View Full Version : Southport's Pleasureland Amusement Park
Southport's Pleasureland Amusement Park which opened in 1913 is to close :shock: because of falling visitor numbers, it has been announced.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39997000/jpg/_39997552_pleasureland203.jpg
Owners of Southport's Pleasureland Amusement Park said despite investment in rides it has proved "unsustainable".
More than £2m was spent on renovations in 2004, including installation of the Lost Dinosaurs of the Sahara ride.
Park directors say increased competition from other attractions and an increase in Sunday shopping and sports events led to its downfall.
The park first opened with a figure-of-eight rollercoaster and a slide back in 1913.
It was based at a site in Kings Garden but moved to its current home on Marine Drive in 1924.
source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/5318344.stm).....
sweetpatooti
09-06-2006, 07:25 PM
That's really sad - another of my happy teenage memories gone forever - I remember happy sunny days when we spun round at breakneck speed on the Speedway listening to Motown records blare out. Or being spun on the Waltzers by dangerous-looking boys who only spun you that fast to see if your skirt would fly up!! We knew what they were up to and we tucked them tight under our knees!!! (how many young girls would do that today?) The cyclone was the scariest thing we knew and the fun house was were we went when it rained. Home to Garston on the train to Exchange Flags the bus from the Pier Head - we would be asleep by Smithdown Road.
Only have to hear The Elgins or the Supremes singing and I am right back there smelling the doughnuts. Oh - and my shoes fell off once on the chairlift!!!
I went loads of times when I was a kid. The joke shops, the arcades, the fun house with that twirly wheel that spun you around!!
Later on in life though we would only walk through it whilst in Southport.
Fun park to close
PLEASURE Beach bosses today insisted the attraction is not under threat despite the shock closure of another of its fun parks.
Pleasureland in Southport – owned by the Thompson family – closed at 5pm yesterday with the loss of 52 jobs.
Stunned staff were told just minutes before the park was locked up for a final time.
It comes just a month after staff at the Pleasure Beach were told jobs could go in Blackpool in a bid to save money.
Rumours continued to persist today that Southport's top ride – the £5m Traumatizer – was on its way to Blackpool to replace the much-loved Log Flume which closed for the last time on Sunday.
Gill Mathison, spokeswoman for Blackpool Pleasure Beach, said: "It's a very sad day for the family. The family has been involved with Pleasureland since 1977.
"We're trying to preserve the Pleasure Beach by making it leaner, meaner and keener and more efficient. We need to ensure we have a product that people want. After the next two months we will be a really slick operation that is set up to cope with the economic climate and move forward into the next chapter.
"With regards to the Traumatizer, it's not a question I can answer at this moment. The priority is to help our staff at Pleasureland."
Southport's Pleasureland opened in 1913 with a figure-of-eight rollercoaster and a slide. It experienced a 76 per cent slump in visitor numbers since introducing entry fees.
The seafront park saw numbers drop from 2.1m in 2004 to 500,000 last year after it implemented a £2 admission charge, according to tourist board figures.
A spokeswoman for the Merseyside fun park today said: "Pleasureland has proved unsustainable as a ride park, despite repeated significant investments in capital attractions.
"These include the £5m Traumatizer rollercoaster, the Space Shot vertical drop ride, and the Casablanca Family Entertainment Centre, none of which, sadly, has generated a return on capital.
"The UK theme park industry is facing increased competition from publicly-funded and Lottery-funded attractions. This has been compounded by our weekend trading now competing with extended Sunday shopping and Sunday sporting events."
The statement thanked "loyal" staff and pledged to work with other agencies to help them find new jobs.
Staff at Blackpool Pleasure Beach are in the midst of a review designed to make the firm more efficient. Worried staff claim around 70 workers – from white-collar managers to on-site workers – will lose their jobs although Pleasure Beach bosses have declined to put a figure on the expected job losses.
CLICK (http://www.blackpoolonline.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=62&ArticleID=1746021)
lindylou
09-07-2006, 05:52 PM
I think it was a mistake when they started charging £2 addmission just to get inside the funfair. A family of 4 would have to pay £8 before you start ??
Don't know, if this is correct as I havn't been there for along time.
Would the money be deducted from a family ticket or something ?
Funfairs are too expensive, you spend a blinkin' fortune !
Scousemouse
09-07-2006, 10:56 PM
The statement thanked "loyal" staff and pledged to work with other agencies to help them find new jobs.
