Southport Pleasureland

[jon81uk]

We took the dog to Southport the other week and had a walk up to the park to check out the new golf and see what else was going on.

£10per adult for a game of crazy golf is crazy and overpriced. Family pass was a bit better value but not everyone travels in a family of 4 hence we didn't bother having a round.

This isn't how you entice people back to Southport.

I know I'm comparing to the outskirts of London but £8-12 seems to be the going rate for 18 hole adventure mini golf in Essex/Kent/London. Its oddly one of cheapest things at Alton Towers as they only charge £7 for adults.

 

[blackholes crow]

Lord Street was a famous shopping street with sheltered avenues, nice department stores and decent eateries.
It now has 'spoons, B&M Bargains and charity shops, amongst the peeling paint and beggars.
It has lost its genteel nature, and is now a place on the coast that old gits go to die.
Nobody stays over anymore, it is a day tripper resort.

Its a shame but your not wrong its lost 99% of its flare from the 90s and beyond
The only thing to do with the whole town is to completely revamp it with major cash injections but no one will ever do it as it'll just fall back into disrepair like Morecambe bay

 

[rob666]

Bad comparison with Morecambe mate...£50 million grant just been given by central government for the new Eden project...another £150 million due.
Southport could do with some of that, though the town is far far richer than Morecambe.
Only the shops and fair need sorting in Southport, everything needs sorting in Morecambe.

 

[blackholes crow]

Wow i think i may need a nother trip to morecambe now (went in 2018) hence my comparison to both towns)
But both places where old gits go to die tho!!

 

[rob666]

No, that would be a one way ticket to Knott End.
Morecambe is still as bad, the groundwork is only just starting, but Knott End, just wow.
Ferry and a tram to the Beach, so I am still interested, after the next property crash.

 

[blackholes crow]

Oks ill give it a year or so giggles

 

[venny]

Their is a reasonably big regeneration project at the marine lake, where they’re building a new events centre and also adding a fountain and light show to the lake itself.

£73m Marine Lake project gets green light - what it will look like

The Marine Lake Events Centre will have a 1,500 capacity theatre, exhibition and conference facilities, water and light shows and create hundreds of jobs.

www.liverpoolworld.uk

 

[blackholes crow]

Their is a reasonably big regeneration project at the marine lake, where they’re building a new events centre and also adding a fountain and light show to the lake itself.

£73m Marine Lake project gets green light - what it will look like

The Marine Lake Events Centre will have a 1,500 capacity theatre, exhibition and conference facilities, water and light shows and create hundreds of jobs.

www.liverpoolworld.uk

(A little away from southport but)
Blackpool's central car park is being transformed into something very similar....
I wonder if the whole coast is going to receive an events space...just find it a tad odd that both towns are doing something along the same lines

 

[rob666]

Blackpool's "big idea" for the old Central station has been an ongoing giggle since the Beeching cuts in the sixties.
The current big construction is a multi storey car park, so the rest of the site can eventually be developed without the loss of parking.
Blackpool was given the rare choice of picking which station to close, and could, and should, have closed North station, but saw the Central site as more valuable for development...
So all the daytrippers have to walk half a mile to the Towers and beach, instead of the station being right by the Tower and prom.

 

[WillPS]

Blackpool was given the rare choice of picking which station to close, and could, and should, have closed North station, but saw the Central site as more valuable for development...

Strange that they then built a giant Police and Court complex on it!

 

[rob666]

Because they couldn't find a decent developer to either fund or purchase the whole site.
The half planned developments over the years came in just at the time that Blackpool's stock in trade shifted overnight with the birth of cheap foreign travel.
All those under sixty gave up on a week in Blackpool virtually overnight.

 

[QTXAdsy]

Blackpool's "big idea" for the old Central station has been an ongoing giggle since the Beeching cuts in the sixties.
The current big construction is a multi storey car park, so the rest of the site can eventually be developed without the loss of parking.
Blackpool was given the rare choice of picking which station to close, and could, and should, have closed North station, but saw the Central site as more valuable for development...
So all the daytrippers have to walk half a mile to the Towers and beach, instead of the station being right by the Tower and prom.

British Rail were cash strapped as hell then and any way to make a penny was worth it no matter if it was good or not. Lots of problems BR did have long before the infamous Doctor came among with his axe who TBH wasn't all to blame and did some good at the time but I'm going off topic here.

 

[IDB]

The HydroMax Fabbri Booster that was previously located at Pleasure Island Cleethorpes has turned up at the park.

 

[Poisson]

So many memories of that ride nearly 20 years ago and in closing day, plus the wonderful howl it makes at full chat. Glad it is saved.

 

[JAperson]

Has there been any news on the coaster? We seem to have heard very little since the application was approved.

 

[Shaggy_Dog_]

Has there been any news on the coaster? We seem to have heard very little since the application was approved.

I think all we know about at this point is that the owner has stated that it would not be a Thunderbolt by Zamperla (as had previously been suggested).

 

[blackholes crow]

Ooo a mystery coaster

 

[danlouislucy]

RMC single rail or Intamin Hot Racer? They’re both fairly similar in cost to the Thunderbolt and would have appropriate capacity while putting the park back on the map

if only

 

[MAC]

I had a walk around Pleasureland today and I have to say Norman has done a great job with the park. It looks so much smarter than it did in the final years of the BPB ownership. Late 1990s was the best era of the park under BPB then it went downhill in the years before it closed. It’s a clean, smart, decent family park now with year on year investment

 

[rob666]

...just short of actual operating coasters!
Better environment and new bars, more food stalls than you could shake a mucky stick at, but not a single operating adult rollercoaster on my last visit.
The duff looper on Marine Drive was a misleading advert for the park...I only saw it running once, and the current single adult coaster was closed for repairs on my last two visits.
In my mind the seventies and eighties were the great years...apart from the nightmare ladybird invasion of '76...billions of them...rides closed down for the day because of bugs sticking on the wheels...lovely stuff.
Still no news on the "big" new coaster...not a single footer on show then?