Summer in Blackpool

Blackpool's 2012 season is about to begin

and if the weather holds up, it should be a good year.

In its heyday, half the population came to Blackpool.

NEWSREEL: Take a train to the place name on the ticket and where shall that be?

Margate, Southend, Scarborough, Weston-super-Mare? Blackpool? Blackpool has it.

Most of Britain's seaside towns thrived right until the '70s.

But once foreign holidays became cheaper,

the flow to the coast began to dry up.

By the '90s, Blackpool's visitor numbers were down.

And the slide continued.

But now, there's a £300 million drive to bring them back.

I want somebody big on that stage.

I want this place full and I want people saying,

"Bloody hell, he made it happen."

If we do handle this wrong, we could be cut off for ever.

But with the recession continuing to bite

and one of the wettest summers on record to deal with,

how did the town they call Las Vegas on Sea cope?

This is what we're aiming for. What has happened with this street?

This is the whole point.

The mother and my wife, they are just both barmy.

They would go to the opening of a fridge if it had something to do with Blackpool.

This is what Blackpool needs.

A nice sunny day... Uh-oh, maybe I spoke too soon. Look at them clouds.

Howard Plant is owner and manager of eight central car parks.

Today, his younger brother Warren is helping out.

-I'm cured of this.

-Get it in here, come on. Time is money, money is everything.

Stick it in here. Come on.

A lot of people don't see this, but you have to do this every day.

Warren, we'll do this later.

There's a van down there with a load of rubbish behind it.

-We'll have to wait till it goes. Come on.

-Just let me get this last bit.

Howard started out as Blackpool's first car clamper in the 1980s.

Now he's in the car-park business.

With being the eldest brother in the family,

he tends to take the father-figure role.

And he always looks after us and points us in the right direction.

He's not always right, but he's always the boss.

Howard and his brothers came to Blackpool from Manchester

in the 1970s.

I can honestly say I came to Blackpool with no shoes.

Not a penny in my pocket and no shoes on my feet.

Howard's business relies almost entirely on visitors coming to the town.

But it's still weeks before the season starts.

This was the site of a beautiful church. It was lovely.

Unfortunately, nobody attended it and, er,

it was in a great location for a car park.

Surrounded by hotels, double yellow lines on the road.

So, you know, I bought it.

Demolished it, and since then it's been a car park.

Blackpool's Grand Theatre, famous for its summer variety season.

Holland, as you know, is very flat.

In fact, the wife left me and, three days later, I could still see her.

LAUGHTER

Tony Jo is Blackpool's number-one variety promoter.

He books acts for all the town's major venues.

If Jimmy can't do it, I need to know now.

The offer we made to you was every Wednesday night in the summer season.

If you're going to Bournemouth, you're not coming to Blackpool,

so let me know now which way it is.

Tony's trying to book comic Jimmy Cricket

for the summer season at the Grand.

I went to the doctor I said, "I've got a right toe on my left foot and a left toe on my right foot."

He said, "You've got myxomatosis." LAUGHTER

All right, so Jimmy Cricket is now not available for the summer season

in Blackpool, he's going to Bournemouth?

Cheers. Bye-bye.

There you go, we've lost Jimmy Cricket for the summer. We'll move on.

There are other artists that will...

I've got to be honest with you, everybody and his brother

wants to do a summer season in Blackpool because

of the ilk of the people we deal with, Blackpool is still the Las Vegas of England.

Near Blackpool's South Shore stands Howard's dream.

I'd like to show you something else, if you can spare a few minutes.

I'm just going to pull up on this car park and take you in this place.

I came in with a view to demolish it and I looked at this and thought,

"No way."

Howard wants this to be Blackpool's first major new venue

on South Shore for 50 years.

I want to make people happy.

I want to put a comedy club on, I want to put headline bands on,

I want to do the things that people say, "I went that venue,

"I had a great night and Mr Plant made it happen."

When I leave this Earth, I want to be remembered fondly.

I want people to talk about me and smile

and have nice things to say about me.

And car parks... Nobody loves you for a car park.

Onwards and upwards.

Variety promoter Tony Jo knows Howard well

and is always on the look out for new venues.

He fell in love with the building, didn't want to damage it. He thought, "I'll have a go at this."

To be fair to Howard, it's something he knows nothing about.

He's never gone down that road before.

I want somebody big on that stage, I want this place full

and I want people saying, "Bloody hell, he made it happen. He did it."

I would love to see it full.

You know I'll support you as much as I can.

I'm not arsed about making any money out of it, you know,

I just want you to do well.

-I'll do anything I can to make this work for you.

-Thank you, Tony.

Most things I do are successful

because I endeavour to make them successful.

Howard plans to renovate the theatre ready for the summer season.

He just needs to find the cash.

I'm very worried.

Currently, we're going through the worst time ever

because of the recession, but that's not just me, it's everybody.

The recession has hit Blackpool's B&Bs, too.

But in the 1960s,

the height of the summer meant every room was taken in the town.

Along the promenade every single house is either a boarding house,

or sometimes more grandiloquently called a private hotel.

Back then, it wasn't hard for guest-house owners to find a winning formula.

