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Get Lost With Google Streetview : Blackpool (Part 1)

This concept is really for my amusement, but I’ll document it anyway as I’m like that.

This was the first image that Liam sent, along with the clue:

“This arty boy can be found between the wish.com Eiffel Tower and a park where Henry VIII had a cottage”

To be honest, I thought this would be easy even without thinking about the clue. There is what could be described as a bloody great clue in the image itself.

I was down by Blackpool Pleasure Beach and it was evident that Liam’s clue was about two miles north, but I wanted to walk that way anyway. Here’s the South Pier which was built in 1893 as the Victoria Pier, but renamed in 1930 to its current name. As a fun engineering fact, the pier is unusual for being built with the Worthington Screw Pile System. I mean, I have no idea, but Liam knows about piling and banging things into the ground whilst making a huge noise.

I had got around three minutes into the walk before I realised I hadn’t had any lunch and it was by now evening. Sometimes, I just have to go for convenience.

£2.80 as I had a 15% off voucher. I used this time to work out where the image was taken from and realised that this might be a challenge as although the Blackpool Tower is quite obvious, the photo could have been taken from three different sides. I decided to have a think about the clue itself, but can’t say that entirely helped me. Liam had been cleverer than I had expected and he’d done this very quickly.

Blackpool Illuminations. I understand that I’m in the off-season for Blackpool, but I counted that there are over 60 hotels in the town for sale at the moment with some at very low prices. I walked by more derelict buildings than I had expected and this does feel like a challenge for Blackpool given just how many hospitality businesses there are fighting for what appears to be a limited trade.

There’s Blackpool Tower starting to appear in the distance. What is evident is just how long Blackpool seafront actually is.

I thought I’d pop in some amusements to see if I could find 2p. I was the only person in there and so thought I might look a bit out of place. I didn’t find 2p.

The King of Rock and Rollercoasters.

The remnants of the Christmas decorations, most of which have been removed now.

Luckily for blog readers, I was in Blackpool in December, so this is what they looked like lit up.

I didn’t realise that the Houndshill shopping centre was shut at night, but they left a little bit open which meant I had to leave from a door I hadn’t expected…. This is the level of top drama I have in life…

It comes out near the Winter Gardens.

It was by this time I realised that I couldn’t find Liam’s location by walking about and I couldn’t work out the clue, it went right over my head. So, I went to the Layton Rakes pub to have half a pint of the Burn’s Auld Sleekit. Under-poured, but it cost 90p and so I couldn’t much complain, and it was a reasonable beer which was creamy with some toffee. Odd service though, the manager forgot to process my card payment so i stood there at the bar whilst he looked at me annoyed why I was hanging around. He proceeded to ignore me until he tried to process the next customer’s payment and couldn’t as he still had my payment on the till.

Anyway, I decided I’d have to take drastic action at this point and sit there with my laptop to work this situation out. Through walking around the roads to the north and south of the Blackpool Tower, I worked out that the photo had to be taken from the east side. Which meant some looking at Google Street View to narrow matters down. It was then when looking at the map that I worked out that Liam’s clue referred to Kingscote Park, which I should have realised earlier. With the options narrowed down, it took just a few minutes to find where the image was taken from.

That meant I knew where I needed to go.

And here we are. I have no idea what the locals through I was doing, but hopefully they thought I was taking a photo of the Blackpool Tower from a weird angle.

Some wall art. Liam sent me the next part of the clue which was “now look right whilst heading to the pub of the extinct dog”. I decided that as it was dark, I’d complete this the following morning. But not before I had walked by the all you can eat restaurant Mr Basrai’s World Cuisines and I decided to book a table for that the next lunchtime as they had 15% off as a January offer.

At this point I popped to the pub.

Back again the next morning, this is the Salvation Army Citadel building, although it was constructed as the Raikes Road Technical School between 1904 and 1905.

