Everyone has a tale to recount about Blackpool. Usually, a negative one.

Whether it’s stories of hopeful family breaks that descended into disappointments, hotels mysteriously catching fire, or stag weekends that collide with far-right demonstrations, it’s the sort of place that people relish mocking. “What’s going on around here?” I asked the barman of one town centre pub on my first night in town. “F*** all!” he said joyfully, before handing over my £3 pint.

In one, quite literal sense, he was right about something. Blackpool has a significant problem with vacancies. Specifically, vacant shops.

Walk five minutes down the street from the Tower, and there are lines of deteriorating units with boarded-up windows, evidently long abandoned. Others appear occupied but closed against the winter gales and absence of tourists. It’s a startling experience, moving from the flashing lights and boinging sounds of the mega-arcades into a deserted area piled with rubble, reports the Mirror.

The figures don’t make for pleasant reading. The town of 144,000 has the third-highest rate of empty shops in the country, according to the Centre for Cities, with 17.6% closed.

In some areas, like Central Drive, the figure is 30%. Blackpool also has the second-most abandoned buildings, with one for every 45 people. Some, such as the £7.6m easyJet Hotel on the prom that never materialised, or the vast, long-empty Odeon, are particularly frustrating for locals. And for the newly elected Labour MP for Blackpool North, Chris Webb, who defeated Tory Scott Benton partly by pledging to address the issue.

“I am greatly concerned about it. There are far too many empty properties in the town,” he told the Mirror.

“Once you go past South Pier, you get to Bloomfield. It is the most deprived place in the county. The boarded-up shops there have an impact on whether people travel further out to great places like Waterlow Road and Bond Street.”

Whilst much work remains, headway is being achieved. During my visit, construction workers were busy inside the Odeon building, which displayed a ‘Coming Soon – June 2026’ banner heralding a family entertainment megaplex.

An ‘Empty Properties Task Force’ was established last month to pursue landlords of long-term vacant properties with Compulsory Purchase Orders, whilst funding is being invested in contemporary retail units and green spaces in Central Drive. Through the new ‘High Street Rental Auctions’ scheme, the council can now auction off five-year leases for shops that have stood empty for over a year, which should help to breathe some vitality into the more severely affected areas.

Whilst a fresh coat of paint and Pride of Place funding won’t resolve all of Blackpool’s deep-seated deprivation challenges or substantially reduce its crime rate, they could help bridge the gap between the town’s two contrasting identities.

During the summer months, Blackpool remains the vibrant seaside resort that has captivated millions of beach-loving, rock-munching Britons since Victorian times.

During the winter months, however, the picture is entirely different.

The moment I clambered off the train on a gloomy February afternoon, an icy blast of wind drenched me in the notorious North West rainfall. Remarkably, I’d landed in the sole corner of the country not basking in the initial sunny glimpses of Spring.

The blend of dilapidated buildings and dreary weather generates a bleak atmosphere, completely at odds with the sandcastle-and-donkey-filled summer season.

“It’s dead quiet out,” the Holiday Inn hotel receptionist observed as we watched several stooped raincoated figures battle through the wind. For a town dependent on tourism to generate £2 billion annually and sustain 30% of its employment, transforming into a relative winter ghost town presents a significant challenge. And one that Blackpool may finally be addressing.

Trainline data reveals that Blackpool is experiencing the start of an off-season popularity surge. Sajjad Motamed, the company’s UK country manager, said: “We’ve seen winter rail trips to Blackpool rise by more than 90% compared to last year, with particularly strong demand for weekend breaks. What’s striking is that the growth isn’t just coming from the North West – we’re seeing demand from right across the UK, for example, bookings from Edinburgh have more than tripled year-on-year. It suggests people nationwide are rediscovering classic seaside destinations outside of the traditional summer season, whether for a short getaway or to explore somewhere they may not have previously considered.”

Despite the fact that the particular Thursday afternoon in question was dismal enough to keep most sensible folk indoors, the surge in rail bookings to a resort recently crowned the nation’s finest by the Telegraph is supported by official local authority data. During 2023, Blackpool attracted a record-breaking 21.5million visitors, representing a 5.3% increase in merely 12 months. There are considerable expectations that 2024 and 2025 will push the figures even higher, once the statistics are compiled.

So what’s drawing people during the winter months?

One factor is affordability. Blackpool was recently named the UK’s most budget-friendly seaside destination, thanks to attractions such as £1 burgers at Higgitt’s Las Vegas Arcade, £3.90 fish and chips at Bentley’s on Bond Street, and £6 breakfasts at Peekaboos. During winter, accommodation prices are dramatically reduced as hotels compete to occupy the thousands of rooms in a town with the third lowest property values in England and Wales, according to Land Registry figures.

Another is the expanding range of off-season attractions.

I visited the recently opened 2024 Showtown Museum, which chronicles Blackpool’s entertainment heritage through highly interactive displays and tap-dancing personnel. Until May, a compelling exhibition documents the history of little people in the entertainment industry. It is challenging to envisage today, but the Blackpool Tower’s skygardens were once transformed into a miniature village “populated” by little people.

Today, visitors to the resort can visit Showtown before ascending the Tower and descending into the dungeons on the same Blackpool BIG Ticket that provides 50% discounts and costs £31.

Year-round, there are numerous complementary exhibitions on display at the listed Central Library, home to the Grundy Art Gallery. After absorbing some culture, visitors can make their way to the town’s legendary, all-season Coral Island. It’s safe to wager a bucket of 2ps that there isn’t a larger, more spectacular or outlandish amusement arcade in the nation.

Spanning an area equivalent to several football pitches of garish carpeting, Coral Island is crammed with fruit machines, penny pushers, cutting-edge VR technology, and an indoor rollercoaster that glides above the punters beneath.

Who needs the Pleasure Beach when it’s closed for winter and you’ve got that on offer?

Whilst Mr Webb maintains the town’s “reputation for stag and hen dos is greatly diminished”, it’s difficult to dispute that Blackpool remains a drinking destination. Regardless of the season, amongst its 166 bars and public houses, visitors will discover numerous drinks promotions affordable enough to make any Londoner gasp. For a peaceful yet reasonably-priced pint, the Churchill is a solid choice. For something rather more late-night and raucous, the Galleon provides live entertainment and a brilliant atmosphere on most evenings.

For Mr Webb, the “missing piece” to the winter tourism decline conundrum would be a multi-purpose indoor arena, intended for exhibitions and eSports. Its arrival remains uncertain and somewhat distant, but discussions with the proprietors of a Premier League football club are encouraging, the MP says.

This appears a logical progression for a town with such firmly established entertainment heritage. From Strictly to George Formby, visitors have traditionally flocked to Blackpool for theatrical performances.

During my visit, Derren Brown was performing at the Grand as part of his Only Human tour. At the performance’s opening, he released several large canisters of laughing gas into the auditorium to ease the audience into a receptive mood before working his bewildering, entertaining magic upon us.

Whether the gas was genuine or not, what certainly wasn’t fabricated was the raucous laughter from the crowd throughout his two-hour performance.

Lancastrians are an affable lot. Whether it’s the delightful team at Stefani’s Pizza establishment, a cheerful mother who paused her pushchair for an unplanned conversation, or the good-humoured response of an audience member publicly exposed as a thief by Brown, there’s a strong likelihood Blackpool will provide you with a cordial reception, regardless of how dreary the conditions.