Everything's just ordinary, simple, good food.

They have that, they go out and enjoy themselves.

To the Pleasure Beach, the young ones, to the parks, the old ones.

That's Blackpool.

Guest-house owner Claire Smith has lived in Blackpool all her life.

It's just wonderful,

especially driving the full length of the promenade, and in the summer,

when you've got all the promenade filled with people,

and you can hear the noise and the laughing, it's lovely.

It's absolutely lovely.

Together with her husband, Mark,

they've been running two five-star guest houses for over ten years.

So this is Drama, one of the rooms in the hotel.

If I tell you all the rooms have got exactly the same facilities,

so no room is better or worse,

but they are completely individual in style and decor.

You have to think about who's going to use your room

and what requirements those people have

and then try and get the room to suit that.

So the lighting works from a key-card system and we have a remote

that we sit by the bed, which means that guests do not have to get up

after watching TV or whatever they're doing, to turn the lights off.

So all individual.

It's about bright, bright light for a business person

and then tone it down, dim it all down for a romantic person.

The couple's only son Ben

has returned from university down south to help out.

When people put "luxury hotel", what exactly does it mean?

Everything one sees, smells and touches

-is just that little bit better than it needs to be.

-That's the one.

Claire and Mark have high hopes that the business

will continue into the next generation when they retire.

Blackpool is definitely in my blood. You can't get away from it.

It's a bit like Marmite.

It's a horrible cliche, but you either love it or you don't.

And I definitely love it, yeah.

The Smiths' guests houses are regularly full,

but visitors have changed the way they come to Blackpool.

For Howard, this and the motorways spelt the beginning of the end.

This is the end of the M55.

The M55 being a one of the major causes of the demise of Blackpool

as a week-holiday resort,

or a fortnightly holiday resort in the old days.

The M55 caused the people to just come for day trips.

If we look, this is the main vein road into Blackpool.

We need to see the traffic backing up along here.

If we see the traffic going that way, it's no good for Blackpool.

So we need to see a bit of a queue heading that way.

Blackpool does need people to stay longer

and a lot rests on the millions spent

on renovating Blackpool's facade.

It is three weeks before schools break up

and then the season really begins.

The iconic Blackpool Tower has been given a £20 million make-over.

Inspired by the Eiffel Tower, Blackpool Tower was built shortly afterwards, in 1894,

using 93 tons of steel to reach over 500ft.

Today, there are high winds blowing in from the Irish Sea.

When that happens,

the lifts can't make it up to the newly restored Tower Eye platform.

When the lift's off... Obviously that's our main headline attraction,

if you would.

If we can't operate it,

our number-one-selling attraction is out of action.

The forecast today for wind speeds over 40mph

and, obviously, for when we're operating the lift,

anything over 40mph, it's an automatic - we close down the lift.

We obviously keep monitoring it through the day. I don't what the latest forecast is.

49 miles an hour, 20 minutes ago.

We check the reading every hour, at the moment, just to make sure.

If it starts to die down, we can start getting ready to open.

Well, if you're to believe the weather forecasters,

and I don't know, we're all in the same boat with it.

But, yeah, they mentioned it was going to be a bumper summer.

That we're expecting, you know, one of the hot ones.

WIND HOWLS

-47.

-Yeah, 47.

Yeah.

LAUGHTER

The Tower engineers have set to work on a solution.

Be careful. Be careful.

Blackpool Tower was designed as a venue for mass entertainment.

The circus sits under the Tower's four legs.

Once, there were elephants and all manner of species.

Now, a human circus performs three times a day.

The Tower Ballroom, home to Strictly Come Dancing

and one of the last ballrooms in Britain.

ORGAN PLAYS

Chris Hopkins is one of the four ballroom organists.

The ballroom has got... It's just got this world of its own.

It's like going back in time.

The thing hasn't changed since it was built. It's over 100 years old.

Wurlitzer organ, that's been here since 1928.

NEWSREEL: Mr Blackpool, Reginald Dixon,

gives recitals in the ballroom.

The idol of millions, he's played to audiences here for 30 years.

The Tower Ballroom has been open to the public for almost 120 years.

Ever since we were young, everyone went out dancing.

And that's where the young men met the girls, originally.

Always at the dance.

The men were one side of the ballroom and the girls the other

and when the music started, there was one rush across the ballroom

to pick the best-looking girl in the bunch.

I love watching the dancers.

-Liked to have got up and danced.

-Yes, I would.

If I could have found a fella, I would have done!

It's the be all and the end all, really, for an organist.

To play here is just absolutely amazing.

MUSIC STOPS

APPLAUSE

Tony Jo is finalising his last act

for the summer season schedule at the Grand Theatre.

He's decided to give a club comedian a big break.

Billy Hunter had a reputation.

I went along to see in Manchester

and this guy was only one of the top clubs in Manchester,

packed, and he absolutely paralysed the audience.

And I was crying laughing at this guy, he's so funny.

I sent an e-mail to him asking for his dates,

so I could give him a bit more work and he sent this e-mail.

I'll read it to you. Listen to this.

"Can I take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for your interest...

