Blackpool Pleasure Beach has announced that late-night riding is returning once again for three nights only this summer.
With the summer officially here, the temperatures hotting up, and the nights staying lighter for longer, the Lancashire seaside town’s beloved theme park has announced that it will be bringing back its popular Late Night Riding hours for the next three Saturdays.
On Saturday 23 and Saturday 30 July, and Saturday 6 August, Blackpool Pleasure Beach will be open from 10am until late, so thrill-seekers can enjoy their favourite rides throughout the warm evenings.
With schools across the North West now out for six-week summer holidays, and the theme park gearing up for what is always one of its busiest times of the year, Late Night Riding means that there’s now more hours to ride into the night on the UK’s tallest rollercoaster, the Big One, check out the twists and turns of ICON at twilight, enjoy a night race on the Grand National, and ride on the the Big Dipper at dusk.
Younger riders can also meet up with Paw Patrol and other characters at the UK’s-only Nickelodeon Land with its 12 amazing rides.
They can also check out the world’s first Wallace & Gromit ride, Thrill-O-Matic.
If riding thrilling rides late into the evening wasn’t enough, SLIMETIME is also taking place at the FY4 area of Blackpool Pleasure Beach daily between midday and 4pm throughout July and August, and it means you can join the Slime Squad for slime games and competitions, while the resident Slime Sounds DJ provides the tunes.
And in true Nickelodeon tradition, you can even get totally covered in green slime in the Slime Tank too, if you fancy it.
If you need a break from the summer heat, guests can cool off with a visit to Hot Ice – with this year’s show, Rapture, being the world’s longest-running ice show, and starring a cast of world championship performers, complete with stunning costumes and mesmerising special FX.
The spectacular show will be running on selected dates until 10 September.
The fun always shines here @Pleasure_Beach so make the most of the warmer weather and celebrate your summer with us!
Booking 7 days or more in advance online saves £5 pp, including all of our remaining LATE NIGHT RIDING events!
Taking advantage of Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s ‘Celebrate Summer’ offer means guests can receive £5 off an eTicket when they book at least seven days in advance of their visit – which is a saving of up to £14 on the gate price.
All you’ll need to do to redeem this limited-time offer is simply select a date seven or more days in advance and book on the Blackpool Pleasure Beach website here.
The discount will automatically be added to the booking.
Darts returns to Manchester as Premier League dates are confirmed for 2026
Danny Jones
The schedule for the 2026 Premier League Darts tour has been officially announced, with the PDC’s annual championship returning to Manchester once again.
PDC Premier League fixtures continue to grow in popularity both in TV figures and live match attendance, with a whole new generation of fans getting into ‘the arrows’.
Just as it has for decades now, league darts is coming back to Manchester city centre and the legendary AO Arena once again, with our date landing right in the middle of the season.
Booking a big night right in the middle of a crucial period in the competition? It sounds like 0161 is set to welcome another blockbuster night up at the oche.
Confirmed on Thursday, 11 September, next year’s PDC Premier League Darts campaign will get underway in February, spanning the course of four months and eight countries.
Of the European cities on the circuit, the tournament will be heading to Belgium for the very first time, as the AFAS Dome in Antwerp replaces Exeter.
Elsewhere on the continent, there are two other mainland evenings in Germany and the Netherlands, along with multiple Northern dates here in the UK, such as Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield.
As for Manchester, we’ve been selected for round nine of 17 (including the finals), with the AO Arena set to welcome multiple favoured competitors from the North West, including 18-year-old phenomenon Luke Little from down the road in Warrington, as well as Stockport’s very own Nathan Aspinall.
It was an unforgettable experience for Aspinall last time around in his local event, as he finally managed to win a PDC Premier League night on home turf for the first time in his career.
Those hoping to enjoy a night of darts in front of a Manchester crowd on April 26, 2026, still have to be patient for now, as general admission is still a little way off.
However, if you are interested, you can sign up for the AO’s newsletter to find out more information and get yourself on the waiting list early.
Better, if you go straight through the PDC, you can throw your hat in the ring for the presale window right now and be first in line to grab tickets when they go live.
You can do so HERE and, until then, get your signs and fancy dress at the ready because we’ll be heading back to the ‘boring, boring tables’ soon enough.
See the 2026 PDC Premier League Darts schedule in full down below:
Manchester City said no to a pretty significant player swap with Liverpool last year
Danny Jones
Manchester City reportedly rejected a transfer proposal involving swapping one of their youngest and most exciting stars with close rivals Liverpool in 2024
This could have proved to be an interesting one…
Man City aren’t exactly short on forwards at the moment and have brought in plenty of attacking options over the past year, and with Erling Haaland breaking all manner of records up front for them, they didn’t find it too hard to sell on another promising young striker in Julián Álvarez for a club record sale.
However, as per recent claims made by a Telegraph Sport journalist, there was a possibility of Álvarez swapping the blue of City for the red of Liverpool.
🚨🚨| In summer 2024, when Liverpool realised Luis Díaz wanted to join Man City, their recruitment team proposed the Colombian to the Etihad Stadium in exchange for Julián Alvarez. Man City said: “We don’t sell to rivals." Liverpool said: “Neither do we then."
That’s according to football writer Chris Bascombe, anyway, who recently wrote that the two Premier League sides could have engaged in a player swap deal were the division’s then Treble-winners willing to negotiate with the only other team that has really contested the title with them in recent years.
As you can see, Bascombe states that Luis Díaz wanted a switch to the Etihad Stadium even before the current English champions shuffled their front three.
This has been backed up by The Times’ Paul Joyce as well, who says that the Colombian winger was ultimately “unsettled” by interest from City and others
Díaz (who recently signed for Bayern Munich) made it clear he wanted to play under Pep Guardiola, and it seems there was at least some willingness from the Merseyside outfit.
Provided they get an increasingly wantaway Julián Álvarez in return.
With Haaland having been brought in and making himself comfortably the go-to number nine for what could very well be the next decade, they clearly saw an opportunity to offer him an alternative, but Man City simply said, “We don’t sell to rivals.”
Ultimately, the now 25-year-old World Cup winner went to Europe, joining Atletico Madrid for a whopping £81.5m.
Regardless, it seems hard to imagine not only two top-flight English teams doing a deal like this but to picture what it would have been like to see Álvarez, who was still very highly thought of among a large section of supporters, being cheered on by the fans inside Anfield.
The Argentinian striker – though he has been utilised in a variety of positions at the top end of the pitch – has well and truly shone in La Liga, and now looks like he could be set to swap Madrid for Barcelona.
Álvarez has apparently made it clear to those closest to him that he wants Barca, and despite the summer window closing, the Catalan giants could pursue a deal to sign him next year when his contract expires, or indeed, even go after him this January.
Meanwhile, after bringing in plenty of new talent over the past few months, with Manchester City now effectively being given the green light to proceed with a major commercial sponsorship deal, you could very well see yet more big money being spent in seasons to come.
Emily Sergeant -
21st July 2022 
