It may seem that they never went away (in fact there has been a gap of just 6 days since the 2021 season of heritage tours came to an end!) but Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours are back for 2022 with both Promenade and Coastal Tours now available for booking through their website – and for the Coastal Tours there has been a bit of a tweak to the offering.
Having run since the end of the first lockdown in 2020 as pre-bookable tours using one of the fleet of heritage trams based at Rigby Road Depot both Promenade and Coastal Tours will be running in a similar format until at least mid-April. For Promenade Tours there is no change as they will continue to run from North Pier and Tower up to Bispham/Little Bispham and then south to Pleasure Beach and back to North Pier and Tower.
It’s the trips to Fleetwood – the Coastal Tours – where the changes come as instead of heading almost straight back to Blackpool after arriving at the northern outpost of the tramway there will be a break of around 40 minutes to allow participants to either grab a coffee at one of the numerous cafes around Fleetwood Ferry or to go for a walk along Fleetwood Esplanade. The length of the journey also seems to be have been amended as it no longer includes a trip down to Pleasure Beach with it running North Pier and Tower-Fleetwood-North Pier and Tower.
Tours have been announced for the following dates:
- Saturday 8th January
- Saturday 15th/Sunday 16th January
- Saturday 22nd January
- Saturday 29th January
- Saturday 5th/Sunday 6th February
- Saturday 12th/Sunday 13th February
- Tuesday 15th to Thursday 17th February
- Saturday 26th/Sunday 27th February
- Saturday 5th/Sunday 6th March
- Saturday 12th/Sunday 13th March
- Saturday 19th/Sunday 20th March
- Saturday 26th/Sunday 27th March
- Saturday 2nd/Sunday 3rd April
- Tuesday 5th April
- Thursday 7th April
- Saturday 9th/Sunday 10th April
- Tuesday 12th to Thursday 14th April
All these tours will seemingly be in the hands of a Balloon Car – either something traditional of from the B-fleet – with Coastal Tours at 1040 and Promenade Tours at 1410 and 1540. Coastal Tours cost £8 for Adults and £4 for Children with Promenade Tours £6 for Adults and £3 for Children.
- More details of the tours and how to pre-book please visit https://blackpoolheritage.com/compare-tours/
I can’t help but ask myself WHY. Why does someone want a break in Fleetwood on a winter weekend? Why run this time of year? Why so early? An afternoon Fleetwood would be better. It’ll also be getting dark on the second Promenade tour! I do hope I’m wrong but I’m predicting mostly empty Trams in bitter cold. And I notice another price hike – pricing out of the market soon.
All of this and more, basically! The big question has to be – why cut the length of the Coastal Tours significantly, AND put the price up by £2? That would be a hefty increase anyway, but to cover less track than before as well is disgraceful in my opinion. I would also expect something a bit more exciting than a Balloon car for that kind of money – using the B Fleet would be very poor indeed, whilst 701 and 715 are really shabby inside.
Some people might dispute it but I genuinely do want the Blackpool heritage operation to succeed – but each change that is made seems to be making it worse, not better. Its really quite depressing to observe.
chrisbo – have you been to Blackpool in January? or Fleetwood? There’s very little you can do for 40 minutes in Fleetwood anyway! If there were regular Fleetwood Tours and you could get the next one back after say an hour or 90 mins I’d agree but 40 mins isn’t time to do anything other than have a cup of tea to get oout of the January gales. And as for be grateful for what you get. NO! If I’m paying a premium fare, the experience should reflect it. 700 on tours I can live with as its more Heritage than some Heritage and looks gorgeous and 707 and 718 are at least green and cream but I do think its a bit cheeky using the purple B Fleet (but then I’ve always had a bit of a beef with that) and I know its because only 717 and 723 have heaters.
I doubt very much the £8 is going to the roof – where do you think the money comes from for routine maintenance and wages etc?
Don’t get me wrong I’ve always supported Heritage and I always will, I just wonder at the wisdom long term of empty Trams in winter. In summer a nice run on a boat, an ice cream and a run back is much more civilised!!