Ward Lock's Guide - a Blackpool eye opener

Many readers of a certain age can’t walk round the town centre without getting mental flashbacks of a different Blackpool.

That’s what I thought five years ago when I volunteered to help launch this eight page supplement - for a few weeks.

Here we are 260 weeks later and I’m looking back on that first article with a few additional notes.

Under the heading “The perfect morning stroll back in the 50s” the story began . . .

It was wedged in the side of a box of old brochures at a table top sale. Ward Lock’s Guide to Blackpool. A little gem for £1.50.

It was undated but a few clues suggested the mid-Fifties.

Flipping through the pages I feel like Michael Portillo arriving in a strange town with his Bradshaw’s Railway Guide of more than a century ago.

Well, not quite like the former MP. Pink shirt, lime green jacket and yellow strides is not my style.

However, Ward Lock’s Guide is an eye-opener.

I’m back in the mid-Fifties, strolling through the town centre on my way to a news agency office in Adelaide Street where I will spend the day telephoning Blackpool news items to regional and national newspapers.

The resort’s cream and green buses appear round every corner, bringing in hundreds of town centre shop and office workers.

Soon, the juniors will be outside the shops, wiping down the fascias and polishing the door handles.

Trams trundle round the corner of Abingdon Street and Church Street on the inland route through Marton to South Shore.

My Ward Lock’s Guide says the buses and trams carry an annual 108 million passengers. The buses use 550,000 gallons of fuel and the trams use 10,000 units of electricity.

The guide tells me that more visitors come by motor coach than by rail. There is even a scheduled overnight coach by Standerwicks from London.

Car owners - there aren’t many in the Fifties - have to trail through many towns to get here (no motorways).

The council’s water bowser is hosing down the pavements in Church Street, but I notice the torrents of water disappear down the grids on the slope towards Market Street. There is two-way road traffic in Church Street.

There are eight banks in the town centre (could be nine) and letters can by posted in the Abingdon Street GPO as late as 10.30pm for next day delivery in Preston and Manchester.

If I had time I could pop into the Central Library in Queen Street and browse through seven morning papers - free!

During the morning, if I have to nip out to the shops for the boss, I will see queues at the Winter Gardens box office, visitors booking for the summer shows at the Opera House and the Pavilion.

And on Saturday night I’ll be in the Gardens, meeting pals in the Empress Ballroom, following the Ted Heath band and waiting for Ronnie Verrell’s storming drum solos.

Back to reality. As I said - it was a different Blackpool.