Central Pier, Blackpool

About this place

From the day it opened in May 1868 this pier never pretended to be refined: while North Pier sold quiet and brass bands, Central Pier was built for dancing and noise, then roller skating, then fairground rides. It has kept its word. The Ferris wheel that has towered roughly 33 metres over the deck since 1990 is visible far along the seafront, and from the top you get Blackpool Tower half a kilometre to the north and the immense sandy beach the tide abandons for hundreds of metres twice a day. Walking the pier costs nothing and needs no booking. The rides run on a ticket system bought at kiosks: the Big Wheel takes six tickets, mid-sized rides like the dodgems, the Waltzer and the Flying Bob four, children's rides like the carousel, the Mini Wheel and the Air Balloons three. The operator does not publish ticket prices online, so budget a few pounds per ride and check the board before promising anything to the children. The arcade opens at 10:00 on weekdays and 09:00 at weekends and runs late; the outdoor rides turn 'weather permitting' only, a phrase that carries a lot of weight in Blackpool. Honesty is owed here: this is not a heritage pier for admiring Victorian ironwork but a loud amusement pier smelling of candy floss and ringing with machines. If you want the nineteenth century, North Pier is your pier; if you want faster rides, South Pier does them better. Central sits between them in both position and mood, and it is the right one for a family with a toddler and a ten-year-old at once. The wooden deck is level and fine for pushchairs, but the indoor venues, Pirates Bay, the Terrace Bar and a show bar that opens only on event nights, are bar-led, so the real family fun is on the open deck and in the arcade. The sea here is cold all year; nobody swims. Getting there is simple: the Central Pier tram stop is directly outside, Blackpool North station is about a twenty-minute walk along the Promenade, and public car parks sit in the back streets a few minutes away. In summer the place fills with British families on holiday; from late August until early January the famous Illuminations light the whole seafront after dark, and that is the best hour to ride the wheel. In winter the deck stays open but many of the rides are still, and a walk to the end becomes a short, windy adventure.