Stunned staff were told just minutes before the park was locked up for a final time.
Seems a strange way to treat "loyal" staff!
The seafront park saw numbers drop from 2.1m in 2004 to 500,000 last year after it implemented a £2 admission charge, according to tourist board figures.
500,000 punters paying £2 = £1MILLION...just for letting 'em in to spend their money!! Nice!
I wonder how much the site is worth? ...or is that just my cynicism creeping in?
:rolleyes:
Paul D
09-08-2006, 08:09 AM
The rides were rubbish I remember going there a couple of years ago and spending £40 on second rate rides for the little one and still having to deny her loads of rides it was a total rip off,that works out at about $65 I could get in Disneyland for about £35 and use all the rides all day long and it's out of this World,the trouble is we accept rubbish in this country and pay through the nose for it and Southport fair was certainly that.
PEOPLE living in Southport reacted with horror after workers moved on to the resort's doomed Pleasureland and apparently began to dismantle its historic rollercoaster ride. more (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=17751587%26method=full%26siteid=50061% 26headline=residents%2dalarmed%2das%2dworkers%2d%2 ddismantle%2d%2dhistoric%2dride-name_page.html)
THE owners of one of Britain's oldest wooden rollercoasters are being accused of "corporate vandalism" by destroying the historic attraction. more (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=17771657%26method=full%26siteid=50061% 26headline=park%2downers%2daccused%2dof%2d%2dcorpo rate%2dvandalism%2d%2das%2dcyclone%2dis%2ddemolish ed%2d-name_page.html)
The Thompson family owners of Blackpools Pleasure Beach, also own Southports Fun Land.... it seems they are killing the competion.. :O :disgust:
Howie
09-19-2006, 08:36 AM
Pleasure to know you: now farewell ...
Sep 19 2006
Daily Post
Southport's Pleasureland closed down for good earlier this month. City Editor Larry Neild travelled to the resort for a walk down memory lane and to see what the future holds
IS THERE life after the death of Pleasureland for Southport? For generations of children from Liverpool and the industrial towns of Lancashire, this outpost on the coast was a magical kingdom, the nearest many of them would ever sample to something resembling DisneyWorld.
They never sang "Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside" in Southport. The vast beach could well have been called Lancashire's Sahara Desert, with the Irish Sea a watery oasis a long, long way towards the horizon.
The beach, the pier and the kiss-me-quick hat shops have all been part of the attraction of this weekend playground for millions. The squeals of excited girls on the roller-coaster, the laughter of riders on the Traumatizer as their worlds were turned upside down, this land of thrills was the ultimate escape.
It was like a friendly, wrinkly-faced grandma; you didn't need to visit very often, but so comforting to just know it was there.
More (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=17778046%26method=full%26siteid=50061% 26headline=pleasure%2dto%2dknow%2dyou%2d%2dnow%2df arewell%2d%2d%2d%2d-name_page.html)...
Howie
09-19-2006, 08:37 AM
Last trip to the top of the Cyclone for Pleasureland protesters
Sep 19 2006
Daily Post
TWO men yesterday staged a sit-in at the top of a part-dismantled wooden rollercoaster at Southport's doomed Pleasureland complex.
The pair clambered to the top of the 60ft Cyclone for their three-hour sit-in.
They later came down after police expressed concerns over the possible distraction their protest could cause to motorists.
Anger has been growing in Southport over the closure of Pleasureland by owners Blackpool Pleasure Beach, which insists it has never made a profit out of its Merseyside venture.
Although English Heritage had discussed making it a listed structure, it hadn't decided whether to go ahead by the time the closure of Pleasureland had been announced.
More (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=17777932%26method=full%26siteid=50061% 26headline=last%2dtrip%2dto%2dthe%2dtop%2dof%2dthe %2dcyclone%2dfor%2dpleasureland%2dprotesters-name_page.html)...
Howie
09-21-2006, 08:27 AM
Campaign to save Cyclone moves on
Sep 21 2006
By David Higgerson Daily Post Staff
http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/icliverpool/sep2006/2/1/B06830F7-B066-B043-05F56EAB621CEEFD.jpg
A LAST-DITCH attempt has been launched to try and save Southport's historic wooden Cyclone rollercoaster from demolition.
English Heritage last night confirmed it had been asked to recommend the famous ride be given 'listed status' meaning it could not be demolished.
That would mean that the owners of Pleasureland in Southport would not be allowed to demolish it.
