AN ICONIC BALLROOM

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We recently spent an afternoon at Blackpool’s Tower Ballroom and completely understand why Blackpool remains the dance epicentre of the North. If you haven’t danced ballroom at the tower then you haven’t danced ballroom.

The original ballroom, the Tower Pavilion opened in August 1894 and the Tower Ballroom as we know it today was built between 1897 and 1898 to the designs of Frank Matcham, who also designed Blackpool Grand Theatre.

Dubbed the “Mecca of Dance” the Tower Ballroom has been used regularly on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing series (only to be snubbed for 2012 in favour of a London venue, much to the chagrin of locals) and is instantly recognisable thanks to its elaborate chandeliers and ornate décor (it was once called the most ornate ballroom in the world). Most days of the week visitors can enjoy Blackpool’s “best afternoon tea” and dust off their dancing shoes to throw some shapes to the sounds of the Wurlitzer. Of course, serious dancers will always flock to this iconic venue and a couple demonstrating a slick Argentine Tango may intimidate those who have come to tap their feet on the hallowed floor and sample the North West’s most decadent finger sandwiches, but the essence of the Tower is that everyone is welcome.

And it’s no mean feat maintaining the glamour and glitz visitors have come to expect. The Ballroom is subjected to a deep spring clean every year; each crystal chandelier can be lowered to the floor to be cleaned which in itself takes over a week. All 120ft of the wooden floors, made out of 30,602 blocks of mahogany, oak and walnut are stripped back, sanded down, varnished and then polished to perfection to ensure any dance can be performed in style. And 1,120 chandelier bulbs are dusted and inspected to check they’re in working order.

All of this to ensure over a century of history is preserved and the ballroom continues to enchant dancers and visitors. And we defy you not to fall in love, just a little bit, with this iconic venue. Above the stage is the inscription, ‘Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear’ from the poem Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare but this sells the tower short – the Wurlitzer may enchant the ear but the ballroom is really a visual delight.

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AN ICONIC BALLROOM

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