Skateboarders damaging Blackpool's iconic Comedy Carpet

Responding to questions about the upkeep of the attraction on the Tower Festival Headland, the council’s director of regeneration Alan Cavill said the actions of skateboarders had caused scratches on the granite surface.

But he told a meeting of the council’s tourism, economy and communities scrutiny committee the cleaning process, which was recently undertaken, did remove any scratches.

Mr Cavill said: “The slabs are around eight inches thick and the letters run all the way through them, so when we clean it it takes the scratches off.

“Skateboarding does cause damage and we do try to enforce against it. But as soon as we get one lot off, another lot come along.”

He said the Comedy Carpet was given a deep clean about every five years.

The carpet , which opened in 2011 , was recently jet washed by commercial cleaning service HLS Cleaning in readiness for the 2022 tourism season.

The work took one day with four men using three steam cleaning jet washers to restore the 1,880 square-metre carpet to its former glory.

The work funded through the Government’s Welcome Back Fund which is helping to facilitate Blackpool’s post-pandemic tourism recovery.

Created by artist Gordon Young in association with leading design agency, Why Not Associates, the carpet was officially opened by comedian Ken Dodd., and has gone on to become one of the most popular free attractions in Blackpool.

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