My lunch at Mr Basrai’s World Cuisines, as mentioned (but more about in another post as I was suitably surprised and delighted here), before going after the final part of the clue. It took me a while to realise that the pub he meant was the Talbot as I hadn’t realised that this was an extinct dog. Every day is a learning day….

And here we are, Liam’s chosen location. This was painted in July 2022 and it was first thought to be a Banksy, and I’m sure that the home owner got very excited. It’s actually by Mr Eggs, a Manchester street artist.

I was rather pleased with this whole arrangement as I got to see some parts of Blackpool that I wouldn’t have thought of visiting and it meant I got to go to a pub that I really liked and also found an impressive lunch spot for the next day. As a reward, I’ve decided to let Liam do some more of these.

January 23, 2025
Blackpool : Cask and Tap

The next in my visit to Good Beer Guide pubs up and down the country was Cask and Tap which is a micro-pub that opened in September 2020 and has received positive on-line reviews. Before this, the building was home to the Nour Lebanese Restaurant and before that the Buddiez American Grill and then before that the Reggae Hut Jamaican Restaurant and then before that the Autumn Leaves carvery. The sign-writers have had a busy few years here.

The beer and cider selection. There were several customers sitting at the bar, but I was welcomed promptly and the environment felt welcoming. I don’t like a blocked bar when I can’t see what beers are available, but they are clearly chalked up to make matters easy.

The first beer (on the left) was the Hollywood Smile from Wensleydale Brewery, a creamy ale with a fruit and hoppy taste. The crisps were OK, better than Walkers but not quite as decadent as Tyrells or Pipers.

This was really very lovely, the Baked Alaska from Yonder Brewing. A beautiful beer with a suitable level of sourness, a bit of lemon meringue flavour, berries and all together a decadent liquid dessert from Yonder.

It’s a bright and vibrant interior, which felt comfortable and cosy. The bar shuts a little earlier than some other nearby locations, which is why I couldn’t make it when I was last in Blackpool, but I can imagine that this avoiding very late night trade is sensible. A very decent selection of beers and ciders in a peaceful environment with the prices being reasonable, so all rather lovely.

January 23, 2025
Norwich in 1727 – Don Quixote at the King’s Arms Playhouse

As I’m up at 02:00 waiting for security to open at Rome Fiumicino airport, I thought I’d look at some newspapers from 1727 as that’s great entertainment for an early morning. It’s one of the earlier editions of the Norwich Mercury, which was printed from the early 1720s until May 1949.

“Never play’d Here.

By the Norwich Company of Comedians:

At the King’s-Arms Playhouse on Monday next, being the 20th of this Instant February, will be Acted a COMEDY call’d,

DON QUIXOTE.

With the Comical Humours of Sancho Pancha his Esq; Teresa Pancha his Wife, and Mary the Buxom his Daughter.

The Parts to be perform’d as follow, viz.

MEN.

Duke, Mr. Duckworth.
Cardenio, Mr. James.
Ambrofio, Mr. Frisby.
Bernardo, the Chaplain, by Mr. Collier.
Mannel, the Civility Maſter, Mr. Green.
Pedro Rezzio, Mr. Morris.
The Page, Mr. Buck.
Don Quixote, Mr. Marshal.
Sancho Pancha, his Esq; Mr. Paul.

WOMEN.

Dutchefs, Mrs. Paul.
Marcella, Mrs. Frisby.
Rodriquez, by Mrs. Green.
Teresa Pancha, Mrs. Plomer.
Mary the Buxom, Mrs. Buck. With Dresses and Entertainments proper to the Play.

To begin at Six a Clock. Vivat REX.

And on Thursday next, being particularly desired, will be Acted the Provok’d Wife.”

Firstly, the King’s Arms Playhouse is something of a mystery and doesn’t come up on any searches. There have been ten pubs in Norwich with this name, but there’s only one which seems to have been open at this time and it’s a pub still in existence, now called Berstrete Gates. Don Quixote had been written just over 100 years before, so was an old favourite even back nearly three hundred years ago.