AUDIENCE LAUGHTER

"..I've been deflated now and confused and frustrated for so long

"that to be honest, I was going to honour what shows I had in

"for the rest of the year and then quit,

"as I was just struggling to make an income.

"So whatever it is you can see in me, I can't thank you enough.

"Any road, dates for 2013.

"BLEEP all.

HE LAUGHS

Right, come and have a look at this.

Wow.

-Eh?

-It's a bit dark at the moment, but magnificent, isn't it?

-So ornate, beautiful.

-It is.

-And you don't need a mic in here.

One! One!

This is your home for 14 weeks, pal.

-Once a week you're going to be here and you'll love it.

-Lovely.

-Absolutely love it.

The summer season acts meet Blackpool's media.

The buzz starts here and everybody, as you can see, is quite excited.

We got Bobby Ball over there and Roy Walker, Joe Longthorne,

all being interviewed by different parts of the media, television, radio.

It's great, because it's a bit of a catch-up for everybody

and it's passing ships in the night all meeting up.

If you're doing the summer season in Blackpool for, like, four months,

you've cracked it.

For Billy, it's his first Blackpool summer season in a theatre,

which, in any entertainer's diary, is like Las Vegas.

We're trying to present the best we possibly can this summer

here in Blackpool and I promise you we will.

APPLAUSE

We're three weeks away from the opening of the summer now

and it is about hope, because it's how long is a piece of string?

We don't know how busy, or not busy, Blackpool's going to be.

But if the weather stays like this, it'll be cracking.

DOG BARKS

-So you're from Rhyl?

-Yes.

-Right, and how long have you lived in Rhyl?

-22 years.

-22 years and you come to Blackpool on holiday.

-So how's Rhyl doing?

-Crap.

HE LAUGHS

He-he, that's why you're in Blackpool, isn't it, eh?

-See ya!

-See you.

-HE CHUCKLES

I have got five Americans

and they're all here for an international magician's convention.

It's held every three years internationally.

Last time, it was in Beijing, this time, it's in Blackpool.

So it's very, very exciting.

And Americans are always good fun, aren't they?

There are things to do in Blackpool.

I'm a walker and I just love walking along the promenade.

It was just wonderful to see the beach and the sun was shining,

it did shine yesterday in Blackpool!

LAUGHTER

Yeah, it was beautiful.

Are you ready? This is it.

-Oh, my gosh.

-Crumpets!

Crumpets!

-Oh!

-Yes.

So you see, they've got holes in. Little holes.

It's very rare that you don't hit it off with someone, but if you don't,

you think yourself, "Well, it doesn't matter, they're gone in a couple of days."

But nine nights they're staying.

Can you imagine if I hadn't liked them, or they hadn't liked me,

the other way around? But, fortunately, we're having great fun.

-They are really, really lovely people.

-Thank you for the crumpets.

-A special treat.

-My pleasure, my pleasure.

-Have a good day.

Have a good time, yes, enjoy yourselves.

-Will do, will do.

-OTHERS: See you later.

I'm kind of calling it our season of opportunity.

So this is the year that it's kind of all come together,

all the past seven years of hard work.

The new promenade is now absolutely stunning.

So a lot of stuff happening and all come together, really, in one year.

What we think of a summer resort is warm, warm weather

where you could go bathe, the sunbathing.

That's not what this is.

I think all of the UK isn't exactly sunny all the time.

Liquid sunshine, that's what we call it in California. Liquid sunshine.

Claire and Mark have spent years building up their business

and Ben is the heir apparent.

I kind of knew that the business was here

and that they'd done so much effort.

And it seemed to me to be a waste to go and do anything else.

Whilst at University, Ben met his current girlfriend

and it's serious.

So we have a lovely girlfriend, who is great, beautiful, good for him,

but lives down south.

And that's where her next, at least few years are, while she forges her career

and does her training and gets where she wants to be.

So, um, he's looking at getting a job down there

and relocating down there.

It's serious enough to warrant me leaving Blackpool

and anyone who knows me, that must be pretty serious for me to disappear down south.

At the moment, it's this bit of a curve ball that's kind of swung in

-and thrown everything.

-We weren't expecting it, were we?

-No.

This was not on the books at all.

As a day-trip destination,

the weather forecasts often don't do Blackpool any favours.

So what's Blackpool in the rain then, what's it like?

Does anybody come here in the rain?

No.

It devastates you. You just...you just can't take any money.

Er, I mean, really, this car park should be full.

It's half the price of the council's

and look at it, it's empty.

If you look around, it's just empty.

Howard has always made sure his car parks are close to the seafront and main attractions.

You've got 2,000 hotels or so,

and they've all got a little bit of parking, two or three spaces.

Now, if they're all empty, what chance have the car parks got?

And if the car parts are all empty, it means the hotels are empty.

If the hotels are empty, the life blood of the town is dying.

The Pleasure Beach is just over there, the promenade is just over there

and if you scan the area...

-And the Sandcastle.

-..it's deserted.

And yet when we first came to Blackpool,

this was alive at this time of year.

I get phone calls off my pals in the town and they ask me

what the car parks are doing,

how busy they are, how many people are in.

And I let them know.

They know whether they are going to be earning any money at the weekend.

