As Strictly Come Dancing is returning to the wonderful Blackpool Tower Ballroom this weekend, we thought we’d find out a bit more about Blackpool’s most iconic landmark and it’s world renowned Ballroom. We also just happened to win our National Coach Tourism Award here in 2014 and got to see the Tower in all its glory.
- The Blackpool Tower was built in 1894 and the world famous Ballroom opened in August 1894 in a smaller pavilion
- The Blackpool Tower is 518 feet tall and was modelled on the Eiffel Tower
- The Tower is made up of more than five million bricks, 2,493 tons of steel and 93 tons of cast iron
- The present Blackpool Tower Ballroom opened in 1899 and was designed by Frank Matcham
- The Tower opened to the public on 14th May 1894 and on that day over 3,000 people ascended the Tower
- The Tower Eye has to close in high winds of 45 miles per hour or more
- The lifts inside the Tower take only 69 seconds to travel 315 feet
- It takes a whopping nine tons of paint to cover the entirety of the Tower and takes seven years to paint the tower from top
- During the Second World War the Tower Eye closed and did not reopen again until 1946
- The first Wurlitzer organ was installed in the Tower Ballroom in 1929, it was then replaced in 1935.
- The Blackpool Tower Ballroom measures 120×102 feet and comprises of 30,602 individual blocks of oak, walnut and mahogany
- Excluding the time during World War II that he was in the RAF, Reginald Dixon was the Ballroom’s organ player from 1930 until 1969, he returned for a farewell show in 1970 to mark 40 years of the Tower.
- The Ballroom had very strict rules at one time including ‘disorderly conduct means immediate expulsion’ and ‘Gentlemen may not dance unless with a lady’.
- Above the stage in the Ballroom there is an inscription which reads ‘Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear’ which is a sonnet by Shakespeare.
- In 1956 there was a fire in the Ballroom and restaurant below where the dancefloor was destroyed, it took two years and £500,000 to return it to its former splendour.
- It takes 25,000 eco-friendly light bulbs to illuminate the Tower
- There is over 15,000 yards of carpet covering the floor in the whole of the Blackpool Tower
- On a clear day from the viewing platform you can see as far south as North Wales and north the Lake District.
We’re sure Strictly Come Dancing will provide all the razzle dazzle required on Saturday night to do this wonderful venue justice. If you would like to see the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour check our website now.