But it said that despite 'fast-tracking' the investigation into possible listing, inspectors had been denied entrance to Pleasureland twice.
More (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=17793313%26method=full%26siteid=50061% 26headline=campaign%2dto%2dsave%2dcyclone%2dmoves% 2don-name_page.html)...
'Last rites' for seaside resorts CLICK (http://www.blackpoolonline.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=62&ArticleID=1784510)
ONE of Blackpool's leading entertainment figures has issued a chilling warning after claiming 2006 had been the worst summer season in 25 years.
Paul Iles, manager at the Grand Theatre, says this year marked the "last rites of the English seaside resort as we know it".
Last week The Gazette revealed how The Grand faced a £200,000 loss this financial year.
Mr Iles added this year's poor season would make Blackpool a "one-night stand town" rather than its traditional image as a resort with season-long shows.
Speaking in The Stage entertainment newspaper, Mr Iles said: "It has been indubitably the worst summer season in the 25 years the Blackpool Grand Theatre Trust has run the venue.
"This marks the last rites of the English seaside resort as we know it. It's not going to be possible to run a 12 to 13-week summer season from now on.
"It's a one-night stand for the town in the future.
"The decline has been happening over the last decade, but has been that much steeper this year."
The venue's original summer season plans were scuppered after an 11th hour cancellation by Q-dos Entertainments of a proposed 12-week run of the Cannon and Ball farce Big Bad Mouse.
Early season runs of the Music Hall by local producer Duggie Chapman failed to attract large audiences and a later season of matinee shows – featuring Hi-De-Hi star Paul Shane – was dropped after just two weeks.
Mr Chapman said this had been the worst summer season he had experienced and believed the market had dropped by half.
He added casinos arriving in Blackpool may not even be enough to turn the entertainment fortunes of the resort around.
Mr Chapman said: "I think the damage will be done in the next four years, while they're building it. I don't think I'll have a summer show in Blackpool next year.
"You just can't afford to take the risk. It's not like it was."
Blackpool is one of seven towns and cities vying to host the UK's first and only super casino.
The Government is expected to announce at the end of this year whether its application has been successful.
A conservation group has stepped up its campaign to save an historic wooden rollercoaster from demolition.
The Cyclone at Pleasureland Amusement Park in Southport, Merseyside, is under threat after the park's recent closure, due to falling visitor numbers.
Owners Blackpool Pleasure Beach said it was "unsustainable" as a ride park.
The Southport Cyclone Heritage and Wildlife Preservation Society (SCHWPS) is calling for demolition to be put on hold until spring 2007.
The group wants a full survey of the wildlife on the site to be carried out.
Campaigner Leon Robinson said the site must be protected.
Protection refused
A statement from the group said: "We demand the wildlife and protected species which we believe live in, or in close proximity to the Cyclone be protected from harm by the potential works carried out when attempting to clear the site.
"We ask that Blackpool pleasure beach please please reconsider demolishing the structure and let it be preserved for integration into the new development of the site."
Supporters of the ride have already asked English Heritage to have the ride protected but the application was refused.
The amusement park first opened with a figure-of-eight rollercoaster and a slide back in 1913. It closed in September 2006.
Source: BBC Liverpool (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/6153678.stm)
Recent Exploration Pics: Here (http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2449)
snappel
11-16-2006, 04:36 PM
I'm sure part of the Cyclone has been taken down... or has it? Shouldn't it have a big raised loop bit at both ends?
EDIT: My mistake... I was looking at photos of it all wrong!
From this evenings Gazette ..
Teasing clues on identity of ride
PLEASURE Beach bosses are set to announce the identity of their new white knuckle thriller.
In a teasing announcement to the theme park trade media, they say: "There's a steel beast lurking in the Log Flume lakebed growing bigger by the day."
They add, enticingly, that the new attraction is "set to provide an exhilarating infusion of elements, soar to amazing heights and take you through a whirlwind water experience which will amaze and astound your senses."
Although the South Shore fun park was remaining tight-lipped today, a spokesman hinted the identity and name of the new ride could be revealed "as early as next week".
Speculation in Blackpool's tourism industry is that it will be a re-themed version of the steel Traumatizer.
The looping, twisting suspended roller coaster was dismantled and brought section-by-section on low-loaders to the Blackpool site when the the Thompson family closed sister park Pleasureland, Southport, in September.