-Are you worried that things could collapse for you?

-I'm very worried.

At this moment in time, I've never ever, ever had a problem.

I've never had any vision of being able to go bump or go bankrupt.

If business is bad for Howard,

it could spell real trouble for his theatre venture.

Elaine Smith is Ben's grandmother.

-She likes knowing everything. She's nosy, so she likes knowing everything.

-And knowing everybody.

She's always known everybody.

Elaine is a retired hotelier and chairman of Blackpool Civic Trust.

Right, come on, lads, where are you now?

My mother and my wife, they're just both barmy.

-They're just... They're both obsessed with it, aren't they?

-Yeah.

-To extremes, aren't they?

-Yeah.

-They are, aren't they?

-Yeah.

And they just go... I'm sure either of them would go to

the opening of a fridge if it had something to do with Blackpool.

Today, Elaine is spearheading Blackpool In Bloom.

I think it's fine down here. I think they've really tried down here.

This is what we're aiming for, what has happened with this street.

This is the whole point of Hotel In Bloom, Blackpool In Bloom,

Beautiful Blackpool - to get people to do what they've done in this street.

I mean, you can see what they've done.

She never looks on the down side and if it is down,

she's on everybody's backs to get it back up again.

SHE LAUGHS

-You're Mrs Blackpool, aren't you?

-Aye.

-Are you Mrs Blackpool?

-Well, I don't know.

Laurence Llewelyn Bowen calls me that.

If she thinks that something is not right, she will work at it.

Whoever it is, they don't stand a chance,

because she'll work on them until they change their mind.

That's how determined she is.

I came to live in Blackpool in 1945

and I thought I'd landed in fairyland.

It's now reinventing itself. It's getting all these up-to-date things.

But it still must never lose its fun.

And we're getting better and better, aren't we?

But however long it takes to change, it's then going to take even longer

to change perceptions, isn't it?

Elaine and her husband Jim ran a hotel in Blackpool until 1999.

You know, you hope. You work hard, I hope we've taken what you and Jim did

and taken that forward, and then you hope that, in time...

We thought he would take it forward with his partner, wife, or whatever,

and it would all continue and we'd all be involved.

I think a lot of what we do is to improve the town for future generations, isn't it?

And he is our future generation.

-He'll miss us too much, won't you love?

-Of course, Grandma.

-You're a bit of a home boy, aren't you?

-Yes!

-He does love Blackpool, don't you?

-Of course.

I mean he's had that instilled in him.

Do you think you'll ever talk Rachel into coming back to Blackpool?

Yes.

We bought this business with the intention of him coming into it

and then this young lady has come on the scene and changed all that.

So do I feel good about it? No, I feel really bad about it.

And he keeps saying, "I'm coming back, I'm coming back,"

and my feelings are that he won't.

-Because I know...

-He will. He'll miss us too much.

-I know women better than he does.

-It's just a minor blip.

It might be a minor blip for you but it's not a minor blip for me.

Just stop, now. Right? Now.

-So when are you thinking of going?

-Soon as I get a job, as soon as I can.

CLAIRE: But there's a future here, isn't there?

-That's a big difference, as well.

-We were building a future.

That was the whole point of it, wasn't it?

At the north end of Blackpool, Dave Simmons is getting ready for work.

What it is, I'm a landau driver,

which is basically the old-fashioned taxis, that's drawn by horses.

It's a good life, really. I enjoy doing it.

Dave drives a traditional horse and carriage known as a landau along the promenade.

Walk on, son. HE CLICKS HIS TONGUE

Come on, son.

Just walk, loosen you up.

Landaus have worked the promenade for 130 years.

There are 44 licensed landaus.

Dave's father did the job before him.

I've still got the passion now, as to what I had

when I first started driving horses on the promenade. I love the job.

Nothing will ever, ever turn me away from it.

I'll do this job till the day I die and I'll have the passion all the way through.

It's not a job, it is a hobby. And that's what it is.

On the south side of Blackpool, Mark Morris also works for a landau company.

He's driven landaus for six years,

but has decided to move with the times.

This is the Cinderella carriage.

They became popular after Jordan got married in one of these styles.

But, yeah, these are the modern carriages, as we'd like to put them.

There are only three Cinderella carriages operating at the moment.

We've been on the pink Cinderella-style carriage.

You'll see that it's very popular with the girls, little families.

The popularity of the Cinderella carriages has come at a price.

They've been so popular, it got a lot of the other landau owners,

and drivers, it got them very resentful of us.

There are very few people speak to me within the industry.

I can only assume that they are jealous,

because they've not thought outside the boxes themselves.

We're more popular than the traditional ones at the moment.

To me, the pink Cinderella', they shouldn't be on here.

They're not tradition.

They should've kept it as just traditional landau carriages.

You get your old ones that come here,

that when they come on the carriages, and I've had it said to me many a time,

you know, "Oh, I remember these when I was a child, I used to come on them."

Without tradition in Blackpool, it would been nowt.

-Is it the traditional ones you want, or the princess one?

-This one.

Do you want to be a princess, then? Come on then. Look at that face!