It’s rather sub-optimal that no first names were given, it’s too hard to work out who any of these early actors and actresses were. They were a touring company, as their names appear in locations across the region. Fortunately, a little more is known about the Norwich Company of Comedians, who between 1731 and 1757 made the White Swan Inn, near Peter Mancroft, their home. This pub started trading in the early 1600s, but the building was pulled down in the 1960s to make way for car parking. A sub-optimal decision…. Anyway, despite more being known about the company, there’s still no link between the names of the performers in this production and the history of the comedians, so that didn’t help much.

Despite my failures of research, it’s still a rather lovely little piece of Norwich history, a theatre company performing 300 years ago to surprise and delight the locals….

January 20, 2025
Stockport : Adamsons Ghost Sign

I can’t make the text of this out and it’s not helped that someone has punched four windows in the side of this building on Deanery Way. But, Google Gemini AI is my tool of choice here, and it’s fairly confident that the only word that this can be is Adamsons. It goes further and suggests that it’s a business run by Daniel Adamson (1820-1890) but he was an engineer and that doesn’t strike me as the normal business to paint up on the side of a wall. So that’s another little mystery as far as I’m concerned, but as an aside, I thought Stockport looked quite attractive architecturally.

January 19, 2025
Stockport : Stockport Railway Station

Well, where would we be without a little post about a railway station?

The first railway station in Stockport was at Heaton Norris, but it was a sub-optimal location and alongside the construction of the Stockport Viaduct, this became the next central station in 1844 when it was opened by the Manchester and Birmingham Railway. The company was taken over in 1846 by LNER and in 1865, the Stockport, Timperley and Altrincham Junction Railway connected with the existing lines, solidifying Stockport’s importance as something of a railway hub. In the early 2000s, there was a construction project to modernise the whole arrangement which included the building of this glass-fronted extension.

A sign outside the station which notes that in June, July and August 1940, Stockport welcomed over 1,200 evacuees from the Channel Islands. The children were cared for by local families until the liberation in May 1945. The Channel Islands were the only occupied part of the British Isles and that was an enormous number of children for the local area to take. Most were integrated into the local education system, which caused some capacity issues to say the least. By all accounts, the local denizens did themselves proud with the support and generosity that they offered to the children. There were some localised issues and it became problematic when Manchester was bombed, but there have been long-standing connections between Stockport and the Channel Islands since this evacuation.

And the platforms. When I left Stockport I went via Crewe and London, because the direct train to Norwich is fiercely expensive and really not very good. There’s still quite a Victorian feel to the whole station and there’s a Platform 0 because it opened in 2008 and rather disturbed the numbering system.

January 19, 2025
Stockport : Joseph James

This post is of little relevance, although that’s the hallmark of this blog, but for reasons unknown I’ve been shown on TikTok the videos of Joseph James for months. I’ve wondered what random algorithm gave me that given they have two stores nowhere near me, one in Manchester and one in Stockport, but it was a little bit of excitement to see one of their outlets in what was once the Debenhams building. I’m easily pleased… But, the videos are worth seeking out, a couple of people setting up a business as a furniture outlet.

January 19, 2025
Stockport : Angel Inn

Next on my tour of Good Beer Guide pubs in Stockport was the Angel Inn and I’m not sure that I would have noticed it if I had just been walking by, the scaffolding is quite dominant here.

The beer list, there was a decent mixture of cask and keg.

I’m a big fan of Tiny Rebel so it was a little bit of a treat to see two of their beers on cask.

The interior is functional rather than jazzy. It was early January when I visited, hence the Christmas tree. More on the history in a moment, but its change of uses over the last few decades have led to some of the traditional feel perhaps being a little lost.

The first beer was half of the Sertified Simcoe from Tiny Rebel, which was a punchy, hoppy and juicy little number. Acceptable crisps too.

More interior. It was a welcoming environment with friendly service and warm surroundings.

