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Blackpool, once a tourism mecca, now tops England's deprivation rankings but still draws 20 million visitors yearly. Local Chris Higgitt, the £1 burger man, defends his town.
Blackpool, the Lancashire seaside town with a population of 140,000 on the Fylde peninsula overlooking the Irish Sea, faces severe deprivation while still attracting up to 20 million visitors yearly. Chris Higgitt, known as the £1 burger man, runs a fast food shop and arcade in the town centre, serving the cheapest fried fare in Blackpool. On Saturdays, he battles a continuous queue for 10 hours straight.
Deprivation in Blackpool
The council area tops local authority deprivation rankings in England. According to the official government list, seven of the top 10 most deprived wards in England are in Blackpool, condensed near the town centre. The number one most deprived ward is Jaywick in Reform UK leader Nigel Farage's Essex patch. A ward in Hastings on the south coast is number seven, and part of Rotherham is number 10. The rest are all in Blackpool.
Blackpool has the lowest life expectancy in Britain, with men living on average to 73, six years less than the rest of England. Mental illness rates top almost anywhere else in England. Rates of alcoholism, drugs, joblessness, and crime are all high above average. Many of Blackpool's problems are highly visible in the large numbers of people roaming the centre, with appearances suggesting they have addiction issues or may be homeless.
Stephen Cheatley, a local photographer, says the centre is rotten from the inside out. He describes Central Drive, the most notorious stretch blighted by derelict buildings running almost to the commercial heart, as known locally as Central Dive. Just a few blocks from the beach lies some of the worst slum housing in Britain, old seaside hotels converted into squalid bedsits. You can rent a flat in the shadow of Blackpool's famous tower, a replica of the Eiffel tower in Paris, for £100 per week.
Higgitt's Business Approach
Higgitt, a Telford, Shropshire native who grew up on a tough council estate and moved to Blackpool 23 years ago, is now a Blackpool evangelist. He defends the area from outside criticism and has turned down offers to appear in television shows negative about Blackpool. He says there are two ways to do business: high margin, low turnover, like posh coffee shops in Cornwall, or low margin, high turnover. He feeds people for a pound and they love it.
Higgitt claims that everyone knows locally that most of the addicts are not from Blackpool but are ushered there by outside local authorities. He says these troubled incomers are told Blackpool will take care of you, while many calculate that the large numbers of holidaying visitors will be fruitful for begging. This is a view shared by several locals who spoke to The Irish Times.
One woman working in a card shop said there are so many transient people. They come here thinking we have loads of money to give, but most locals are broke too. Higgitt adds that Blackpool is the Marmite of Britain. You love it or hate it. He loves it.
Visitor Attractions and Local Spirit
The season is nearing an end in Blackpool. The amusement halls are half empty, the pony and trap rides infrequent. The thinned out crowds on the famous Golden Mile seafront enjoy a late burst of autumn sunshine as wind flutters their candy floss. Outsiders stereotype Blackpool as the epitome of faded seaside grandeur, a Victorian-Edwardian mix-mash that was once a British tourism mecca, its shine dulled by cheap Spanish resorts.
Some see it as the epitome of Brexit Britain, as its residents voted Leave by more than two to one, as well as an exemplar of the cliches of Northern English decline and deprivation. Proud locals, meanwhile, wax lyrical about its community spirit. Higgitt says people are friendly here, they talk to you. If somebody down south dies in the middle of the street, they step over them.
Blackpool still has all the sunny-day fun that draws in its mainly British working-class visitors: rollercoasters, crazy golf, cabaret shows, £2 pints. It is also a hotspot for so-called dark tourism, visitors who revel in the grime. Videos of their visits are catnip on social media, drawing thousands of views. Locals like Higgitt say many visitors may have mundane lives and come here for escapism. He says you can walk around any town and go up to the local drug addicts or alcoholics, but Blackpool has got the name. To him, Blackpool is salt of the earth, working class, kiss me quick and sticks of rock, and a pound burger.
Blackpool Chris Higgitt Deprivation Nigel Farage Golden Mile Brexit Dark Tourism
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