Oh, we've been on the other carriages and they're nice carriages to go up and down on,

but when the daughter says she wants to be a princess for the day,

who am I to let her down not to be a princess?

-INTERVIEWER: Is that right, you wanted to be a princess?

-Yes!

I can't tell the public how to spend their money.

It's their money and their choice.

It is a fun ride, don't get me wrong.

It's a novelty ride. It should be in amusement park, giving rides around the park,

you know? That would be absolutely well suited.

What winds a lot of people up

is when other drivers, that drive the Cinderellas, just load them in,

then come past laughing at you, as if they're better than you.

That's what's out of order, really.

People come for that magical moment and to enjoy themselves

and this is what we're doing. They've moved forward. We're the 21st century.

We're here and I'd like to think we're here to stay.

People in the south, in London in particular, OK,

consider Blackpool as shabby, worn out.

What it has always been is what it will always be.

It will be the place for families and people with not really

a lot of money, to come and have a couple of good days.

Are you encouraging your son to consider staying in Blackpool

and becoming B&B owners?

Since they can get an investment relatively inexpensive.

The tendency here is for our children to be educated well,

then go off to uni and then go off.

So we train them up, but we're not able to retain them.

Now, we have an issue with Ben,

whereby he wants to be in the business.

He wants us to buy more, but he went off to uni,

in Guildford, in Surrey, down south,

-and met a lovely, lovely girl.

-ALL: Oh!

Who is very good for him.

Who is very good for him,

but she doesn't want to move up north.

The person of love will rule what he wants to do.

Whether he loves the bed and breakfast or whether

he loves the girl, whatever he loves the most, that's where he's going.

You can't control it.

Your influence at 23-years-old is over.

And our fear is that if we do handle this wrong,

-we could be cut off for ever.

-Right.

Does Ben have your passion?

Oh, yeah. It's not just me.

There is Mark's mother.

She is chairman of Blackpool's Civic Trust.

So Blackpool is absolutely within all of us.

Every dinner that we have ever had amongst the family

is about what's going on in Blackpool.

Everybody has to make their own way in the world.

We bring our kids up, bring our families up to

the best of our...way we can,

we teach them right from wrong.

Then you've all got to go out in the world and make your own way

and just hope that you remember that we're still there

and that we still love you.

I hope he goes for a little while,

but I want him to come back.

And I think he will come back.

He loves Blackpool as much as the rest of us,

but he'll definitely come back.

I have no doubts about that.

PEOPLE SCREAM

From Monday to Thursday,

most visitors to Blackpool come for the attractions and shows.

But, at the weekends, it's party time, and even more flood in.

Howard Plant's car parks fill up, and his brother, Warren,

runs a clamping and towing business.

What we're doing is pay and display car park

and just checking that all the vehicles

have paid adequately.

People don't come back when they should do

and that's where I earn my wages.

So, if they pay, Howard wins.

If they don't pay, I win.

The clamping came into the town many years ago

and it was Howard that brought clamping into Blackpool.

He got clamped in London and he thought, "This is a great idea."

At Howard's car park near the Pleasure Beach,

Warren's found the day's first victim.

-Is it a lucrative business?

-It is.

Unfortunately, it's going to be over

in the next three months, because

the government, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to ban it.

Thing is, at the end of the season,

they're going to ban the clamping and the towing.

Then it's going to go over to a ticketing service.

And his income, basically, at the end of the season in October,

ceases to exist.

He'll have no income. And you know what he's going to rely on?

God. I've asked him. He says, "God will provide.

"Don't worry, God will provide."

But the problem with that he is, is he thinks I'm God.

TOY SQUEAKS

MEN LAUGH

I love Blackpool.

SEAGULLS CRY

Blackpool is famous for its stag and hen's

and landlady Dolores has a party of girls from near her

home town of Stoke coming to stay this weekend.

I don't do hen nights,

but these girls are absolutely lovely.

They're family orientated,

the majority of them are,

and they're just really good girls.

Now, any normal hen night or stag night,

they'd just wreck your place.

They know me, they know my rules

and they abide by them, actually.

Dolores bought the B&B with her husband, Jim, a number of years ago,

but tragically for Dolores, Jim died just before the summer.

'I love having the girls, especially this time,'

because they've boosted my morale a lot.

-We love our Dolores!

-We do!

-He would have loved it.

-He would.

-He's near us.

-I know he is.

He's standing here, now, laughing with his kilt on with us.

-Don't start.

-Ain't he?

-No, don't start.

Blackpool's stag and hen parties boomed when the council relaxed licensing seven years ago

and the stag and hens haven't stopped coming.

Dolores' B&B is at the quieter, southern end of town.

Where are we going, girls?

But the weekend action happens further north towards the centre of Blackpool.

Go out, have a good dance, have a laugh.

Have a few shots, have a few dances. Mingle with the crowds.

Get involved with the whole Blackpool atmosphere.

Lots of drinking and lots of dancing.

# Girls they wanna have fun

# Oh, girls, just wanna have fun. #

Tonight, thousands of revellers will descend on Blackpool's

bars and clubs.

My feet hurt.

It's so crowded in there, it's untrue.

We got pushed and shoved everywhere, didn't we?

