Iconic Blackpool

This morning was glorious. Clear blue skies, warm and sunny, it was registering 17.5C on the temperature gauge outside Boots, just perfect for a walk along the seafront on this, our final morning in Blackpool. Looking up from the beach, this view is of two of Blackpool’s most iconic buildings, the Tower (already blipped) and the ‘Woolworth’s’ building. Opened in the spring of 1938, this former Woolworth’s store on the Promenade at Bank Hey St. was Woolworth’s most ambitious building ever. The site was triangular and opened onto three streets while the building itself was constructed from glazed cream bricks with a marble finish. It had bronze window frames with elaborate bright work. The clock tower was the finishing touch, but long before the demise of Woolworths worldwide, the store had vacated these premises. In 2009 the pub giant Wetherspoons began to eye up the building and it now functions as part of their chain. It has been renamed ‘The Albert and the Lion’ as a gesture to the Music Hall tradition of Blackpool.

THE LION AND ALBERT
one of the legendary monologues by Marriott Edgar

There's a famous seaside place called Blackpool,
That's noted for fresh-air and fun,
And Mr and Mrs Ramsbottom
Went there with young Albert, their son.

A grand little lad was their Albert
All dressed in his best; quite a swell
'E'd a stick with an 'orse's 'ead 'andle
The finest that Woolworth's could sell.

This comical and entertaining monologue goes on for a total of eighteen verses in all, far too many to repeat on Blipfoto, but for those interested it features on several websites and is easily Googled.