This was, as far as I’m concerned, about as good as cask gets. It’s half a pint of the EWA from Tiny Rebel, well rounded with a suitable amount of sweetness. It was creamy and tasted of cookies and Twix, really rather decadent.

This whole set-up is interesting as I just assumed it had been a pub for centuries and it did indeed have a long history, but it stopped being a pub in the 1950s and turned instead into a retail outlet. However, 57 years on, it was reopened as a pub and that seems like a really good idea to me. In terms of the building, it dates from the 1500s and has a wattle and daub construction, having first been turned into a pub in the early nineteenth century. Always a positive thing to see a pub being reborn, especially one in such an historic building and the wide range of cask and keg options added to the excitement. Thanks to the Good Beer Guide for directing me here.

January 19, 2025
Stockport : Petersgate Tap

Back on my tour of Good Beer Guide pubs around the country, this two storey pub is located in what was formerly a betting shop. There’s now a mix of craft and real ale going on, alongside numerous real ciders and a bottle shop area upstairs.

The beer selection and they’re also listed on Untappd.

The bar arrangement and there was a friendly welcome from the staff member.

I had two half pints, the first was the Barncliffe Bitter from Small World Beers. A clean and hoppy beer with a rather lingering bitterness, but pleasant.

I had high hopes for the Black Forest from Vibrant Forest Brewery, but there was little chocolate, just some oats and not much else. The beer tasted a little tired, not much vibrancy going on here.

Anyway, a rather nice bar and I can see why this has found itself in the Good Beer Guide. It’s a relatively small independent venue, so it has that micropub vibe, with no loud music going on. The on-line reviews are positive other than one nonsensical one star review that there was only one dark beer available on the bar, which is not unreasonable in a small pub. The angry customer went marching off to Wetherspoons, although I know that even they sometimes only have one dark beer available and it’s not even really fair to compare a large national chain with a small micropub. The prices were towards the lower end of the scale for what I’m used to, although the cost of beer in Stockport is lower than the national average. All really rather lovely.

January 18, 2025
Stockport : Hat Museum (Part 2)

The second part of the hat museum, or at the least the way I walked around it, is the lower floor which is where all the hat action used to take place. There’s a small museum area which visitors walk through first, to explain the importance of the industry and how it evolved.

The British Felt Hat Manufacturers’ Federation (BFHMF) was a significant organisation in the history of British hat making, particularly during the late nineteenth and much of the twentieth centuries. It served as a trade association representing the interests of felt hat manufacturers in Britain, which I suspect isn’t a huge industry today. This included both producers of wool felt and fur felt hats, attempting to deal with competition from overseas and ever changing fashion trends. It played a role in setting and maintaining quality standards for felt hat production within its membership and would have been involved in negotiations with trade unions representing workers in the hat-making industry regarding wages, working conditions and other labour issues. It lasted until 1976 when it merged with another union, which promptly closed a few years later.

There was a lot of real animal fur used, including from beavers and rabbits.

A recreation of an early hat workshop, which was known as a Bow Garret.

A bag of just under half a kilo of animal fur.

This company was from Denton, near Manchester, something of a hat making hotspot.

Injury to children was a little sub-optimal and these factories really weren’t that safe. Fur was treated with mercury before it arrived at the factory and hatters losing their hands due to accidental engagement with the machinery wasn’t entirely rare.

A planking kettle, which heated a mixture of water and sulphuric acid, which sounds just a little dangerous to me. The heat, moisture and friction caused the fibres to lock together, the hood of the hat would shrink and become thicker. The sign at the museum notes that this was the last process to be mechanised, with the kettle still being used to train apprentices in the 1950s.

This is the main part of the museum, the floor where tens of thousands of hats were made.

Rather an impressive collection, this is from William Plant & Sons who were hat block manufacturers set up in 1828 and the last surviving in their industry in the North of England. They closed in 1976 and the contents of their workshop and museum were removed and donated to Stockport Museums.

The former office of William Plant & Sons.

