Blackpool Tower is a tourist attraction in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which was opened to the public on 14 May 1894. When it opened, Blackpool Tower was the tallest man-made structure in the British Empire. Inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, it is tall and was once the 125th-tallest freestanding tower in the world. Blackpool Tower is also the common name for the Tower Buildings, an entertainment complex in a red-brick three-storey block that comprises the tower, Tower Circus, the Tower Ballroom, and roof gardens, which was designated a Grade I listed building in 1973.

History

Background and construction

The Blackpool Tower Company was founded by London-based Standard Contract & Debenture Corporation in 1890; it bought an aquarium, owned by William Cocker, on Central Promenade with the intention of building a replica Eiffel Tower on the site. John Bickerstaffe, a former mayor of Blackpool, was asked to become chairman of the new company, and its shares went on sale in July 1891. The prospectus occupied the whole of page 6 of The Financial Times of 25 July 1891. The Standard Corporation kept 30,000 £1 shares and offered £150,000 worth of shares to the public; initially only two-thirds were taken up, forcing the company to ask for more cash contributions from its existing shareholders, but the poor financial situation of the company, exacerbated by the falling share price, rendered it unable to pay creditors. Bickerstaffe, to avoid the potential collapse of the venture, bought any available shares until his original holding of £500 amounted to £20,000. He also released the Standard Corporation from its share commitments. When the Tower opened in 1894, its success justified the investment of nearly £300,000, and the company made a £30,000 profit in 1896.

Two Lancashire architects, James Maxwell and Charles Tuke, designed the tower and oversaw the laying of its foundation stone By the time the Tower finally opened on 14 May 1894, both men had died. Heenan & Froude, then of Manchester, were appointed structural engineers, supplying and constructing both the tower, the electric lighting and the steel front pieces for the aquariums. A new system of hydraulic riveting was used, based on the technology of Fielding & Platt of Gloucester.

The total cost for the design and construction of the tower and buildings was about £290,000. where the height at the top measures from the ground.

The tower's design was ahead of its time. As a writer for the BBC noted: "In heavy winds the building will gently sway, what a magnificent Victorian engineering masterpiece." The top of the Tower caught fire in 1897, and the platform was seen on fire from up to away. On 22 December 1894, Norwegian ship Abana was sailing from Liverpool to Savannah, Georgia, but was caught up in a storm, and mistook the recently built Blackpool Tower for a lighthouse. Abana was first seen off North Pier, and later drifted to Little Bispham where she was wrecked, and can still be seen at low tide. The ship's bell still hangs in St Andrews Church in Cleveleys.

In 1940, during the Second World War, the crow's nest was removed to allow the structure to be used as a Royal Air Force radar station known as 'RAF Tower', The tower is usually painted in dark red, except for its centenary year in 1994 when it was painted gold by abseiling painters.

The tower has transmitters for local FM station Radio Wave 96.5 and some non-broadcast services.

The tower continued to be owned by the Bickerstaffe family until 1964, when the Blackpool Tower Company was sold to EMI. Since then it has been owned by Trust House Forte, First Leisure Corporation, and Leisure Parcs Ltd, owned by Trevor Hemmings. In March 2010, it was announced that Blackpool Council had bought Blackpool Tower, and that the Merlin Entertainment Group would manage it and add various attractions, including a new Dungeon attraction and a new observation deck called Blackpool Tower Eye.

On 12 December 2021, the tower was evacuated after reports of smoke. Fire services found it was caused by an electrical fault in a neighbouring property.

On 28 December 2023, at around 14:15 GMT, flames were reported close to the top of the tower. Lancashire Fire & Rescue responded with six fire engines, a drone team and rope rescue. In addition to this, LFRS were also supported by a helicopter from the National Police Air Service. Later that day, at around 16:30 GMT, it was revealed that the 'flames' were in fact orange netting that was blowing in the wind.

In 2025, it was announced that the Tower would be taken over from Merlin Entertainments and operated by Blackpool Council under a new company, Blackpool Tourism Ltd, from August. The Blackpool Dungeons continue to operate under a franchise agreement with Merlin.

