A01=Peter Walton
Art Architecture & Photography
Author_Peter Walton
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=NL-WQ
Category=WQH
COP=United Kingdom
Cultural History
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
Format=BC
History
HMM=234
IMPN=Amberley Publishing
ISBN13=9781445644981
Language_English
Local & Urban History
PA=Available
PD=20160615
Photography
POP=Chalford
Price=€10 to €20
PS=Active
PUB=Amberley Publishing
Subject=Local Interest- Family History & Nostalgia
WG=309
WMM=156
Product details
- ISBN 9781445644981
- Weight: 309g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 15 Jun 2016
- Publisher: Amberley Publishing
- Publication City/Country: Chalford, GB
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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When Blackpool Tower was being built, many people said it would be a failure. Originally estimated at £150,000, it ended up costing twice that much and John Bickerstaffe nearly went bust building this unique attraction. But he was right. Once the Tower was open, his company made a profit every year that it existed as an independent public entity.
Not only was the Tower profitable, but it fuelled the Tower Company as Bickerstaffe built it into the dominant entertainment group in Blackpool. Under his leadership it acquired the Palace and later the Winter Gardens and Opera House. By the 1930s it was running ballrooms, cinemas, live theatre and the famous Tower Circus. The Bickerstaffe brothers were also key figures in Blackpool’s civic life.
This is a story of the Victorian entrepreneurship that created Blackpool’s most iconic building, and led to Blackpool being the apogee of seaside entertainment.
Peter is a local history author who lives in West Sussex.
