New museum recaptures Blackpool's showbiz heyday

Strictly Come Dancing costumes, a vintage Sooty puppet and Stan Laurel's hat are among the items on show in a new museum dedicated to Blackpool's glory days of entertainment.

Showtown puts a spotlight on the town's rich history as the seaside home of showbiz, with other exhibits including George Formby's ukulele, Tommy Cooper's fez and Peter Kay's purple suit.

The £13m venue, Blackpool's first ever permanent museum, opens on Friday and hopes to contribute to the town's present-day regeneration.

The "museum of fun and entertainment" is located behind the resort's now-faded seafront, on the site of one of its many former pleasure houses, The Palace nightclub.

The new attraction marks the town's place as the spiritual home of ballroom dancing and Strictly's second home, showing outfits worn on the BBC show by former winner Stacey Dooley and professional dancers Joanne Clifton and Katya Jones.

From further back in time, the six galleries include the door from a Blackpool police cell from which Harry Houdini escaped in 1905, a Mr Punch puppet dating from 1850, and vintage designs from the town's famous illuminations.

Blackpool was also famed for its end-of-the-pier variety shows. Also on show are suits worn by comedy duo Morecambe and Wise, the uniform worn by Danny La Rue for the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977, and fellow comedian Bobby Ball's red braces.

The V&A museum in London has lent 28 items including Tommy Cooper's trademark fez and other props, and Sooty and Sweep puppets from the classic children's show.

The characters became children's TV favourites after Harry Corbett bought Sooty from a joke shop on Blackpool's North Pier in 1948.

Showtown chief executive Liz Moss said the museum was a "fascinating, bright, brash, bold collage of all of those stories, those entertainment greats - but done in a really innovative and colourful way".

She told BBC News she hoped it would put a spotlight on the town's place in the entertainment industry and "bring new visitors" to the town: "We hope it will help as part of this rejuvenation of Blackpool".

The town was once one of the top destinations for British holidaymakers, in the 19th and 20th centuries, but is now considered one of the most deprived places in England.

Council leader Lynn Williams said: "Blackpool can get a bit of an unfair turn in the press coverage that we get, and I don't think we realise our contribution to social history. I think it's really important for our residents to be able to celebrate that.

"We know our challenges in Blackpool and we're working really hard to resolve those around health and housing issues.

"There's massive regeneration going on - and for our residents and our visitors this is another fantastic attraction to come to, which is what Blackpool does best.

"It also links with the other cultural stuff that's going on around the town."

A major new cultural strategy has been drawn up with the aim of bringing together the town's talent and boosting its profile as a creative hub.

It involves everything from big venues to smaller organisations, like Leftcoast, which works with communities on projects that are both practical and creative - such as a People's Pantry, where residents can meet and swap food, and a combined laundry, library and arts hub.

Leftcoast is also developing an ice cream business led by an artist, which will cater for tourists during the summer and provide employment.

The idea behind the town's strategy is to "make sure that the offer here is as attractive as it might be if you go to Manchester or Liverpool or London or Birmingham or Bristol," Leftcoast artistic director Tina Redford said.

"It's really to elevate what you're seeing here, because it does exist, and it is brilliant. It's just that sometimes it gets lost in the noise of everything else.

"So the ambition really is to make it conspicuous and visible for people to want to get involved in it."