Blackpool in August

I visited Blackpool for the first time this August and it was a startling experience. 

Blackpool is a coastal town in northern England. It is also a place where families take their children for a cheap holiday and a favoured location for stag dos, hen dos and drinking/gambling weekends away. Needless to say there is a wide range of social classes and characters to be found on the streets of Blackpool.

I arrived in Blackpool on the Saturday, checked into my tiny hotel room, prepped my Olympus OM-D EM-5 Mk ii with a 17mm lens (34mm equivalent) and walked the promenade from the south pier to the north. Half way along, standing on the corner of a side street there pulls in front of me a "boy racer" car with dropped suspension and a young lad wearing a "Dunkin Donut" hat...like the ones the staff would wear.

I found the scene comical and when he saw me I pointed at his hat. His response would become a photo that I will always be sorry to have missed. He said... with his only remaining tooth proudly showing itself : "Tasty, aint I mate?"

The shops lining the promenade, from the south to north pier are very different in appearance and product to shop you would normally find in small towns in England. Blackpool shops mainly sell sugary sweets and treats, provide slot machines or sell cheap plastic toys. These shops are very virbrantly coloured and the sound of "Pat's 10p Prize Bingo" fills the air near the north pier.

The people visiting Blackpool seem confused. They probably expect happiness and joy but the air is filled with a sad desperation...a feeling of dread. Not everyone, but most...as if they had just stepped in the dog poo that dots the walkway next to the beach. 

At 9 o'clock in the evening I bid farewell to the bored parents, screaming toddlers, begging beggars and friendly sellers of LED octopi and headed to bed. I would normally stay up till late at night taking photos, but not here. Not in Blackpool.