclubs and bars, tenpin bowling centres and other mainstream UK high street entertainment venues. Behind the company was Lord Bernard Delfont. By the 1960s, he and his brothers – Lew and Leslie Grade, as well as his nephew Michael Grade – were all very successful and were said to have a… Read more »
Blackpool’s iconic tower dominates the skyline at the famous seaside resort with nothing to challenge it, however that wasn’t always the case. In 1896 it had a rival in the form of the ‘Giant Wheel’ although in reality it was never a genuine challenger and lasted a mere 32 years. At around the same time, a roller coaster was built around the corner. See more on that here. Designed by Walter B Bassett and situated next to Blackpool Winter Gardens, the structure was the second wheel out of four that the British Naval Engineer was to erect between the years... 