A collection of machines and hat making equipment.

The main floor of the factory.

A sign for Christy & Co Ltd, located at 175 Bermondsey Street in London. They had been founded in 1773 by Miller Christy and their main factory was located in Stockport. The company still exists today, although they’ve now moved to Luton. As a fun fact, the only two football teams with the nickname the Hatters are Stockport County and Luton Town.

As noted on this sign, much of the industry has now shifted to China.

A punching machine from Doran Manufacturing.

A hat rack with a Billycock hat, designed specifically to sell to plantation owners in the West Indies and America.

Some of the equipment was quite chunky…..

A settler, which firmed up the felt so that it held together during the next process.

A multi-roller which is where the hoods were rolled into and they mixed with boiling water and acid, shrinking the hat slightly every time on its 28 passes through. They couldn’t do this in one go as there would be creasing to the felt hat.

A stumper.

Hat signs.

The factory floor is the bottom one, although the new entrance to the museum is on the main road. My visit to the museum lasted around forty minutes, but it was an interesting one and as I mentioned in my last post, it’s a really positive thing that this has been preserved. A hat museum in Stockport is going to be a challenge to get people to, but they offer tours to build engagement and there’s a shop at the site. The museum first opened in 2000, it’s at Wellington Mill (built in 1830) and it’s where the Battersby Hat Factory operated from. It’s definitely worth a visit and it’s located near the railway station.

January 18, 2025
Stockport : Hat Museum (Part 1)

I’m not sure that I’m very interested in hats, so that’s something of a confession to start proceedings off with. However, there’s a free hat museum in Stockport that the council seems proud of, so I thought I’d go to see if I was captivated by the arrangement. And yes, I deliberately put that pun (cap-tivated in case it wasn’t obvious) in there in honour of my friend Nathan, who was very impressed with my hat based puns when I told him about my visit here. Actually, that makes like it sounds like he’s dead, but he isn’t. But, he’s one of those irritating people in life who is very good at puns as he’s quick witted, so I’ll take my hat off to him for that.

The council notes that “we re-opened in March 2024, and expect to be busy for several months, so we recommend that you pre-book your general admission tickets”. I slightly doubted exactly how busy a hat museum in Stockport would be, but I booked my free ticket on-line and turned up at opening time. There were two people booked in for the entire day, including me. Anyway, guaranteed a visit now amongst the throngs, the friendly team member mentioned what was in the museum. She mentioned that there was a dressing up area on a higher floor where I could try hats on, but I think we agreed without words that I wouldn’t be doing that.

There were no other visitors, which I found helpful as I didn’t want to be distracted with all this looking at hats. Here are some Mayoral hats from Mrs Clara Grant, the first female Mayor of Stockport. I won’t make a joke about politicians wearing many hats……

Some pith helmets, but I have no pithy jokes about that. At this point, I rather feel I should have asked Nathan for humorous content for this post as I’m struggling a little.

So many hats.

A mini, a little bit of a head-turner and excitement for those visitors that wanted some variety in their viewing experiences or for those who want to re-capture their youth.

More hats, although I have to say that a lot of this was just going over my head.

Yet more hats, although I understand that very much is the concept. I must admit, I did wonder about the viability of this museum as it is perhaps just a little niche. It was though well laid out and colourful, I can imagine some children would engage positively with it all.

Hatpins and even the museum didn’t try and list all of them.

What a way to die.

Protective hats. A family did come in just as I was leaving this floor, I was fortunate to get a head-start to take these photos with no-one else around though.

There’s a real story being told in this museum, I’m pleased that they’ve been able to get the financing to keep this site open. In fairness to the museum, the main part of this whole arrangement is the factory floor, located on the level below, and for my two loyal blog readers that will be the post that’s coming next. And no more puns in that one.

Although I will finish on my best hat based joke, although I think it’s the only hat based joke I know.

What did the hat say to the tie? You hang around here, I’ll go on ahead.

Right, moving on….

January 18, 2025