Winter Gardens, Blackpool

About this place

Behind a plain frontage on Church Street, two streets back from the Tower, sits a Victorian ballroom of 1896 whose dancefloor has ridden on more than a thousand springs since it was relaid in 1934 — one of the last sprung dancefloors left in Britain. This is the Empress Ballroom, the heart of the Winter Gardens complex, which opened on 11 July 1878 and is listed Grade II*. The venue claims that every British prime minister since the Second World War has spoken under its roof, and the Blackpool Dance Festival has been held in this room since 1920. The complex is not one building but a row of halls, each carrying the taste of its decade: the Spanish Hall, added in 1931, with a ceiling painted as an Andalusian village under a blue sky; the glassy Floral Hall and its cafés; and the Opera House, rebuilt in 1939 with about 2,800 seats, among the largest theatres in the country. The exterior is disappointingly ordinary. The interiors are the entire reason to come. There is one catch that ruins the visit if you miss it: the Winter Gardens is a working venue, not a museum. There is no general admission. You reach the historic rooms either on a guided tour booked in advance — £26.50, about two hours, tea or coffee afterwards — which runs on only a handful of dates a year, roughly one a month, or by buying a ticket to a show in the Opera House. The shopping arcade, the Floral Hall and the Empress coffee bar can usually be walked through between 11:00 and 15:00. Check the events calendar before you set off; the venue itself warns it cannot guarantee access to every area, and even the tour can lose rooms to a hall being set up for a show. It is a fine refuge on a wet Blackpool afternoon. The main floors are level and pushchairs manage them, it is a ten-minute walk from Blackpool North station, and the Houndshill car park sits a few minutes from the Church Street entrance. Avoid the second half of July: the Empress Ballroom becomes the World Matchplay darts, with a loud crowd drinking through the evening — not a family night out by any measure. There is no prayer room in the building, and the catering is not advertised as halal.