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Scotland's Blackpool Romance

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23/09/2016

BBC Radio Scotland - Scotland's Blackpool Romance

Jenny Eclair heads to Blackpool to ask why Scottish holidaymakers keep coming back.

Jenny Eclair heads to Blackpool to explore its ongoing appeal to thousands of Scottish holidaymakers.

Every year, thousand of people from across Scotland head to a holiday resort that's been a favourite for them and their families for generations:Blackpool. It's a holiday romance that runs both ways - with the people ,and particularly the businesses in the Lancashire seaside town ,offering the warmest of welcomes. Perhaps that's not too surprising given the amount of money we Scots spend while we're strolling along the pier, riding the donkeys and taking in the shows. Comedian and writer Jenny Eclair , who has herself been a favourite in the Scottish comedy clubs , spent much of her childhood just down the road from Blackpool, and returns now to meet locals, Scottish visitors and Scots who have long since made Blackpool their home. She finds out what it is that keeps this special relationship so buoyant today, in spite of the lure of cheap foreign holidays. She visits the Winter Gardens, takes a tram ride along the front, and dons a tabard to help cover the rush of Scottish visitors in a town-centre cafe. Finally she meets a local historian who explains that the love affair between the Scots and Blackpool's Golden Mile began in earnest between the wars, when Scots who had been on army training in the town took advantage of improved transport links to return with their families, thereby beginning a tradition that shows little sign of falling away nearly a hundred years on.

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