Tag: Landmarks

Manchester’s Wood Street Mission Comes to Blackpool

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Wood Street Mission was founded in 1869 by Methodist minister Alfred Alsop to relieve poverty among children and families in Manchester and Salford. For generations it provided food, clothing, shelter and toys, becoming a trusted institution in the industrial North. In the 1920s, its work took a new turn with the creation of a holiday home at Squires Gate in Blackpool. Opened in 1922, the site gave over 1,000 children each summer the chance of a week by the sea. With seven acres of playing fields and a swimming pool, it offered freedoms unavailable in the city. Many annual reports…

Norbreck Bowling and Tennis Club Opens

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Norbreck Bowling and Tennis Club (as it is known today) plays an important role in the lives of many local people. Its foundations in the community were laid in October 1931, when the land owner Mr Walter Spencer set out to build a community centre for the local neighbourhood. Today the club boasts superb facilities including a beautifully maintained green, two refurbished all weather tennis courts, snooker room with two full size tables, Pool, Darts & a newly installed Petanque Court. There’s also a large bar and function room. The Club in those days, was on what is now the…

Elephants Marched up and Down Blackpool’s Promenade

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Before 1990, the Blackpool Tower Circus featured elephants as a prominent part of its shows and was famous for exercising the animals with morning walks along the beach and promenade. For decades, it was a regular sight for visitors and locals to see the elephants going down to the water to bathe. The first elephants were used in the Tower Circus in 1895, a year after the circus had opened. The animals were trained by a man named Julius Wagner and were a popular attraction. The circus continued to feature wild animal acts, including elephants, until 1990, when the use…

ICI Hillhouse Starts Manufacturing Chemicals in Thornton Cleveleys

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ICI Hillhouse was a chlorine-production facility in Lancashire, England. A division of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), it was active between 1941 and 1992. Its triangular footprint spread from the banks of the River Wyre at Stanah in the east, to Hillylaid Road in the southwest, to the southern edge of Fleetwood in the north. Its entrances were on Hillylaid Road (via the extant gate at the end of today’s The Hawthorns) and on Butts Road in Burn Naze. Burn Naze Halt railway station served those arriving by train. ICI Hillhouse expanded on a United Alkali Company venture begun in 1890….

Armfield Academy Opens on Former Site of Arnold School

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Armfield Academy is a new school that opened in September 2018, built on the site of the former Arnold School, which was established in the late 1800s. The academy was named in honor of Blackpool FC legend and former Arnold pupil, Jimmy Armfield, and is run by the Fylde Coast Academy Trust (FCAT). The new building was created to replace the outdated Arnold School facilities, aiming to provide a better learning environment for young people on the Fylde Coast.

The Grapes Hotel & Pub in Wrea Green

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The Grapes is a 19th-century pub in Wrea Green, located on the village green, dating at least as far back as the 1860s – the exact opening date has not been specified. Historically known as the Dumpling Inn, it is a prominent local feature, overlooking the largest village green in Lancashire, which also has a duck pond and cricket pitch.

The Royal Oak Pub on Waterloo Road

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The Royal Oak pub in Blackpool has a history dating back to the late 1890s. It was acquired by the C&S Brewery in 1893, extensively refurbished, and renamed the Royal Oak. The rebuilding included salvaged brick from Whinney Heys Hall and a glazed terracotta facade. The pub reopened on July 12, 1930, with a fireplace believed to be the work of Robert Thompson, featuring hidden carved mice and celebrating its earlier life dating back to 1651. The Royal Oak is located on Waterloo Road, a street known for its architectural mix of old and new. It stands opposite the Civic… Read more »

Fairhaven Golf Club Moves to Current Location

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Fairhaven Golf Club was originally a 12-hole course adjacent to Fairhaven Lake in 1892 and founded as a club in 1895. Its time located next to the sea was eventful, having had to contend with the vagaries of the tides on one side and the encroachment from the developers of King Edward School and housing on the other. Fairhaven Golf Club moved half a mile inland to its current location, in what was then Lytham Hall Park, in 1924. As the course was then very flat and without trees, J.A. Steer, the then professional at Blackpool Golf Club and later… Read more »

Robert & Gaynor Wynne, a Blackpool Success Story

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A six-figure funding deal from Royal Bank of Scotland has supported businessman and former Blackpool Mayor Robert Wynne, to open his £350,000 pub and micro-brewery in one of the town’s best known buildings. The Brew Room is housed in what was formerly known as The Blue Room, the building where Blackpool Football Club was originally…

Lytham Cottage Hospital Becomes Clifton Hospital

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LYTHAM HOSPITAL – THE FIRST IN THE FYLDE Thursday August 3rd, 1871, was a red-letter day in Lytham. Shortly after 11 am a procession of about 50 gentleman formed in the Market Square and headed by the band of the 29th (Lytham) Rifle Volunteers, proceeded along Clifton Street for the official opening at noon of the new hospital – the first in the Fylde. The proposal for a hospital had been talked about for some years and the recent developments in anaesthetics and antiseptics were opening up new avenues in surgery. In 1870 there was an outbreak of low fever… Read more »