Fleetwood and neighbouring towns

Blackpool has always been coastal king when it comes to the attraction: seaside amusements, the Pleasure Beach, tat and tack, the promenade and piers and of course the Tower. Morecambe seems more subdued and melancholic although the town awaits an influx of visitors as the fantastically re-vamped Art Deco Midland hotel rises again and the town's biggest focus right now - the Eden Project, is stirring interest as it looms on the Bay's horizon. Morecambe's Vintage weekend is a great crowd puller too in September. 

I really like Morecambe while Southport, at least to me, feels more like the posher end of northern seaside culture with its outsiderness from Liverpool, the Victorian shop fronts. (All towns should have the same styled canopies to stop the battering rain).

Fleetwood on the other hand is a place that Lancashire seems has forgotten about. Its better fishery days long gone, its pier gone, a line of squat shops selling sun-bleached postcards and garish stuff for kids. As ever I'm drawn to these fringe towns and their awkward spaces. People wander about on the 'proms', couples nest in the dunes, while others sit in their cars and watch the sea, with their chips. 

They have a tram day in Fleetwood and no one can be bothered. The song Everyday is like Sunday springs to mind, which is unfair because rumour was the song was about everywhere else - Morecambe, Southport, Hartlepool, and actually filmed in Southend-on-Sea. We're left with rumour and unknowing which adds to these windswept coastal towns.