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Southport Pleasureland

rob666 said:
Don't see how you can confuse Southport Pleasureland with Blackpool Pleasure Beach...thirty miles apart by road, one in Southport, one in Blackpool.
Instead of rebranding, they would be better building the new nice big coaster along the seafront they promised.
Ego trip renaming...and the article is a little biased, the Thompsons may have been naughty, but the didn't virtually level the park when they left the site, I would say 80% was left standing.
Cyclone was naughty, but it was also crap!
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Actually, there are many in Southport as far as I'm aware who still have it in for the Thompsons over the way they suddenly closed the park and especially the destruction of Cyclone which the latter really caused much of this anger to arise.

Had they not left the place in a state or had at the least left Cyclone SBNO then I don't think the anger would have been as great though after all these years, many have long memories.

Ego trip you may say but ironically this might actually work for them for simply kicking the Thompsons, probably a popular sport in Southport, is one way to gain support for the park to show what state they left the place in and to show what they are planning to do might give them just that credit needed to get what they want.

I agree though that the park needs a big coaster to really kick start the park, really tragic of how close Knightmare came to being saved by moving to Southport had Camelot's owners not asked for stupid money.
 
Pleasure Beach trashed everything they could without investment when they left. By that, I mean they vandalised as much as they could whilst spending as little money as possible. The thing that always sticks in my mind is them taking a sledgehammer to all the sinks and toilets just so they were smashed and couldn’t be used.

As for the latest plan to reboot Pleasureland, have we not heard this all before? Norman has had grand plans for massive renovations and new family entertainment centres before. And then a new Pinfari turns up…

I genuinely hope that this does signal a new era, however I’m taking it with a pinch of salt until it actually happens.
 
I think that the park just want to get rid of the “pleasure” part of the name, not because anyone will confuse Southport Pleasureland for Blackpool Pleasure Beach but they may want to avoid people thinking that they are in some way linked or part of the same company.

I think they are fine in wanting to rebrand their park but Port Of Adventure At Southport just doesn’t sound like a good name. Having the “port” in their twice means it sounds somewhat awkward (and as said above it sounds like PortAventura). Maybe they’d have been better with something more snappy and simple such as Southport Adventure Park.
 
Pleasure Beach absolutely destroyed that place on the way out. The sinks and toilets thing is true.

They also did the same with the channel in the River Caves.

To their limited credit, some rides were sent to Dreamland, but I think they were all scrapped eventually.
 
Niet Roken said:
Why on earth did that happen?
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When vacating the site they took everything they could (infusion moved to Blackpool for instance) but anything else they effectively put it beyond use.

I imagine they were trying to stop anyone taking over the site and having rides and facilities already in place to help compete immediately. Cyclone wasn't the greatest of coasters but it would certainly of been a great advantage to anyone operating the site. The council should still be ashamed of themselves for allowing that to be pulled down.
 
How bizarre, youd think they would just sell everything off and sell the land to a developer if their greed was so much they werent willing to have the slightest competition
 
Ask any company, no one wants tough competition with both Merlin and BPB being no exception. Interesting to imagine if they hadn't trashed Pleasureland as much such as Cyclone surviving then the place would have at least been in a more serious place. We all seem to think that giant rides are what's needed but there are more important things such as the toilets, sinks and surrounding area being wrecked and sometimes those are arguably more important than some giant coaster being built.

Wouldn't be surprised if half of the money they spent so far was just on cleaning the place up and to their credit they have done well with that as it is starting to look a lot better now, it just needs a bit more help and support from the locals and council and if this meeting was the catalyst to get the support needed then good on them.

Wherever or not these plans do come about is unclear but at the very least they have a vision going forward, far more likely than any London resort that's for sure.
 
I take it there is still no more news regarding that big new coaster they allegedly got planning permission for ?
 
Watched the Theme park WW stream last night and Shawn mentioned Southport could be starting work on Thier new coaster soon,. Interested to see what the new flats are for this year as well.
 
rob666 said:
Could being the operative word.
If they had followed their original timescale, it would be opening this summer wouldn't it?
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Well they have taken down an older coaster at the park so they definitely need a replacement. I don't live that far away now so I'm hoping it does happen
 
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Relife said:
Well they have taken down an older coaster at the park so they definitely need a replacement. I don't love that far away now so I'm hoping it does happen
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The Cyclone was pulled down by the previous owners, to stifle local competition.
Baffled as to you putting a self quote in there that is completely wrong, nothing to do with the Brighton Pier Group.
And you love where you like mate!
 
Especially as it was wrong in the other topic!
Edit...I could be lying...again!
Still not clever enough to quote cross topics anyway!
Back on topic, Pleasureland, like Morecambe and Blackpool, was one of my favourite places of my youth, but the last few visits, I haven't even made it on the park, the view from outside just didn't tempt me due to all or nothing wristbands.
Did the promised pub and minigolf actually get built for last season, I never got further than the shops on Lord Street?
 
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