The Comedy CarpetThe 2,200 square-metre typographic artwork installed at the foot of Blackpool Tower in 2011. Designed by artist Gordon Young, it inscribes the jokes, catchphrases and song lyrics of over 1,000 British comedians and writers in granite and cast concrete — unveiled by Sir Ken Dodd on 10 October 2011. Every letter was set by craftsmen on their hands and knees, on a £2.6 million commission funded through the Blackpool Seafront Initiative regeneration.
The Blackpool TowerThe 158-metre iron and steel tower opened to the public on 14 May 1894, built at a cost of approximately £290,000. Designed by architects James Maxwell and Charles Tuke (both died before the opening), with structural engineering by Heenan & Froude of Manchester. Founded in 1890 by the London-based Standard Contract & Debenture Corporation; saved by the personal investment of former mayor John Bickerstaffe, who increased his holding from £500 to £20,000 to prevent the company's collapse. Five million Accrington bricks were laid in construction; one builder, William Campbell, was killed falling from scaffolding on 13 July 1893.
The Blackpool Tower BallroomThe Tower Ballroom, opened in 1899 within Blackpool Tower, is one of the largest and most ornate ballrooms in Britain — a Frank Matcham interior of gilded loggias, oil paintings and a sprung dance floor. Its working-life anchor is Reginald Dixon (1904–1985), who served as resident organist on the Wurlitzer from March 1930 to March 1970 — forty years, almost every Saturday, the instrument rising through the floor at the start of every session. Dixon outsold Victor Silvester and Bing Crosby in recordings during his career; he received an MBE in 1956.
Blackpool IlluminationsThe site of the world's first electric streetlight display, turned on 18 September 1879 — one year before Thomas Edison received his light bulb patent. The first display was eight carbon arc lamps on 60-foot poles along the seafront; at least 70,000 visitors came to see what they called 'artificial sunshine'. Today 45 members of staff — artists, designers, electricians, joiners, engineers and mechanics — work year-round and put in over 65,000 hours to prepare the annual display.
North PierThe oldest surviving pier designed by prolific pier-builder Eugenius Birch — opened 21 May 1863 in a ceremony attended by more than 20,000 visitors, despite the final 50 yards being incomplete. The pier was constructed by Glasgow engineering firm Richard Laidlaw and Son. It is the second of Birch's fourteen pier designs and, since Margate Pier was destroyed in 1978, the oldest remaining example of his work still in use.
Promenade (Stop 4)The promenade section of Britain's first electric street tramway, opened by Michael Holroyd Smith on 29 September 1885. The conduit line ran from Cocker Street to Dean Street along the Promenade — one of the first practical electric tramways in the world, just six years after Werner von Siemens first demonstrated electric traction. The inauguration was presided over by Smith himself and Alderman Harwood, the Mayor of Manchester. The saltwater and sand of Blackpool's coast short-circuited the original conduit system within a decade; it was replaced by 550V DC overhead wiring by 1899. Blackpool is the only British city to have maintained a tram service continuously from 1885 to the present day.
