Showtown

Located in the centre of Blackpool, near the promenade and Blackpool Tower, Showtown is a museum that focuses on the town’s long history of entertainment and performance. Opened in 2024, it presents Blackpool as an important place in the development of British popular culture, especially in relation to seaside tourism, live shows, and mass entertainment.

The museum is organized into a series of themed galleries, each focusing on a different aspect of entertainment, such as circus, dance, magic, seaside holidays, and the Illuminations. These spaces include a mix of objects, personal stories, film, and digital elements, which together show how entertainment has shaped the identity of the town over time.

Visitors are encouraged to take part in different activities throughout the museum. There are opportunities to try out performance-based elements, engage with interactive displays, and explore the material in a more hands-on way. This allows visitors to experience parts of Blackpool’s entertainment culture in a more direct and practical way, instead of only learning about it through text.

The museum also looks at the social history of Blackpool, showing how it developed into one of the UK’s best-known seaside resorts. It highlights how entertainment became widely accessible and how this influenced both the town and its visitors. Showtown presents this history through a combination of historical material and contemporary exhibition design.

Website: https://www.showtownblackpool.co.uk