We are not amused…
Blackpool contains the poorest locales in the UK, has the lowest male life expectancy, four times the average drug deaths, double the national smoking related deaths, highest proportion of alcohol deaths, highest rate of mental illness in England...Some of the worst educational systems and despite all this has had its government allocated budget reduced by a third compared to richer boroughs which were only hit with 15% budget cuts under austerity measures. In real terms Blackpool has £1500 less per person to spend on its population than 10 years ago.
This is an ongoing documentary project detailing the depravation behind Englands most famous seaside resort.
Three truants and a couple take in a beautiful spring sky...
A block behind the promenade the boarded up houses and broken windows begin.
We are not amused, The Ballroom Blackpool Tower Ballroom is a gorgeous time capsule, a memorial to the ghost of Blackpool past... The afternoon dances, replete with organ player are a touching sight, old people glide across the floor beneath gilded splendour that harkens back to its golden days.
It's truly heartwarming to see the dancers in this gorgeous grandiose ballroom.
I met three boys on the promenade at 13:00 on a school day, they asked if the tide was going out as two of them wanted to swim.
Cheap flats above abandoned shops.
"Not much to do around here" was the reply I got from Dave, a middle aged man sat on a deck chair watching an old brutalist building being torn down. I passed this scene several times that day, the audience grew largeras the day went on until I had to ask them; 'Was this a beloved local building, was there a protest about losing it? Daves reply saddened me.
Freshly painted in the local yard, the paint was still dripping as I boarded my train home.
The decay of so many beautiful historic buildings like this old cinema is an all too common sight
The Golden Mile
Dave & Aurora We are Not Amused - Dave & Aurora I stopped and spoke to Dave in his small front yard, his house is in the south promenade district. I explained my project and he was happy to chat. We talked about the addiction issues and anti social behaviour that plague his neighbourhood. "After dark this place changes, the good folks stay off the streets and the dealers and customers start off their nightly trade" Dave is a wonderful Dad who dotes on his beautiful daughter Aurora. His neighbours look out for each other and each others kids. After chatting to him for a half hour I offered to take his portrait with Aurora and send him the shots.
The yard opposite Daves house
1 block behind 'The Golden Mile'
Low tide from the South Pier... Despite being a famous historical bathing spot Blackpool beach has not been deemed a safe place to swim for quite some time. It's an example of the UKs failure to meet clean bathing water regulations on many of its beaches and proof of the failure of privately run water companies to properly treat sewage and prevent overflow leaks during periods of heavy rain. 'None of the beaches in Lancashire was classified as excellent, four were classified as good, four only reached the 'sufficient' standard, while the beaches at St Annes North and Blackpool North remained at the 'poor' standard. Overall the results for Lancashire beaches in 2024 were disappointing when compared with 2021. St Annes North and Blackpool North were the only beaches in the North West to be classed as poor and were two out of only 22 in the whole of England.' The latest results for 2024 that were published by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in December 2024 were the ninth measured against standards required by the 2006/7 Bathing Water Directive. The classifications are based on a rolling average over four years, rather than just the last complete year of measurements which the previous classifications used.
All The Pretty Horses During the week when schools are in term the carousel horses lay idle awaiting their next revolution. With little industry in the local area Blackpools labour market is primarily service industry related. As tourism continues to swing away from British seaside resorts and government investment in local renewal wanes the future of the job market here is uncertain. The UK is the only G7 country whose economic stability and employment rates have not returned to pre pandemic levels. A damning indictment of the reality of the effects of Brexit. In Blackpool: Employment rate 69.7% ages 16 to 64 Employment in Blackpool has decreased compared with the previous year. Blackpool's employment rate was lower than across the North West as a whole in the year ending December 2023. ↓ Unemployment rate 3.6% ages 16+ Unemployment (people looking for work) has fallen since a year earlier. The unemployment rate for Blackpool was slightly lower than across the North West as a whole. ↓ Claimant Count 6.5% ages 16 to 64 Claimant Count was lower in March 2024 compared with a year earlier. The Claimant Count measures the number of people who are claiming unemployment-related benefits. ↓ Economic inactivity 28.4% ages 16 to 64 Economic inactivity has increased since the previous year. These are people who are neither employed nor seeking work.
No Bathing - Despite being a famous historical bathing spot Blackpool beach has not been deemed a safe place to swim for quite some time. It's an example of the UKs failure to meet clean bathing water regulations on many of its beaches and proof of the failure of privately run water companies to properly treat sewage and prevent overflow leaks during periods of heavy rain. 'None of the beaches in Lancashire was classified as excellent, four were classified as good, four only reached the 'sufficient' standard, while the beaches at St Annes North and Blackpool North remained at the 'poor' standard. Overall the results for Lancashire beaches in 2024 were disappointing when compared with 2021. St Annes North and Blackpool North were the only beaches in the North West to be classed as poor and were two out of only 22 in the whole of England.' The latest results for 2024 that were published by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in December 2024 were the ninth measured against standards required by the 2006/7 Bathing Water Directive. The classifications are based on a rolling average over four years, rather than just the last complete year of measurements which the previous classifications used.
Golden Hour / Bingo hour...
We Are Not Amused - Adrian Whilst walking down the breakwater on my way to catch my train Adrian quite literally hollered at me. I talked to him for a half hour and he told me the sad tale of his survivors guilt. A reformed alcoholic who had outlived his wife, today was his birthday and where better to celebrate it and commemorate his wife but the place where he scattered her ashes... The 2 empty cans of super strong lager were a birthday treat he told me as he detailed his surgeries, heart bypass, colostomy, stents and other procedures. His loneliness was palpable, he had moved to Blackpool with his wife as it was her favourite place but despite Adrian being the one in and out of hospital his partner, his carer had passed before him. I said my goodbyes, I really did need to get to the train station but his parting shot said so much about the misdirected rage of the poorest of our society... He pointed at the beach, 'I'm not racist but...' 'These bloody foreigners come here and leave their shit all over the beach..' I cut him off with a simple 'Goodbye Adrian.' To be clear the beach was pristine and I'd been musing all day about how multi cultural the walkers on the sands had been from the Indian family making Bollywood dance tik toks on the steps to a Ghanaian family running in and out of the shallows. The downtrodden lash out at the culnerable & the right wing politicians delight at this misdirection. The biggest polluters. tax cheats and thieves are the rich white natives and it is they who prosper whilst the poorest suffer.
