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Blackpool Central Leisure Development- Announcement Imminent

To be fair - this entire project is evidently catering for later nights, ****ty weather and the 'off-season', all of which PB suffer from low attendance and have an unlimited amount of issues with. This project, I doubt, would take much, if any, business away from the park and in fact, can actually only boost the attendance.
 
Think there used to be switchbacks and coasters on five different sites in Blackpool.
Two south shore, uncle toms, Leyton raikes and the winter gardens.
The Thompson's have had a monopoly in the town for far too long.
 
Have you got links and photos to all that? I'd be really interested to see as much info as possible, particularly to anything in South Shore. Leyton Raikes as well? I hadn't heard anything about that site.
 
Sorry, mainly small bits in local history books.
Dipper Dave might have some pics though.
As an old git I'm not too good with links.
The Leyton Raikes 'spoons behind the town hall is worth a visit for some of the stuff on the walls, but the switch back there only lasted a year I think...that might of gone to Uncle Toms Cabin.
There is stuff I've seen via Google images, the south shore switch back to the south of the old Starr Inn and winter gardens ones I have seen via the internet as well.
 
David Slattery Christie...Royal Palace Gardens.
Recent book on Leyton Raikes.
No mention of switch back in the book blurb though.
Sorry, double post.
Shoot me twice.
 
rob666 said:
Sorry, mainly small bits in local history books.
Dipper Dave might have some pics though.
As an old git I'm not too good with links.
The Leyton Raikes 'spoons behind the town hall is worth a visit for some of the stuff on the walls, but the switch back there only lasted a year I think...that might of gone to Uncle Toms Cabin.
There is stuff I've seen via Google images, the south shore switch back to the south of the old Starr Inn and winter gardens ones I have seen via the internet as well.
Click to expand...

I've seen the Winter Gardens ones and also photos of a site on an indoor arcade on the Prom (I think)
 
A planning application has been submitted for the £300m Blackpool Central project.

" initial phases of the scheme, which includes a new 1,306 space Multi Storey Car Park and proposals to create a Heritage Quarter. Outline plans have also been lodged for future phases including a major public events square for live events, three indoor entertainment centres, hotel, restaurants and additional leisure and hospitality space."

For the timescale it still looks to be over quite a while if it does go ahead.

"Nikal has estimated the overall development will take up to 10 years to deliver"

BlackpoolCentral_V05_Aerial_toSouth_Issue05.jpg


More information: https://blackpoolcentral.com/major-...central-as-planning-application-is-submitted/
 
I was one of the last passengers to arrive at Blackpool Central train station.
Since then, there has always been a "complex, detailed" plan for a thrilling new development on the site.
An announcement has been imminent for sixty years now.
There will be two hotels, a big car park, a market to replace the market, a pub done up, a few basic flats in a shed, and a crappy 4d cinema based on a seventies sci fi book.
By chance, I drove over the actual site an hour ago.
Like most weekends in summer, it smells of wee.
 
Matt N said:
It would appear that the Chariots of the Gods IP is being dropped, as market research showed that it “didn’t appeal to younger audiences”: https://blooloop.com/theme-park/news/blackpool-central-chariots-of-the-gods/

Interesting… I wonder if they’re planning a replacement IP, or whether the park’s attractions will now just be originally themed?
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Reading the original article they’re not dropping Chariots of the Gods, they’re just changing the name of the complex to something non-specific.
 
FarleyFlavors said:
...they said, to the surprise of precisely nobody.

It's a bunch of pseudoscience bollocks that was thoroughly debunked in a BBC Horizon documentary as far back as 1977. I'd be amazed if anyone under 50 had even heard of it.
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Is it bad that I’d never heard of it prior to this project’s announcement?
 
FarleyFlavors said:
...they said, to the surprise of precisely nobody.

It's a bunch of pseudoscience bollocks that was thoroughly debunked in a BBC Horizon documentary as far back as 1977. I'd be amazed if anyone under 50 had even heard of it.
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I agree. But just to re-iterate: they're still doing it, the content will remain the same as previously announced. They're just naming the new area Blackpool Central Indoor Entertainment Park instead of Chariots of the Gods. The investors paying for the project have the rights to von Daniken’s book so they're sticking with it.
 
I’ll admit that I think Chariots of the Gods is a slightly odd choice of IP if what I read on Wikipedia is accurate; from what I can gather, it’s basically a conspiracy theory book of sorts.
 
Matt N said:
I’ll admit that I think Chariots of the Gods is a slightly odd choice of IP if what I read on Wikipedia is accurate; from what I can gather, it’s basically a conspiracy theory book of sorts.
Click to expand...
It's complete bollocks, presented as plausible fact.

From what I can gather the Chinese company who now own the rights are trying to make money from it so have teamed up with a property company to find some mug happy to give them land to build an attraction based on it.

Of course, once the multi-storey car park and the market has gone up they too might decide Chariots of the Gods is old-hat and just not bother with the "entertainment centre".... but I'm sure that won't happen ;)
 
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Robbie said:
I agree. But just to re-iterate: they're still doing it, the content will remain the same as previously announced. They're just naming the new area Blackpool Central Indoor Entertainment Park instead of Chariots of the Gods. The investors paying for the project have the rights to von Daniken’s book so they're sticking with it.
Click to expand...
Chariots of the Gods is about the idea of aliens having visited the Earth in the distant past. You don't need the rights to the book to build an attraction based around that particular concept. So if they've ditched the title, why pay anything in royalties to the rights-holders?

It's all a bit fishy. Said rights-holders are Media Invest Entertainment and according to their website are "a corporate group specialising in media and entertainment which owns and controls rights to intellectual properties". But scroll down and it seems they have the rights to exactly one thing - the books of Erich von Däniken.

Under "Projects" they have "Chariots of the Gods Theme Parks and Resorts", which would imply they're being vastly optimistic about the value of the brand and hoping to build several attractions based on the IP. If the first one has already dropped the title, it doesn't bode well for the future of their investment, does it?

As an aside, the page on their website listing the films and TV programmes supposedly inspired by the book is quite hilarious.

Acclaimed director Ridley Scott has credited Chariots Of The Gods™ as the stimulus for his classic 1979 blockbuster smash, Alien, and the book has provided fertile ground for many more prolific individuals, including [...] George Lucas’ Star Wars trilogy and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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Except neither Alien nor Star Wars has anything to do with the Earth being visited by aliens. And 2001 was released in 1968 following four years of production. The book was first published in...umm...1968.
 
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