Christmas in Blackpool: How to park for a pound for three hours to enjoy festive entertainment and shopping

Residents and visitors the opportunity to park for three hours for £1 from November 18 to January 2 to coincide with the return of the Christmas By The Sea event which last year attracted record crowds to the Promenade. Situated on the Tower Festival Headland opposite The Blackpool Tower, the Christmas village will once again include a free-to-use skating rink, festive light installations and projection shows, themed log cabins, artificial snowfalls, Christmas trees and Christmas tram rides. It will also include themed children’s attractions and the return of the Star Flyer which, at 260ft tall, is one of Europe’s tallest swing rides.

Blackpool’s Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID), which represents scores of tourism operators, has joined forces with sponsors TalkTalk to ensure the event can go ahead during Blackpool’s extended Illuminations season. Coun Mark Smith, Blackpool Council’s Cabinet Member for Business, Enterprise & Job Creation, said: “We are delighted to be able to support the Christmas By The Sea village and wider town centre retail offer by reintroducing the highly-popular £1 parking offer for an extended period in the run-up to Christmas. Last year, Blackpool’s unique Christmas offer brought visitors from far and wide and gave our businesses a welcome post-pandemic boost after one of the most difficult trading periods imaginable. There is already a fantastic programme of Christmas entertainment lined up from November 18 through to January 2 and we hope this parking offer will further encourage residents to shop in their own town centre this Christmas as well as providing a huge incentive for visitors coming from out-of-town to enjoy free family entertainment.”

How to access the parking offer

The parking offer can only be redeemed using the PayByPhone system. All you need to do is download the PayByPhone app and register, or call 0800 546 0609. Three-hour sessions are limited to one per day after which normal tariffs apply. Filey Place and Talbot Multi-Storey car parks are not included in the offer. For full details of Blackpool’s Christmas programme including pantos, shows and party nights, go to visitblackpool.com/christmas

Blackpool Illuminations

The 2022 Blackpool Illuminations have once again been extended by two months and will shine each night from September 2 to January 2, 2023. For Switch-On times and full details of this year’s display including the free nightly projection shows on The Blackpool Tower, go to: www.visitblackpool.com/illuminations The Illuminations remain one of the UK’s most endearing and enduring tourist attractions, having shone for more than a century. Blackpool was one of the first of 101 towns in the UK to secure funding from the Government’s £3.6bn Towns Fund. With the help of this support, funds were allocated to upgrade the Blackpool Illuminations to attract additional visitors by developing new features and lighting technology. The newly-reimagined Golden Mile area, designed by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, is the first section of the Illuminations to benefit.

The Star Flyer

The massive white-knuckle ride – one of the tallest swing rides in Europe – will return to the Festival Headland next to Blackpool Tower on Friday, November 18. At nearly half the height of the Tower, the Star Flyer has 16 swinging seats spinning high above the resort’s rooftops.