Details of Blackpool’s first ‘Ride & Dine’ event announced

The Blackpool Heritage Trust have confirmed details of the first of their new monthly ‘Dine & Ride’ ventures, featuring a circular tour aboard one of the heritage trams followed by a meal at a town centre restaurant. The new event will be launched on Wednesday 18th March and to celebrate the inaugural event, readers of British Trams Online can claim a 20% discount on an advance booking to participate!

The evening’s event will start with a heritage tram departing from Starr Gate at 1730. Passengers can sit back in style and enjoy a complimentary glass of fizz during their tram ride. After stopping at North Pier to collect further passengers, this tram will then head north to Little Bispham before running to Pleasure Beach and then back to North Pier, where guests will be escorted to a nearby restaurant for a special two course meal. Three different meal options are currently available: Italian for a range of hearty pasta, pizza and other flavourful dishes; Greek/Mediterranean presents a sun-kissed menu including tempting slow cooked and tender lamb signature dish; or Chinese with those tasty classics including Sweet & Sour, Curry and other favourites. Once the meal is over, ticketholders will be able to return to their home or accommodation by normal service tram or bus at no extra charge.

The normal charge for a ticket to attend a ‘Ride & Dine’ evening is £25; however, for the very first event, a special discounted fare of £20 is being offered to anyone who states that they have read about the event here on British Trams Online. Our thanks go to the Blackpool Heritage Trust for allowing us to offer such a generous discount to our readers, and we hope that plenty of you will support this new event! To book a place, please call Jean Cox on 01253 473036 during normal office hours, or alternatively book in person at the Blackpool Transport offices on Market Street, or at Rigby Road. Please note that to qualify for the special offer you MUST reserve your place before 1600 on Friday 18th March. All profits raised from these events will be used to support the continued operation and restoration of Blackpool’s iconic heritage trams, offering another great reason to support this new venture during the season ahead!

 

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18 Responses to Details of Blackpool’s first ‘Ride & Dine’ event announced

  1. Frank Gradwell says:

    Well done Bryan

    Its good to see real leisure marketing starting to appear on the Heritage Tramway. Let’s hope that more of the ideas floated in are profitably exploited in the months and years to come!

  2. JOHN says:

    Seeing how successful such ventures are elsewhere I wish BTS all the success in the world for this, although is there only me wondering why no English/Fish and chip option?

    • Andrew Waddington says:

      I’m glad someone else thought that – we do live in England after all and what better to eat at a seaside resort than fish & chips? Seriously though, I guess it has been down to which restaurants will co-operate and the price range… hopefully more venues could follow providing this does well. The basic concept is great though and I think it has the potential to do really well.

  3. Christopher Callan says:

    Excellent first step. Am sure in due course additional partner restaurants will come on board. May take time but with perseverance and dedication this aspect of the operation will go from strength to strength. Will take time as words spreads will only improve.

  4. Colin Smith says:

    Can you please confirm the date of the event? The article states “Friday 18th March.” Since today, Wednesday, is the 4th March it would seem to me that 18th will also be a Wednesday!

    • Andrew Waddington says:

      My bad – it is indeed WEDNESDAY 18th March!

      • Colin Smith says:

        Ta Andrew, though disappointed that I can’t go.

        • Andrew Waddington says:

          Don’t forget there will be more ‘Ride & Dine Wednesdays’ every month from now until the end of the summer season though, so hopefully you might be able to attend one at some point. If not, then of course there should be plenty of other great events on the heritage tram front at Blackpool!

  5. Frank Gradwell says:

    Bispham is the obvious location where there is loop capacity and local venues with decent seating capacity.

    Surely a business opportunity of this type would be of interest – wouldn’t it?

  6. Nigel Pennick says:

    Good to see innovative thinking at Blackpool with this new venture. The German ‘party tram’ idea was around from the 1960s onward, and there is a business opportunity for a Blackpool version, maybe a converted Midland Metro vehicle.

  7. edwin newton says:

    It may seem to be a great idea,although not a new one,but,there is really only one destination that any of these events can go to and it is Bispham.As it starts at 17.30 then by the team has arrived at Bispham top,most of what there are of eating houses are closed.The Bispham chippie will be open at the top of Red Bank Road but that’s about it in that vicinity.Perhaps if the trip went to Cleveleys or Fleetwood ,there is more to offer at that time of the night.Even during the early part of the year,a lot of the cafes etc,want to close early.It could be that this idea may need more attention to detail.Most eating houses are in the centre of Blackpool and one can get a decent meal for around 17 quid.Maybe go for a tram ride and back into town.whichever.

    • Paul D says:

      Don’t quite understand Edwin. You say the “only destination can be Bispham” then confirm the reason that Bispham isn’t suitable i.e. the only place open will be the chip shop…

      There are two main factors that will have influenced the itinerary:

      1. as has already been mentioned which restaurants were wanting to participate (at what cost and what choices they offer)
      2. logistics for the tramway part of the event. Dead mileage back to depot from the drop off point may be a factor or driving hours for the crew – it may be that it will utilise a crew who have already done a shift on the daytime service.

      • Ken Walker says:

        Maybe we should let the event go ahead as planned, then see how it goes and make any adjustments if and when they prove necessary?

        • Ken Walker says:

          Or to be more precise leave BHT to make adjustments if and when necessary, keeping in mind that as previously stated their hands are tied by which establishments are willing to participate.

  8. Steve says:

    Excellent news yet again from the Blackpool Heritage Trust, I must admit I am looking forward to going at some stage. This will be good for Blackpool and being honest like the choice of menus on offer, the town has a lot of good proper restaurants which tend to get overlooked at time. Blackpool has a lot going for it as a place and this will give the town a boost, as I say good luck to all.

  9. franklyn says:

    This sounds like a good idea. But rather than the tram going round in a circle, wouldn’t it be better to do something with a restaurant in Fleetwood? then you could leave from Starr Gate, have a full length tram ride, have a nice meal while the tram is stabled at Fleetwood Ferry, then return to Starr Gate. The service would then serve the entire length of the tramway and could pick up considerable business from tourists at the many hotels looking to do something a bit different for their evening meal.

    Going one step further, perhaps one of the unused wide door balloons could be re-converted to a more heritage appearance and have a small gally kitchen installed in one of the lower deck saloons, with tables between the seats upstairs and in the other lower saloon. Then you could actually have a meal served aeroplane style on the tram!

    All in all though it’s a good idea as it stands and good to see it’s not been ridiculously over priced. If it’s handled right I can see this being an excellent money spinner for the heritage fleet during the off season, especially during the run up to Christmas. Well done Brain and the team for thinking outside the box.

    • Paul D says:

      Franklyn,

      With regard to your first point, it has already been gone over in the preceeding post tht you clearly havent read…

      With regard to your second point; you donate the £10-12,000* cost and they may even name it after you!!!

      * realistic estimate based on a recent re-fit of a railway kitchen car

      • Franklyn says:

        I had read it, but just not sure I agree. Isn’t there a passing loop in the road at Fleetwood Ferry? There are certainly places other than Bispham where a tram can be stabled. I just don’t see much point in starting at Pleasure Beach only to end up back there again when the tram could have done something more useful by picking up passengers en-route. Ok, maybe they’re limited by the location of the restaurant taking part in the trials, which is fair enough. It’s just an improvement they could make.

        I think you’re spot on with the kitchen fit out estimate, but they probably wouldn’t need (and definitely wouldn’t have space for) a full railway style kitchen. I was thinking more along the lines of the large industrial microwaves that are used on airliners. Food comes aboard pre-prepared and only needs basic heating and final prep on the tram.

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