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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2024 Discussion

rob666 said:
Holidays to the Med shattered their market...starting in the sixties, all the quality punters with big money vanished overnight.
Spain beat Blackpool five nil in the first half of the seventies, so the town turned to "adult" themes to seek out a new market.
The stags and hens scared away lots of families, so lots of good B&B's went to the wall, then cheap flights due to crazy fuel subsidies to rich companies meant that it was cheaper to fly to Poland than go thirty miles to Blackpool on the train.
The Beach has suffered bad marketing and leadership for some time, money invested in an unpopular show means new attractions have been extremely limited.
Plus everything Chris said...only place my pocket was picked, ever, was on the Beach.
The only place I have been offered sexual services while having a drink, male and female...on the Beach, or by the entrance.
Fighting at every home match at the football, lots and lots of large group intimidation, and a park so packed with freeloaders it would take over an hour to walk round the park.
Then there is the overworked and underpaid staff, who were always under the threat of no work next year if you didn't toe the line.
One of the poorest, unhealthiest towns in Britain, with a sprinkling of glitter along
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I know the town's been on a downhill slope since the 60s. I just thought the Pleasure Beach was doing a lot better then
ScottishChris said:
That is a very fair point. For all the poor management by the Thompsons, their hard product is pretty good and has clearly kept them going. Can you imagine what the place would have been if they actually had robust, effective management in place?
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Why don't they just let a decent company buy them out? Not Merlin per se but maybe by the people that own Europa Park?
 
metalhead98 said:
Why don't they just let a decent company buy them out? Not Merlin per se but maybe by the people that own Europa Park?
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Why would they? The place makes money. It is a business that has been in the family for over 125 years. The Thompson's also seem to enjoy the faux importance it gives them too.

Just because we all think they are managing the place atrociously, we don't have the power to do anything about it - it is a private company.
 
ScottishChris said:
Why would they? The place makes money. It is a business that has been in the family for over 125 years. The Thompson's also seem to enjoy the faux importance it gives them too.

Just because we all think they are managing the place atrociously, we don't have the power to do anything about it - it is a private company.
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Aren't they struggling to make money though?
 
metalhead98 said:
Aren't they struggling to make money though?
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As @Katy states, the figures regarding profitability in the accounts are very much "smoke and mirrors". The Thompson's make plenty from PB and always will. Just look at the They also have one of the most unique businesses in the UK as Blackpool Council are very much dependent on the place for revenue coming into the town. Even in the worst of times [rightly or wrongly], the council will always make sure they are OK.

Just for some context and to demonstrate the web of financed the Thompson Family have created, the following businesses are either part of Pleasure Beach Holdings Ltd. or connected in some way:
1. South Beach Construction Ltd
2. Amanda j Thompson Ltd
3. Ocean Boulevard II Ltd
4. Milleride Ltd.
5. South Shore Mutual Insurance Ltd.
6. Velvet Coaster
7. Blackpool Pleasure Beach (1910) Company
8 Blackpool Leisure and Amusement Consultancy Ltd.
9. Blackpool Pleasure Beach Ltd.
10. Hotchkiss Patents and Investments Ltd.
11. Cable Cutes II Limited
12. Park Inventions and Device Manufacturing Company
13. Monitor and Merrimac Limited
14. Frontierland Limited
15. Cable Cutes (Blackpool) Limited
16. NWR Thompson Limited

Some of these are currently slated as Dormant.
 
shakey said:
So it's all doom and gloom in Blackpool then.

Come on @rob666 get yourself a season pass. Even our rick has got one now. 5 trips to make it worth while, probably less when you take into account the excellent company from over the border.
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Sorry shakey, missed this.
Sorry mate, not planning any more than a couple of visits to the Beach this year, free entry with a trip to Hot Ice one day in the summer, and jolly boys in the autumn with the old gits.
May well nip in over the wall on my telescopic ladder as well at some point, then claim my usual lost ticket in Embertons.
Only kidding, probably.
A fallow year does you the power of good.
Hopefully not puking on Icon or on the way to spoons this year.
Any and all welcome to join my world tour of Britain...oakwood, thorpe, mingo, drayton, southport and towers...but not all in one go.
Volvo hotel and ladder entry season pass.
Will be back with a pass next year.
Promise mate.
 
