Fun park flying high as profits soar again

The company, which operates the famous rides at South Shore along with the Big Blue Hotel and the South Shore Mutual Insurance Company, said an upturn in the economy and better weather boosted profits to £1.4m in the year ending March 2015.

In the previous year the company made a loss of almost £400,000, but a rise in visitor numbers of 12 per cent saw the firm’s turnover jump to £33.5m, up from £30.3m in the previous year.

That, along with a cut in administrative costs and a new pricing policy, helped get the business into positive figures in the wake of the recession, bosses said.

The Pleasure Beach owners, the Thompson family, during the year invested in a £2m new attraction – the Red Arrows Skyforce white knuckle ride – the full impact of which will be shown in next year’s results.

The Pleasure Beach, part of parent company Blackpool Pleasure Beach Holdings Ltd, saw turnover up 11 per cent by £28.7m and pre-tax profit was £0.4m compared to a £1.9m loss the previous year.

The Big Blue hotel also saw better fortunes with a turnover of £4.1m compared to £3.8m and pre-tax profit £793,000 compared to £690,000.

A spokesman for Blackpool Pleasure Beach said: “The positive results for the year ending March 2015 are the result of a combination of factors including good weather during the period, and the launch of a new strategy focused on pricing and marketing, which contributed towards Blackpool Pleasure Beach being named number one amusement park in the UK in the 2014 Trip
Advisor Traveller’s Choice Awards.

“Blackpool Pleasure Beach has had a recent investment programme which includes the opening of Nickelodeon Land in 2011, Wallace and Gromit’s Thrill-O-Matic ride in 2013 and theRed Arrows Skyforce in May 2015.

“This investment and strategy continues to give us confident optimism for the future.”