Current attractions

Blackpool Tower Top

thumb|View from the top of the tower in August 2001

The top of the tower is currently known as the Blackpool Tower Top. At a height of , the tower is the highest observation deck in North West England. It was previously known as the Blackpool Tower Eye from September 2011 until early 2026, after then-new operators Merlin Entertainments incorporated the tower into its range of "Eye" branded attractions. Upon Blackpool Tourism Ltd taking over, it reverted to the previous name Tower Top. The tower observation deck contains a bar as well as the Skywalk glass floor.. In total, there are four levels at the top of the Tower accessible to visitors.

Entry to the Tower Top is preceded by a 4D cinema with a Blackpool-themed film created in 2011, which follows a young boy exploring Blackpool. The film was created by Sharp Cookies, with the 4D effects supplied by Kraftwerk Living Technologies.

Tower Ballroom

thumb|View of the whole of the dance floor in the Tower Ballroom

thumb|upright|The Orchestrion

The original ballroom, the Tower Pavilion, opened in August 1894. It was smaller than the present ballroom, and occupied the front of the tower complex. The Tower Ballroom was built between 1897 and 1898 to the designs of Frank Matcham, who also designed Blackpool Grand Theatre, and it opened in 1899. It was commissioned by the Tower company in response to the opening of the Empress Ballroom in the Winter Gardens. The sprung ballroom floor is and is made up of 30,602 blocks of mahogany, oak and walnut.

From 1930 until his retirement in 1970, the resident organist was Reginald Dixon, known affectionately worldwide as "Mr. Blackpool". The first Wurlitzer organ was installed in 1929, but it was replaced in 1935 by one designed by Dixon. Ernest Broadbent took over as resident organist in 1970, retiring due to ill-health in 1977. The current resident organist is Phil Kelsall who has been playing the organ at the Tower since 1975, when he started in the circus. Kelsall became resident in the ballroom in 1977, and he was awarded an MBE like Dixon in 2010 for services to music.

The ballroom was damaged by fire in December 1956; the dance floor was destroyed, along with the restaurant underneath the ballroom. Restoration took two years and cost £500,000, with many of the former designers and builders coming out of retirement to assist; the restaurant then became the Tower Lounge. it has also hosted editions of Strictly Come Dancing, including the grand finals of the second and ninth series, on 11 December 2004 and 17 December 2011 respectively.

The Blackpool Junior Dance Festival ("Open to the World") has been held each year in the ballroom since 1964. Other smaller dance bands have also appeared as residents, including the Eric Delaney Band and the Mike James Band.

Under the management of Leisure Parcs, and the direction of bandleader Greg Francis, the Blackpool Tower Big Band was reformed in 2001 after an absence of 25 years. The New Squadronaires, the Memphis Belle Swing Orchestra and the Glenn Miller Tribute Orchestra also performed. Themed nights were also introduced along with the sixteen-piece orchestra, with resident singers including Tony Benedict, Lynn Kennedy, Robert Young and Mark Porter. The Empress Orchestra became resident in the ballroom in 2005, alongside the specially created and smaller Empress Dance Band.

The Tower's orchestrion is now in the collection of Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum. The ballroom, together with the Tower, Circus and Roof Garden, were designated a Grade I listed building in 1973.

Tower Circus

thumb|The Blackpool Tower Circus arena pictured in May 2025

The Tower Circus is positioned at the base of the tower, between its four legs. The circus first opened to the public on 14 May 1894, when admission was from 6d, and has not missed a season since.

The present interior was designed by Frank Matcham and was completed in 1900.

The circus ring can be lowered into a pool of water and holds at a depth of up to , which allows for Grand Finales with Dancing Fountains. The Tower Circus is one of four left in the world that can do this.

Dino Mini Golf

Merlin Entertainments launched Dino Mini Golf, an indoor crazy golf course with "9 holes of prehistoric fun", in March 2018. It has been described by Aaron Edgar, the Blackpool Tower Operations manager, as "65 million years in the making".

