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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

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Insearchof said:
Hey,

First Post and I know this is very, very random but I'm hoping someone can help.

I've spent ages looking for a picture of an old statue/figure that used to be at the Pleasure Beach. It was of a smiling - for want of a better word - fat man with a suit on and a top hat and I think he was wearing glasses.

I'm sure it used to be near some sort of mini-golf attraction (could be wrong, my memory is a bit hazy) and later got moved into outside storage that could be seen when on the Ice Blast. It was pretty big so was hard to miss.

I know this is random but if anyone has a clue what I'm talking about and can share a picture of it I'd be very grateful!
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Sorry, just seen this. I can only think of this one that sort of matches the description?

o30ibeW.jpg
 
Rick said:
Sorry, just seen this. I can only think of this one that sort of matches the description?

o30ibeW.jpg
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Hilarious! And he looks like Harold Bishop from Neighbours to boot! One of these guys is by the entrance to the Arena car park. I’m sure one ended up by the Starr Gate tram depot by the mini golf for some years too. It may have gone now
 
Dipper_Dave said:
I’m sure one ended up by the Starr Gate tram depot by the mini golf for some years too
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Thaaat’s why it seems familiar! Yeah, I’m sure I’ve seen something very similar on the way driving down to the prom. Must have been it.

Wonder if the park offloaded them to another local attraction when they’d done with them (not that I can see why anyone in their right mind would want such nightmare fuel...)
 
Sterling Moss comes to mind...close to the Turnpike/Grand Prix.
Another was of Mr Thompson, then a Russian doll.
Think there is detail in one of my big books, duly dusted down for the winter lockdown.
Lots of old beach tat ended up in the front gardens of B&B's around the town.
 
Dipper_Dave said:
I’m sure one ended up by the Starr Gate tram depot by the mini golf for some years too. It may have gone now
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Ian said:
Thaaat’s why it seems familiar! Yeah, I’m sure I’ve seen something very similar on the way driving down to the prom. Must have been it.
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It did, that was this one. I think this is supposed to represent someone from Chipperfield's Circus?

2WXO3b5.png


rob666 said:
Sterling Moss comes to mind...close to the Turnpike/Grand Prix.
Another was of Mr Thompson, then a Russian doll.
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q3jsoOy.jpg

WGT (last stored on Vikingar site, not sure if still there).

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Jim Rowland - whereabouts unknown, have seen it somewhere since removed but not for a while.

WTGq4Qi.jpg

Whoever this is ... is still on the Arena car park:

vwCj0SK.png
 
venny said:
I miss this sort of crazy WTF-ness of Pleasure Beach. It feels like it’s slowly being eroded, to the point where the little surprises and details no longer exist. Mostly replaced by white plastic.
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I still think a lot of this is cyclical. The WTF factor was ramped way up during the WGT era, but if you look at the period from the 1940s - 1960s, there was a real concerted effort to make the park look very uniform, with white art-deco buildings across the park and big name artists like Tom Purvis providing pieces to adorn them.

Easy to be nostalgic, but if that JR thing was still there looking tatty as it does in that photo, I suspect people would be complaining then too...
 
I think the uniform 'white plastic' look of the park in recent years has gone a bit too far in one direction, but on the other hand, WGT did have a mind for WTF clutter. A friend of mine once remarked that had he been around for Infusion, the lake underneath would have been littered with plastic shark fins.
 
They were the ride token machines as I used 1 for the Super Bowl Dodgems 25 years ago. The last time I brought tokens at Blackpool was in summer 2001 as it was a busy day and only wanted to ride Valhalla with my m8’s.
 
Spending lockdown doing some more digging through all my old stuff.

News clipping from 1927 ... anyone seen any reference to 'The Brownie Coaster' before? There are/were a few rides stateside with that name, including one at Kennywood (see video below). Most were Mangels rides and indeed a number of other examples exist - the one I am most familiar with is the one at Bushkill Park, named Kiddie Coaster (currently in storage).

Feels most likely that it would have been a ride of the same type, given the name and illustration. Perhaps a lost coaster?

p5ugG37.png


PoOchKP.png



(from 1:19)
 
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This is the only coaster I’m aware of that isn’t ever mentioned from BPB. Was situated next to Zipper Dipper.

29th-august-1953-a-father-and-son-enjoying-a-fairground-ride-on-the-picture-id3416912

29th August 1953: A father and son enjoying a fairground ride on the pleasure beach at Blackpool. Original Publication: Picture Post - 6688 - Picture Post Television Preview: What Blackpool Means To Them - pub. 1953 (Photo by Thurston Hopkins/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
 
MiserableMonkey said:
This is the only coaster I’m aware of that isn’t ever mentioned from BPB. Was situated next to Zipper Dipper.

29th-august-1953-a-father-and-son-enjoying-a-fairground-ride-on-the-picture-id3416912

29th August 1953: A father and son enjoying a fairground ride on the pleasure beach at Blackpool. Original Publication: Picture Post - 6688 - Picture Post Television Preview: What Blackpool Means To Them - pub. 1953 (Photo by Thurston Hopkins/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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Ace. I have a pic of that which I kept meaning to post, but I think this one is better. Surely it’s some kind of kiddie Reel.

@Rick new to me. Brownie Coaster. Could be more exciting than Icon
 
I could be wrong but it looks like somewhere near the North Pier. Makes sense as they're extending the system to the North station
 
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