Just a question about the Thompson family and the park ownership, obviously there is a long lineage there with it staying in the family. But I wonder though, what might happen at some point in the future when Mandy and Nick will no longer be around, are there any other Thompsons that might inherit the park one day?
 
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Shaggy_Dog_ said:
Just a question about the Thompson family and the park ownership, obviously there is a long lineage there with it staying in the family. But I wonder though, what might happen at some point in the future when Mandy and Nick will no longer be around, are there another other Thompsons that might inherit the park one day?
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Possibly someone with more business sense and better public relations skills will take over?
 
How busy is the park on opening day usually? My daughter wants to go very first day it opens but see it's only open at 11am to 5pm
 
They have increased the price for the opening Saturday and Sunday to £35 (from £33), so that would suggest they have already had quite a few people book for the opening weekend. Saturday was increased first but now Sunday has too.

It seems like they are going to operate a fluid pricing policy this year, with an initial price of £33 for any day, but increase it if they get a lot of bookings. I don't particularly like that to be honest. I don't think any other park works on that basis, but this is Blackpool Pleasure Beach "Resort" we are talking about.
 
shakey said:
It seems like they are going to operate a fluid pricing policy this year, with an initial price of £33 for any day, but increase it if they get a lot of bookings. I don't particularly like that to be honest. I don't think any other park works on that basis, but then this is Blackpool Pleasure Beach Resort we are talking about.
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I’d think that most places do that, to be fair. Dynamic, demand-based pricing is becoming more and more common.

I know Merlin certainly do it to an extent. If you go onto their booking portal, a weekend ticket for a Merlin park will certainly cost you more than a weekday ticket, and the closer weekends are costing more than ones further away.

It does make some sense, in my view; it’s basic economics of supply and demand. They will have a certain degree of demand they’ll want so as not to outstrip supply. On quieter days, the prices can be lower as demand is lower, but on busier days, prices can be higher because that level of demand is hit more quickly,
 
Matt N said:
I’d think that most places do that, to be fair. Dynamic, demand-based pricing is becoming more and more common.

I know Merlin certainly do it to an extent. If you go onto their booking portal, a weekend ticket for a Merlin park will certainly cost you more than a weekday ticket, and the closer weekends are costing more than ones further away.

It does make some sense, in my view; it’s basic economics of supply and demand. They will have a certain degree of demand they’ll want so as not to outstrip supply. On quieter days, the prices can be lower as demand is lower, but on busier days, prices can be higher because that level of demand is hit more quickly,
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Yes , I get that, but I am assuming the pricing structure is pretty much set . So weekends , school holidays and special event days are more , but booking in advance is less .

Blackpool "South Shore" appear to be purely changing prices based on how many people book. Or at least that seems to be the case for opening weekend.



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IDB said:
F4C76D9D-AAA2-4D9F-80EF-8C6CEEC01C90.jpeg
Logo changed already.
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Perhaps it’s like Thorpe Park’s new logo, where they have a variety of different colour combinations to suit different occasions?

I must admit that I’m not keen on this rebrand at all, however. The park has been known as “Blackpool Pleasure Beach” for 128 years, and I think that the location in Blackpool has been a large part of its success and overall product, even if it does deter some.
 
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I don't mind the turquoise on white but the bright pink exclamation mark doesn't really work. It's marginally better but it's still in Blackpool even if you don't want to admit that
 
Poisson said:
A lot of the rides are on low capacity too. I'd probably avoid.
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Actually last season they had pretty much everything running on full capacity on opening weekend, and all the food places were open, even the ones that are rarely open like dipper dogs and wok infusion. There were staff everywhere. Probably training them all up.
 
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