You can't even hold your drink before it being spilt down you.

Literally, can't move anywhere, it's that busy

and I was getting attacked by a random man.

# Girls just wanna have fun

# Girls just wanna have fun... #

Howard started clearing the old Apollo.

He's hit on a plan to raise the cash for the real work to begin.

God's not making any more land. I own this. I don't owe any money on it.

One day, it'll come good.

Then, payday.

Then the Apollo will be getting finished.

He thinks the work will cost almost £1 million.

He is already buying equipment to kit out the kitchen.

All this equipment, and a lot more, the container that's over there

and all this, was the entire contents of a restaurant in the north-east

that, in these current climates, they opened at the wrong time, should we say.

They spent £750,000 kitting out a restaurant and went bankrupt

and I got the entire contents of the restaurant for 25,000.

It's heavy. Here we go.

Christ, Almighty! I can't believe how heavy it is. Are you all right, lads?

Anywhere down here. Careful. Careful, slowly.

David? I need you in the office.

David Gardner is Howard's close friend and business advisor.

If I sell this land, we'll be able to get open on time

because the sale of the land is key to this development.

Otherwise, I don't know where we're going to go with it, I really don't

because we getting no help from the bank.

Because you've got that, I know you think that's a ridiculous offer from our friend

but this guy, somewhere along the line if we can meet...

I'll put it to you like this, he's offering twice as much as Darren offered me.

What's the hold-up? What's the hold-up?

I need a planning reference number.

I wouldn't have been sleeping last night.

I wouldn't have slept last night.

That makes this place open for the height of the season.

-Come on, let's chase it up.

-I will do. First of all, I've tried Fred.

Now I'm going to have two ring the town hall.

-You can ring the town hall.

-It's now 10:15.

Dave, I've had a delivery this morning.

-I've not been to the bathroom yet.

-This is priority.

-This is my first cup of coffee.

-We want to be open for the first.

-OK.

Let's get on.

As far as I'm concerned, that Apollo is going to be his last venture.

I want it to succeed. I want it open as soon as possible.

When they talk about summer season, to me, August is the prime month

cos there's no schools, no colleges.

That is prime holiday time. That is when I want to be open for.

The only way we are going to do it is by bunging more money in

and that's coming in at the moment.

As far as I'm concerned, this is just a dead plot.

We're about to meet Joe Longthorne, who is one of the stalwarts

of variety and the biggest earner of money in Blackpool.

He always turns up for me. Joe loves Blackpool.

Joe could live anywhere in the world.

There are more stars living in this town than anywhere else

in the country, including London, from variety.

-Are you all right? You're looking good.

-I feel all right.

I'll name that tune in one!

The variety club has recognised him as the most,

promising artist of 1983, Joe Longthorne.

APPLAUSE

He's performed all over the world,

including London's Royal Albert Hall and the Sydney Opera House.

And he still has a devoted army of fans.

This is going to sound really strange but I've requested

that goes into my coffin with me when I die so that I get Joe.

I will take him to the other world.

# If I can make it there

# I'll make it anywhere... #

Because he's so down to earth and you can get to speak to him.

I think that's what everybody likes.

He's got a very rare,

unique characteristic is something he possesses,

whether it's from his background, his parents but he is exceptional.

You know, many people imitate him,

many people claim to be the Joe Longthorne experience

around these tribute bars and that but seriously there is only one Joe Longthorne.

# My little town... #

Actually, I've got a very, very understanding husband.

I been with him 27 years and he's...

And I've known, I've been seeing Joe 25 of those.

He's never said, "No, you can't go".

Is your husband in any way jealous of your attention to Joe Longthorne?

He says he isn't that I think if it was the other way round,

I wouldn't let him go and see a female artist

as much as I go and see Joe.

So we are going to see my friend, Marjorie,

who has come down from Barrow for the whole summer season,

that's 13 weeks, just so that she can see Joe every Thursday night.

Hi, Marjorie.

I thought I'd come and say "hello" because I know you're here.

-Are you all right?

-Not so bad, are you?

-Jolly good, yes.

-Was your journey down nice?

-Quite good.

I'm looking forward to it.

-You don't take as many now though, do you?

-No. I've got so many.

-Yeah, what do you do with them?

-What do you do with them?

-This is the point.

-Yeah.

Look at all his flowers. Those are exquisite, aren't they?

Oh, that's a nice one.

I think that was one at the Opera House

-because you can see his hair is a bit longer on that one.

-It is.

There's something about Joe that you cannot put your finger on it.

His singing, and as a person, there's just something about him.

We've always said if we knew what it was,

-we bottle it and sell it and we'd make a fortune.

-Yeah.

"Joe Longthorne, I love you", with a felt tip pen.

Blackpool is now filling up steadily with tourists.

Just near the Pleasure Beach, Howard is on his rounds.

It's doing all right, actually, today.

I think you can't really beat Blackpool, can you?

The sunshine puts a lot of smiles on the faces.

School holidays, so if we're not full this week,

then it's time to give up.

We'll see how much money's in here.

Oh...

Oh...

We've got a heavy one.

We've had a good week. That's mostly this last two days.

Howard's busiest car park is just off the town centre.