The Log Flume, which opened in 1967, was closed on September 2.
victorialush
11-18-2006, 05:39 PM
Shame, I remember going here as a kid... bank holidays trying to look cool standing by the waltzes with the dance music playing... the smell of fish and chips as you walked through from the station... huge sugar dummies that my hair would always blow onto.... pick and mix from woolies on the way back, of course we would eat half of them before we got to the till :D
huge sugar dummies that my hair would always blow onto
Sugar Dummies, lol, they were nice, candy floss too :celb (23):
lindylou
11-20-2006, 02:18 PM
...... and toffee apples. :celb (23):
and cockles in vinegar, eating them with a wooden pick... m'mmmm cockles
CONSERVATION campaigners say protected newts and toads could be harmed by the dismantling of a historic wooden rollercoaster ride. more (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpooldailypost/news/regionalnews/tm_headline=call-to-stop-rollercoaster-demolition%26method=full%26objectid=18137759%26sit eid=50061-name_page.html)
You'd think the wooden rollercoasters in this country would have a listed status seeing as they are so much a part of our heritage. But No...
The latest news
http://www.southportforums.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=50367701
franky1
11-26-2006, 08:20 PM
The end of the day, should you require any of these delights you have the only option of a long trip either to Rhyl or to Blackpool...:disgust: May be it was just a walk through with the familly? May be spend a bit? But as a familly man just makes things harder for the kids. This thread seems to be on the past look at the future for the kids. It is more cost from all angles for all, Low income famillys will suffer...:disgust:
Patrick-Trollope
11-27-2006, 09:34 AM
We got a call that the historic Cyclone was being demolished on Monday 20 November 2006 so we popped on down to stake a look. This is one of our many shots we took of the sad day for Southport's skyline and history. To read the report about it in our online paper see this link... http://www.southportreporter.com/267/267-1.shtml
I thought you might also like to see our small video clip news report we did at the time of closure.... http://www.liverpoolreporter.com/tv/pleasurelandclosed/
It is a sad loss for the town and Merseyside as well. We just hope we get somthing in very quickly to replace it. If you can replace it.
snappel
11-27-2006, 02:18 PM
What a ****ing disgrace.
http://editorial.jpress.co.uk/web/Upload/BLAC/312007300301-page-7-pleasure-beach-.jpg
LIKE a winter snowdrop poking through the ground, the Pleasure Beach's new ride is beginning to take shape.
Work on Infusion is continuing through January, with the ground works – the piling and foundations – having been completed.
The £8m white-knuckle thriller, which uses parts of the Traumatizer ride, brought to the Pleasure Beach when Southport Pleasureland closed last September, is being built where the famous Log Flume used to stand.
A spokeswoman for the Pleasure Beach said work was running to schedule, with the ride due to open in spring.
The super coaster has been labelled by some experts one of the most ambitious rollercoaster plans ever. Infusion aims to turn the tide and increase visitor numbers in 2007. The attraction is a suspended looping coaster that travels entirely over water.
An extensive and high-profile publicity campaign with a celebrity opening is due to be staged to celebrate its completion and entice thousands of extra tourists back into the resort.
CLICK (http://www.blackpoolonline.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=62&ArticleID=1954506)
The site of a former fairground in Merseyside is expected to be developed as part of a seafront scheme.
Sefton Council has taken control of the site of the former Pleasureland park in Southport which closed in September last year.
It has bought back the remainder of the lease for the 25-acre site and now hopes to find a partner in developing the land.
It said work would complement planned investment in the surrounding area.
The site may be used on a short-term basis while a more long-term plan is made. more (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/6529461.stm)....
The Gardens
04-05-2007, 05:11 PM
How are the ex employees getting on with their compensation claim? I believe they were suing for funfair dismissal :ninja:
How are the ex employees getting on with their compensation claim? I believe they were suing for funfair dismissal :ninja:
lol
naked lilac
04-05-2007, 06:54 PM
Southport was a lovely community..a bit of an older crowd, :PDT_Aliboronz_24: but, yes, the Amusement Park really was in need of renovation when I was there this past year.. I think it would bring more people to this area that needs a boost.. Hope it all works out...
