From Royal palaces to theme parks, the UK has a lot to offer the nearly 40 million tourists who visit each year.
But a new ranking has revealed one of the most popular tourist attractions in the UK, and it’s sure to leave people confused.
Attracting 5 million visitors each year, Blackpool Pleasure Beach is the UK’s second most popular tourist attraction outside of London – but it doesn’t exactly receive rave reviews.
In fact, TripAdvisor users have called it ‘tacky’ and ‘bleak’. Ouch.
Perhaps it’s the long history that keeps tourists flocking to the resort every single year. Found on Blackpool’s South Shore in Lancashire, Blackpool Pleasure Beach has been going since the Victorian Era, founded in 1896 as seaside visits became more accessible for all classes. Think Punch & Judy shows and donkey rides along the beach.
And today, the park is famous for holding numerous record titles, including the largest collection of wooden roller coasters of any theme park in the UK: the Big Dipper, Blue Fryer, Grand National and Nickelodeon Streak.
Likewise, when it was first unveiled in 1994, The Big One was the tallest and steepest coaster in the world, attracting adrenaline-seeking fans.
But these days, visitors argue that the ‘golden days’ of Blackpool Pleasure Beach are over.
‘Not what it once was. Despite being less than busy and small queues it still took a long time to get onto most of the rides,’ Philip S wrote in a disgruntled Tripadvisor review.
‘It has been allowed to fall into a state of neglect.’
Another review described Blackpool as ‘tired’ and ‘run-down.’
‘Blackpool is so tired and actually becoming run-down,’ Sharr1964 penned.
‘Just unpleasant to look at, it seriously needs an injection of money to bring everywhere up to date.’
The news comes after Blackpool was also dubbed the friendliest town in the UK, which is also likely to be a big plus for tourists.
Despite it’s ‘marmite’ reputation, the town scored highly for life satisfaction, hospitality, and personal life satisfaction of residents, in a ranking by LNER.
Elsewhere on the list of most popular UK tourist attractions, the Royal Albert Dock in Liverpool claimed the top spot, according to The Great British Attraction Index.
A whopping 6.3 million visitors each year, taking in the museums, including Tate Liverpool and The Beatles Story, as well as wondering around the shops and grabbing a bite to eat at the many restaurants and bars.
Further south, another seaside town, Brighton Palace Pier was in third place with 4.6 million visitors each year, whilst Alton Towers ranked fourth with 2.3 million – one that might annoy Thorpe Park fans out there which didn’t place anywhere on the list.
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