Blackpool illuminated: resetting the jewel in Britain’s seaside crown

After years of decline, Blackpool is undergoing a renaissance and is becoming a precious heritage destination

Heading for the seafront from Blackpool North station, I passed gleaming new tramlines. Blackpool’s famous trams – confined to the promenade since the early 1960s – will soon be running inland again, and nearby hoardings boasted: “The renaissance of Blackpool is gathering pace.”

Good news about Blackpool is welcome, and rare. You can read all the indices of deprivation in Madelaine Bunting’s recent The Seaside, an excellent book, but the chapter on Blackpool is enough to make me feel guilty at always having had such a good time there.