FAIRGROUND rides could return to Southport’s Pleasureland site this and next summer, and the new owners are not ruling out a funfair as a permanent option. more (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpooldailypost/news/regionalnews/tm_headline=funfair-may-return-to-southport%26method=full%26objectid=18978926%26site id=50061-name_page.html)
AntiPathos
04-28-2007, 11:00 AM
FAIRGROUND rides could return to Southport’s Pleasureland site this and next summer, and the new owners are not ruling out a funfair as a permanent option. more (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpooldailypost/news/regionalnews/tm_headline=funfair-may-return-to-southport%26method=full%26objectid=18978926%26site id=50061-name_page.html)
Would be nice. Southport was featured on that Tonight with Trevor McDonut prog last night. Was about how Seaside towns are dying on their arses.
AP.
MariaC
04-28-2007, 11:20 AM
OMG! That brings back memories. All the kids in our school (St Vincent de Paul) got took to Southport Pleasure Land every year. We used to call it 'The Treat.' We all trapsed behind Mr. Peck and his band down St. James Street through town and to the Exchange Street station.
When we got to Southport, we followed the band all the way to the Pleasureland. Our mums and dads would give us half- a - crown to go on the rides and say,,,, "Meet us back at the helter sketer or the Noahs Ark in an hour and you can have the rest of your pocket money."
We all went to 'Salt's Cafe' for a fish and chip lunch, and then back to the pleasureland. When the pocket money had run out, then we went on the beach. Most of us fell asleep on the train on the way home, with our little gobs covered in Candy Floss and Toffee apple.
Lovely memories.
SteveFaragher
05-11-2007, 11:07 PM
The "New" roller coaster at Blackpool Pleasure Beach looks suspiciously like the Traumatizer whichwas dismantled last year when they closed the Southport Fair ground down. Apparently they had sorted the space out in Blackpool well before they announced what they were doing in Southport.
Also Infusion is also a swingers club in Blackpool so let's hope people dontget confused between the two places.Needless to say the sex club arent happy wiht them nicking their name
The "New" roller coaster at Blackpool Pleasure Beach looks suspiciously like the Traumatizer whichwas dismantled last year when they closed the Southport Fair ground down. Apparently they had sorted the space out in Blackpool well before they announced what they were doing in Southport.
It is the old traumatizer.It has been repainted and had some water jets pointed at it.They have actually now admited that it has been recycled to put a positive spin on it although they dont mention it was second hand when it originally came to southport!
Blackpool pleasure beach have trashed what remains of pleasureland to hinder any hope of its reuse.
Cheers.
WORK is under way to bring fairground attractions back to Southport’s former Pleasureland site this summer. more (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpooldailypost/news/regionalnews/tm_headline=resort-restores-fairground-attractions-at-pleasureland%26method=full%26objectid=19233830%26s iteid=50061-name_page.html)
FAIRGROUND rides were up and running once again over the weekend on the site of the former Pleasureland fairground in Southport. Read (http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2007/07/23/revived-pleasureland-back-in-business-64375-19499448/)
:PDT11
Nice to see an amusment park (all be it temporary) on the site. Amusment parks do cost alot of money to run and maintaine and with regards to the pleasure beach company, lets not forget that it is a family run business unlike some of the other parks.
kat
SOUTHPORT’s Pleasureland has been given a £2.5m revamp and created 100 new jobs. Read (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2007/07/27/magical-start-for-pleasureland-100252-19527522/)
Happy days.... :handclap:
wonders how they will go on with that regarding keeping the pleasureland name? I would have thought a new company might wish to rebrand itself. it will certainly create problems because I am sure many will think its still the old pleasure beach group, whom as we know worked a band system. I would imagine too it will be quiet costly
paying for each individual ride.
Kat
:snf (41):
naked lilac
08-01-2007, 08:51 AM
I was there last year.. and definitely needed an uplift.. glad it will remain an amusement park..:handclap: Not a hotel or anything as such..
It will be nice ,I think ,to upgrade the pleasures of fun that it used to have.. It is a lovely site.. and little town.. and why not upgrade a ride or two.. needs it...
miguel
08-01-2007, 09:04 AM
I think Southport's biggest problem is lousy access. From where I live in Princes Park I can get to Manchester, Stockport, even Bolton quicker. I have done it.
Get your old maps out and you will see that apart from cosmetic changes (and a twenty fold increase in traffic) the roads to Southport are the same as they were just after the 2nd World War. No kidding. I took a leisurely drive there one evening: it took an hour yet it's only 20 miles away.
If you can stomach the trip the town's worth it. Lovely shopping street, a refreshing change from the chrome and plastic sheds with their endless racks of Far Eastern clothing.
lindylou
08-01-2007, 10:43 AM
Your description of the chrome sheds is quite true :)
They are so predictable.
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