This is the school holidays. This is what Blackpool needs. Nice sunny day.

Uh-oh! Maybe I spoke too soon, look at them clouds.

Erm, a nice day, gets them all here, school holidays.

We need 26 weeks of this.

Look it's full, it's full, thank you God!

-Are you managing OK?

-Yeah, it's fine.

-See you later.

Even away from the centre, and close to the back street bars,

it's busy there too.

Right, first part of the job, look around.

If you see anybody with knives or guns, don't do this.

-Can I help you, girls?

-We're trying to get on change on the bank card.

I can help you. I have plenty of change.

-Whereabouts do you stay, usually?

-We don't come here.

-You don't come here?

-First time.

First time ever, we're Blackpool virgins.

We're going to the Brunswick to have a bevy.

Listen, girls, seriously you can't break these boys hearts.

There's men that have come to Blackpool, they're going to be out in the bars drinking,

they're going to bump into yous lot.

We're going to break their hearts.

You'll tell them, "I'm sorry, mate, it's half-past 11,

we've got to get home before 12 o'clock. Ta-ra.

Where shall we go to drink?

Soul Suite, Litton Tree, Che Bar...

Get to town.

Just think of the hearts you're going to break tonight.

You have a nice night tonight. See you later.

They were nice girls. They'll have a laugh.

They've come to Blackpool to the day for a laugh.

They just come for a day trip. So, er...

..that's what we need.

Fans of Blackpool variety star, Joe Longthorne,

are getting ready for opening night.

-Does that look all right, mam?

-Yes.

It must be a wonderful sight for Joe, don't you think

when he comes on stage and that theatre is absolutely full

and they're all standing up in the stalls like they do for him.

-Oh, gosh, what a welcome.

-I think the theatre will be full tonight.

-Really full.

-Is going to be really warm in that theatre tonight.

That's why I put this short sleeved top on,

instead of one with longer sleeves.

-We're excited, aren't we?

-I am excited, yeah.

It's almost curtain up at the Grand Theatre.

-Are we walking in?

-Yeah.

-Are you all right, Flo.

-Yeah.

I can't get in.

I won't push, you know what I'm alike.

Are you all right, girls?

-Do you like me new boots and things.

-Yeah, smashing.

-Are you OK?

-Yeah, fine.

I've had 12 opening nights with Joe Longthorne,

that's how we all know these people personally because they come to every show.

Every show.

Hundreds of tickets have gone in advance

but more are being sold at the door.

Before Joe's set, it's comedian, Roy Walker.

Is any vegetarians in?

Hands up, any vegetarians.

See that, they don't even have the strength to get their arms up.

LAUGHTER

Goodnight!

Joe will perform a 90-minute set of old favourites.

# I can feel a new expression on my face

# Every time that you...

AUDIENCE: # Walk in the room...

# Oh, oh, yeah

# Love is in the air

# Love is in the air. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Anyone will tell you, there's nothing like being

on the stage like that and receiving a round of applause, like that.

It's what it's all about.

Fantastic show, wasn't it?

When he sang, Somewhere, it was amazing. Absolutely amazing.

It made me cry, actually.

Very high, very high. I don't sleep.

It takes you a long time to come down after you've seen Joe.

I've got my son and daughter and my mum here.

Sophie comes with me very often, she really loves him as well.

Richard doesn't come very often but he does love him. He does like him.

Some of those people have been with me for more than 35 years.

It's good because you get the young ones there but my fan club

we have people from ten years old up to 110, would you believe.

Another good night and thanks.

-David is supervising the centre of town's car parks.

-Yes, sir.

Feel free, Park up there. Have you got change for the machine?

-I haven't, actually.

-What?

You need change, I'll give you change, that's what I'm here for.

Dave's crucial, he's the oil that makes the engine run.

He's er...

It's his enthusiasm.

When you get down, he spurs you on.

He wants me to be successful.

He wants me to win, he wants me to achieve goals.

-Good morning, are you well? Good weekend?

-Not bad.

It's all part of the job, you know.

We don't want to just stand and take the money.

Anybody can do that but we want them to come back.

They'll remember this car park and when they come back to Blackpool,

they'll come to this car park because they'll remember how we looked after them.

I want to ring Dave now, anyway.

-Hello?

-Morning, how are you doing?

What are you up to?

I've got some really bad news about that lad that was looking at the land.

He gave me the plans back and said it was just not viable right now.

So...

That's gone by the way.

The land sale has fallen through and so too have plans for the renovation.

Along the promenade, next to Blackpool Tower,

someone has beaten Howard to the punch and opened a new entertainment venue.

David and Howard can't resist the chance to check out the opening night.

A lad called Leye D Johns.

I think he's called Leye D Johns.

After the duet, I'll then come on and join you for the Meat Loaf.

-Emma, you'll stay on.

-OK. I like the comedy in Meat Loaf that you do.

Will keep it in. Tonight is the opening night of Viva,

all the hard work has paid off.

We've got 500 people coming through the doors, pre-booked

and, I'm elated.

Leye D Johns has negotiated a long and cheap lease on an ex-bingo hall.

It took him just six weeks to get it ready for tonight's show.

