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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
— Pleasure Beach Resort🎢 (@Pleasure_Beach) July 13, 2022
Fancy saving a few pennies when you visit?
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.
The cheapest Christmas Markets in the world for mulled wine have been revealed
Daisy Jackson
The most affordable Christmas Markets for drinking mulled wine have been revealed – and Manchester is nowhere in sight.
With Christmas markets across Europe preparing to welcome millions of visitors, festive fans looking to enjoy a warming cup of glühwein without breaking the bank might want to take note of the latest findings.
Festive experts at Christmas Tree World have analysed mulled wine prices at Christmas markets around the world to discover where visitors can enjoy the seasonal favourite for less.
Topping the rankings is Brussels’ Winter Wonders, where mulled wine is available for as little as £2.14 – about a third of the price of a mulled wine at the Manchester Christmas Markets.
Cologne Cathedral Christmas Markets and Strasbourg’s Christkindelsmärik share second place, with starting prices of just £2.56.
Other European favourites also feature prominently in the rankings. Budapest’s Christmas Market at the Basilica takes fourth place, with mulled wine costing £3.19, while Prague’s Old Town Square Christmas Market comes in sixth at £3.55.
Germany makes another strong appearance, with Dresden’s Striezelmarkt and Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt (which handily just launched new direct flights from Manchester) both offering mulled wine for £3.85.
Meanwhile, Vienna’s Christmas World rounds off the European entries in ninth place, with prices starting at £4.28.
For those planning a festive adventure further afield, Tokyo’s Christmas Market also makes the top five, with mulled wine costing £3.22.
However, not every destination offers such a bargain. Across the Atlantic, New York City’s Winter Village takes the title of the most expensive market in the study, with mulled wine costing a rather less festive £11.74. Chicago’s Christkindlmarket isn’t far behind, charging £8.80.
Manchester Christmas Markets start on Friday 6 November – we’ll see how our prices stack up then.
Sir Ian McKellen pays emotional tribute to long-time friend and fellow northern actor Sir Patrick Stewart
Emily Sergeant
Sir Ian McKellen has paid an emotional tribute to his long-time friend and fellow northern actor, Sir Patrick Stewart, following his death.
Sir Patrick Stewart – who was born and bred in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, and is best-known for his theatre work alongside an illustrious 60-year screen career, taking on prominent roles in franchises such as Star Trek and X-Men – sadly passed away at the age of 86, with his death being announced publicly yesterday evening (29 October).
And now, his long-time friend and fellow northern actor, Sir Ian McKellen, has paid tribute.
Sir Patrick and Sir Ian shared the stage together countless times over their decades-long careers, but also famously starred alongside each other in the X-Men franchise, and subsequent Marvel movies, as Charles Xavier/Professor X and Magneto.
The tribute, shared across Sir Ian’s social media platforms, reads: “Before everything else, Patrick was defined by being born and bred in Yorkshire, the proud county in the north of England which he loved to the end. You could hear it in his accented voice and in the stern honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt. Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues. He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love.
“We first met as ambitious young actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company half a century ago but we weren’t in the same productions.
“My first strong memory was a few years later, meeting him in the street in central London when he told me about an offer to take over a leading part in ‘Star Trek’. “But Patrick think of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?”
“Well, he took the risk and thank goodness for us all that he did, for not just his devoted Trekkies, but film and theatre audiences who marvelled at his using international celebrity to star in a string of cinema successes (‘X-Men’ of course) and in great classical plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Peter Shaffer, Pinter and Beckett at Stratford-upon-Avon, in London’s West End and on Broadway.
“America was his adopted home, where he met his adored Sunny who has cared for him through sickness and health, through thick and thin.
“But he never forsook his origins: and the proudest achievement of the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on either side of the Atlantic, was his appointment as Chancellor of Huddersfield University in Yorkshire.”
Emily Sergeant -
21st July 2022 
