Overview
- Columnist Chris Moss rated Blackpool 9.5/10 in a national comparison of large towns (cities excluded) as prospective 2028 UK Town of Culture candidates.
- Cheltenham ranked second, Ipswich third and Rochdale fourth in the same list.
- STEAM data for 2023 show 21.5 million visitors, a 6% rise on 2022, with full‑time tourism and hospitality jobs up 5.3% to 23,419 in the town of about 141,000.
- Moss cited Blackpool’s Golden Mile, Pleasure Beach, Blackpool Tower and the Showtown museum, arguing it pioneered the modern mass‑market seaside holiday.
- Reports also underline persistent deprivation, with high poverty, unemployment, poor health, seasonal low wages, substandard housing and crime weighing on the resort.