The Fifth Floor

The Fifth Floor is an events space located in the space that once held Jungle Jim's. It features a stage area and a bar. It opened in September 2019 alongside a VR roller coaster ride and a circus themed arcade.

Notable former attractions

Menagerie and aquarium

William Cocker's Aquarium, Aviary and Menagerie had existed on the site since 1873. It was kept open to earn revenue while the Tower building went up around it, and then became one of the Tower's major attractions. The aquarium was modelled on the limestone caverns in Derbyshire. It housed 57 different species of fresh water and salt water fish, and the largest tank held of salt water. The menagerie and aviary were regarded as one of the finest collections in the country, and included lions, tigers, and polar bears.

The menagerie continued until 1973,

Jungle Jim's Towering Adventureland

Jungle Jim's was a large indoor children's adventure playground situated within the Tower. It originally opened in 1977 in the space formerly occupied by the roof-top gardens and Menagerie. It was refurbished in 2008 into a £3 million interactive play scheme, based on a notional lost citycovering over . Children could tackle a series of adventures in search of hidden treasure. It closed in 2019 and was replaced with The Fifth Floor.

The tracked ride system was removed in 2007, and the attraction was renamed to the Jurassic Walk and instead had guests walk past the dinosaurs. By this time, it also featured a 3D cinema. The attraction closed in 2011 upon Merlin's refurbishment of the Tower.

Other former attractions

thumb|Blackpool tower's previous Walk of Faith glass floor|alt=

  • The Tower Lounge Bar was a large pub with a capacity of 1,700, but staff usually limited occupancy to 1,400 for a more relaxed atmosphere. It closed down in 2014, and has since reopened as a Harry Ramsden's fish and chip restaurant.
  • The Walk of Faith was a small section of glass floor on the Tower observation deck which allowed guests to walk across it. It was inaugurated in 1998, and was replaced and superseded in 2011 by the much larger Skywalk.

Maintenance

Painting the Tower structure takes seven years to complete, if the wind reaches the tower top sways by an inch. In April 2002, the Tower maintenance team was featured in the BBC One programme Britain's Toughest Jobs.

thumb|Blackpool Tower and Coral Island

  • Blackpool Tower is referred to several times in the humorous monologues written by Marriott Edgar, as performed by Stanley Holloway and others:
  • In Three Ha'pence a Foot (1932), Sam Oglethwaite escapes the consequences of declining a bargain with Noah by standing on the top of Blackpool Tower, up to his neck in floodwater, finally exclaiming "The sky's took a turn since this morning: I think it'll brighten up yet."
  • In The Lion and Albert (1932) and The Return of Albert (1934), Albert Ramsbottom is swallowed whole, then eventually disgorged, by a lion called "Wallace". The incident takes place in the Blackpool Tower Menagerie, which did indeed have lions.
  • Artists who have performed at the Tower include Arthur Askey, Duke Ellington, Paderewski, Dame Clara Butt, Cleo Laine, Peter Dawson, and the band Busted.
  • Tim Burton's 2016 film Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children has its climax and last scenes surrounding Blackpool's Tower.
  • The Killers filmed the music video for the song "Here with Me" in Blackpool. The music video starred Winona Ryder and Craig Roberts, and included various scenes in Blackpool Pleasure Beach, and Ryder and Roberts dancing in the Tower Ballroom whilst the band perform on stage.

Visual reporting point

Known as "the tall tower", the tower is a visual reporting point (VRP) for general aviation aircraft in the local Blackpool airspace.

See also

  • List of tallest structures built before the 20th century
  • List of works by Maxwell and Tuke
  • List of towers
  • New Brighton Tower
  • Reginald Dixon
  • Horace Finch
  • Theatre organ
  • Wade Dooley, local rugby union player capped 55 times for and nicknamed "Blackpool Tower"
  • Wurlitzers in the United Kingdom

References

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  • The Blackpool Tower official website
  • Computer-generated virtual panorama from the top of the Tower
  • The Merlin Entertainments Group
  • The Blackpool Tower Dungeon
  • History of Blackpool Tower at pastscape.org
  • The Blackpool Comedy Carpet at Gordon Young Ltd