It's good, isn't it? An escalator, how are we going to top this?

The venue is sold out.

Do you know what, it's lovely to see somebody opening something in Blackpool

instead of bloody closing.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

It's the Viva! Showtime!

-I think the show's great.

-The effort he puts in, is unbelievable.

He does work hard at it.

I think he's let himself down with the sound system.

The main thing about the place...

It's a modern building and an old building, isn't it?

There's no character in it. It's just a simple, simple building.

Where's the character in it, where's the pillars? It's just not there.

We have a golden venue.

I think it's sensational.

Next week we might not take no money but hey-ho, we've opened a venue on Blackpool promenade.

How many people can do that?

Not a lot of people can do that.

Ours is a unique building. This is something on the top of a load of shops.

It's a nothing. You know, a complete different ball game.

I can promise you when the people come, it'll have the character,

it'll have the professionalism. It'll have the acts and will get the people in.

It's the end of the summer and 20,000 people brave another

torrential downpour to watch the Illuminations being switched on.

CHEERING

Hello, and welcome to Blackpool 2012.

Celebrating 100 years of the Illuminations.

We've never seen it before, it's Jennifer's 21st,

so we thought it a perfect occasion to come down and celebrate.

My mum and dad come to Blackpool every year.

They were like, your 21st, why not go to the Illuminations?

There's a big concert. Yeah, good times, good times.

Emergency ponchos... Ponchos.

Someone told me it was going to rain so I thought I'll just take the risk,

buy some ponchos, come out here, bang them out for £2.

Make some quick money.

It's been 100 years since the Illuminations were first switched on

and this long-standing tradition has brought in stars and celebrities to turn on the lights.

In 1959, Hollywood star Jayne Mansfield pulled the lever.

This is the most fantastic thing I've ever seen in my life.

I'm completely speechless.

In 1977, racehorse Red Rum had a go.

You know, there's only one thing better than Red Rum

and that's his wife, Blue Nun.

THEY LAUGH

More recently Robbie Williams threw the switch.

CHEERING

It's carnival, it's Britain's answer to Rio.

The Mardi Gras in New Orleans, if you like.

It is carnival, it's a great atmosphere.

The whole attitude of people changes

once the illuminations are switched on.

Look that way, look at the people. It's wall-to-wall people.

This year five of Britain's Olympians did the honours.

Here we go!

CHEERING

Oh, yes!

Here we go.

Get in!

LAUGHS

That's Blackpool, that's Blackpool Illuminations.

What a fantastic moment.

It's absolutely stunning, they're on.

I wouldn't like the electric bill, though!

We've just had the Blackpool 2012 Illuminations switch on

-and it's been fantastic.

-The 100th switch on.

The 100th switch on, that's absolutely right, yeah.

We felt very, very proud this evening.

I promise you, I wish it were like this every night.

The people, this is what we need.

-Carnival, carnival.

-Do you need him to play for Newcastle?

It's feel good, it's feel good.

-And it's rained again.

-Of course it's rained.

Rain, rain, go away, come back another day.

Who comes to Blackpool for the weather? Nobody.

The peak of Blackpool's season is now over.

Howard still has no takers for his plot of land.

SIGHS

And his dream is put on hold.

You're better setting the target for next year

and launching it perfect, finished, ready with plans

so we know exactly where you want to go with it and 12 months is good.

You're right, you're right.

I'm doing me very best to perfect everything

so that there's no problems when we get open.

You're right, this season's been diabolical so it's good that

when I do open, it opens as a success, rather than a struggle.

The season is never what you're hoping for

because you always want it to be better than it is.

So, no, it hasn't been as good as we expected it to be and it hasn't

been as good as we hoped it would be but it hasn't been that bad, either.

What's the worst part of the season?

The worst part of the season is quiet nights and the weather working

against you, not enough people being in town blah, blah, blah.

If you say what's the best part of the season?

The best part of the season is the Joe Longthorne show with Roy Walker.

It's been packed and he's broken box office records again.

Better than last year, which is fantastic.

When you work for yourself, it's always a worry.

You put everything in place for it to be a good year

but you are always fearful of the events that happen outside of that.

The weather, the football,

all kinds of things that you hold no control over.

You can do everything you think is right, spend the money,

look after the guests, make the place look lovely

but it's about bringing the visitors in.

Thank goodness, 2012, business wise, has been a really good season.

I have every confidence Blackpool will rebound out of this.

I've devoted my whole life to Blackpool. I'm not going to leave.

It's amazing. If we got sunshine in Blackpool, this town would be a goldmine.

I'm looking forward to next year cos next year I'll make things better.

So you better get me some stars.

Got it, mate, it's all ready, I'll tell you. You can have anybody you want. It's simple as that.

I'm looking at Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

You know, we're looking at bands... Status Quo would be good.

-Yeah, Madness.

-Madness, absolutely.

We can have Engelbert Humperdinck, we can have Joe Longthorne, we can have Chubby Brown.

There's anything...

# That will always

# Lead me back to you

# Baby, I know I can make it alone

# It's such a hard way to go

# And I can't make it alone

# There's something in my soul

# In my soul

# That will always lead me back to you. #

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd