Roll up! Roll up! Blackpool’s Showtown Museum opens

Showtown is Blackpool’s first ever museum, telling the extraordinary stories of the UK’s first mass seaside resort and its unrivalled role in the development of British popular entertainment.

Celebrating the town, its social history and the performers who make it sparkle, it offers visitors an immersive experience, using a superb collection of objects, ephemera and stories from the Blackpool Council collections, 27 loaned objects from the V&A and rarely shown items from the performers themselves.

The museum officially opened today (Friday March 15), with the ribbon cutting ceremony performed by Ringmaster Norman Barrett MBE, tenor Alfie Boe, and magician Paul Zenon.:

Divided into six gallery spaces over 1000 sq m, Showtown explores the elements that make Blackpool so special: Seaside, Magic, Circus, Illuminations, Shows and Dance. The museum is full of fun, taking visitors behind the scenes and offering them the opportunity to have a go: taking their place on the promenade or performing a Punch and Judy show, magic tricks, circus skills, dressing up, producing a show, lighting the Illuminations, or dancing the Blackpool Way. This is a museum not just to be seen, but to be experienced close up.

The museum offers interactive games, audio visual prompts, music and laughter, encouraging the people who visit to play, explore and learn more about Blackpool and its people. Each of the galleries is a mixture of objects, including original costumes, props, puppets, posters, programmes, disco booths and dance floors. In each gallery the visitor will hear the words of entertainers (real and imagined) through the museum’s audio-visual displays, giving behind the scenes hints, tips and gossip. Their tales offer a glimpse behind the curtain into the world of show business. A radio and TV script writer has given each exhibition space its own voice, bringing to life the stories featured throughout the museum.

Elizabeth Moss, Chief Executive of Showtown said: 

“The lights are on, the curtain is up and we can’t wait to welcome people to Showtown. The opening of the museum is a significant moment for us and for Blackpool. Fun and amusement sit at the very heart of our innovative and world class museum which celebrates this incredible town’s entertainment history and the people who have put it on the map.

‘’We have reimagined how a museum should be, through our innovative displays of Blackpool’s own rich collection shown alongside key loans from international institutions and the performers themselves. These objects will delight and inform while the immersive activities throughout the galleries will allow our visitors to go behind the scenes, experiencing the very best of Blackpool.”

Showtown is a collaboration between researchers, museum designers Casson Mann, and curators, co-designed with the people and performers of Blackpool. 

The V&A has also been working in collaboration with Blackpool Council for nearly ten years with a commitment to making the V&A’s collections accessible to audiences in and around Blackpool. The V&A and Showtown have also been working in unison on skills sharing, building on opportunities for staff development and skills both in the development and operational phase of the new museum, with the V&A advising on Gallery interpretation, graphics and image licensing, public programme and forging new networks with Showtown across theatre and performance. 

In terms of acquisitions and collections development, The Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund has supported Showtown to acquire Peter Kay’s famous purple suit worn by the comedian in the video for the 2005 Comic Relief single ‘(Is this the way to) Amarillo’ and the late Sir Norman Wisdom’s ‘Gump’ suit. 

Showtown is part of a wider regeneration programme for Blackpool which will see investment in infrastructure, accommodation and other improvements in the town. It will offer a brand new visitor experience and provide jobs and a significant boost to tourist numbers and economic growth.

Spencer Phillips, Chair of Blackpool Heritage and Museum Trust, which operates Showtown said: 

“The glittering history of entertainment in Blackpool is something that we can all be very proud of. This project has been created to honour the legacy of the performers that have gone before and to inspire those who wish to become stars in the future. We thank all our funders, supporters and colleagues for making Showtown a reality and for their commitment to making the museum a truly magical place.”

Tristram Hunt, the Director of the V&A said:

“The V&A is committed to sharing its collections as widely as possible across the UK, which is why we are delighted to be working in collaboration with Showtown to celebrate Blackpool’s unique culture of popular entertainment. Iconic objects from our Theatre and Performance collection will join Showtown's permanent display, from Tommy Cooper’s magic tricks to costumes worn by Morecambe and Wise, and our rare Whimsical Walker clown costume, dating from the 19th Century. The V&A is here to support Blackpool’s investment in culture-led regeneration.”   

Arts and Heritage Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said: 

"For generations, Blackpool has been at the heart of entertainment and tourism in the UK, with crowds flocking to the town to enjoy its ballroom dancing, music halls, variety performances, comedy, arcades and so much more. Like so many from across the country, and down the generations, I have happy memories of my own childhood holidays in Blackpool. That's why I'm so pleased that this wonderful new museum – supported by more than £7 million from the Government and over £4 million from National Lottery players – will help to tell the stories of this famous seaside town and celebrate all that makes it great."

Showtown Blackpool has been made possible thanks to funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Department of Culture, Media and Sport, Blackpool Council, Coastal Communities Fund Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, Ken Dodd Charitable Foundation, the Garfield Weston Foundation, The Wolfson Foundation, the Northern Powerhouse Fund, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, and the Pilgrim Trust.

Leader of Blackpool Council, Councillor Lynn Williams said: “I am delighted and excited in equal measure for the opening of our Showtown museum. Blackpool’s first museum will be a new kind of experience for residents and visitors to enjoy. The museum celebrates everything Blackpool - its rich heritage, entertainment, dance, social history. Our town holds a unique place in the nation’s heart, and I know the museum will be enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors alike. Making the museum a reality is down to the hard work of so many people, so a very big thank you to everyone involved. Showtown forms part of our ambitious regeneration programme to make Blackpool better for everyone and to create more jobs and opportunities for our local people, for whom entry to the museum is free as well as free admission for our Blackpool schools.”

Helen Featherstone, Director, England, North at The National Lottery Heritage Fund said: “From the Tower Ballroom’s famed dancefloor to glittering illuminations and the thrills and spills of the Pleasure Beach, Blackpool is a seaside town that is rich in entertainment heritage, so it is incredibly exciting to see this dazzling new museum, that will tell its fascinating and unique story, now open to the public.

‘’We’re very proud that, thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to invest £4.2m in the development of Showtown which is sure to attract visitors from far and wide for years to come, while standing as a beacon for the cultural regeneration of the town.”