The Big One is one of Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s most well-known and popular roller coasters.
The steel roller coaster ride first opened to the public on 28th May 1994 as the tallest and steepest roller coaster in the world, and it proudly held that record until July 1996, when the Fujiyama roller coaster opened at Fuji-Q Highland in Japan and took the top spot.
Standing at a whopping 235ft above sea level, the Big One is still currently the tallest roller coaster in the United Kingdom though.
With its sheer height, numerous twists and turns, sharp elevations, changes in speed, and rapid drops, the Big One has undoubtedly earned itself a reputation over the years as a ride that only the most daring of our society will take on.
It’s also provided the perfect activity for someone looking for a challenge, but it turns out that just riding the roller coaster isn’t the real challenge after all.
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The ultimate challenge is to climb right to the top of it.
And yes, it’s 100% legal too.
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Blackpool Pleasure BeachBlackpool Pleasure Beach
In fact, Walk the Big One – the chance to take an escorted climb up the 235ft lift hill of one of the world’s tallest rollercoasters – is actually listed as an official activity on the Blackpool Pleasure Beach website, and there’s plenty of opportunities to get stuck in next year.
If you’re looking to try your hand at something you’ve never experienced before after the second national lockdown draws to an end, how does this sound?
It’s certainly not for the faint-hearted.
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The Walk the Big One experience has a maximum of six walkers per climb – each over 12 years of age and a minimum height of 1.32m – who are provided with safety harnesses and protective clothing, and are asked to wear sensible shoes or boots.
A standard ticket is priced at £65, and you can bring two spectators free of charge.
A range of dates and session times are currently available to book for the experience, starting on Friday 26th March 2021, and taking place on numerous Fridays throughout the year until October.
You can find more information, T&Cs and book to Walk the Big Onehere.
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Gig review | Catfish at Heaton Park, Manchester – are the Bottlemen properly back?
Danny Jones
10 months on from their last gig and more than a year since they officially ended their hiatus, Catfish and the Bottlemen finally returned to Manchester for a sold-out show at Heaton Park, and while the reviews online have been mixed, we had a blast heading back to the fields again.
Making their Manc comeback just hours before this year’s Parklife Festival got underway, the beloved Welsh band had stirred lots of worry leading up to the day itself and, in truth, even in the moments leading up to (and after) their stage time.
Apart from their huge headline slot at Reading and Leeds, 2024 was the year of cancellations and controversy, so their fans had plenty of reason to be concerned. Nevertheless, we had faith and kept our spirits high, especially with the weather holding out.
Local legends and indie rock veterans James certainly helped on that front, delighting both die-hards watching from up on the hill and younger gig-goers who may have only heard a few of the big hits like ‘Sit Down’ – though they certainly didn’t heed that message, there was merely jumping up and down.
Some great computer-generated imagery backdropped the set.We watched this thing like a hawk.You can read our recent interview with them HERE. (Credit: Audio North)
Once the main support act had wrapped up their pretty perfectly timed set, we’ll admit, standing on that grass felt like an eternity, especially considering Catfish had us waiting an extra 15 minutes beyond their expected arrival at Heaton Park.
You could call it fashionably late, but in this case, it saw several people around us uttering, ‘they’re not coming on any time soon’, and some even beginning to walk off.
However, they did eventually arrive just over a quarter of an hour past schedule, and the eruption of cheers from the crowd and a fair few screams from those nearest the barrier signalled what summed up the entire night: we were just so happy to have them back.
We’ve heard people debating the sound quality and taking issue with parts of Van’s performance, but we’ll just leave this here and let you decide for yourselves:
One thing’s for sure: the energy was immaculate from start to finish.
From kicking things off with ‘Longshot’ for a limb-worthy intro, to hearing a fully acoustic version of ‘Hourglass’ as the lead singer stood alone on the dramatically lit main stage, soon to be followed up by a plethora of Parklife acts, we’d wager you they’ll remain a tough act to follow all weekend.
Other highlights included an entire park’s worth of people belting every word to ‘Kathleen’, ‘Fallout’, ‘Pacifier’ and pretty much every track they played, as well Van having the crowd repeat the chorus of ‘Cocoon’ as he hung up his guitar from the stand to deliver an ice-old mic drop.
We would’ve loved to hear a fuller set filled with the extended live versions of ‘Oxygen’, ‘Heathrow’ and ‘Glasgow’ too, especially given how many sections of pure instrumentation felt like they were going to transition into another track, but you can’t have everything, I guess.
Inflatable crocodiles and cracking flagsCredit: The Manc GroupEyes and arms wide openWe’re here to urge you not to be drawn in by TikTok reviews – as far as we’re concerned, Catfish were made to headline Heaton Park.
Sure, there might have been a few minor fluffed vocal notes and slightly over-lengthy solos here and there, but after all, it’s a rock show: we want a bit of mess.
The same goes for Van McCann himself, too; we worry that people are starting to forget what a proper rockstar is, and we’re not talking about contriving some kind of Hollywood lifestyle, but certainly getting lost in the music and trashing your guitar so hard that your face is draped in nothing but hair and sweat? Absolutely.
All in all, we think Catfish and the Bottlemen‘s massive outdoor show at Manchester’s Heaton Park and de facto ‘comeback after the last comeback’ was a triumph and even when they’re not absolutely 10/10, they’re still bloody good value live.
As for the question of ‘are they back?’ We think so and certainly hope that ‘Showtime’ wasn’t just released as a way of signalling fans to come along for one last ride before the final curtain call.
We rediscovered an old Boddingtons advert and now we’re gasping for ‘the cream of Manchester’
Danny Jones
If you’re from Greater Manchester, the name Boddingtons likely needs no introduction, but if you’re new to the area or part of the generation that’s young enough to have never clocked the legendary logo before, the ‘Cream of Manchester’ was known for making a good advert or two.
Answers on a postcard? Yes, we of course are referring to the classic ice cream van ad that featured a young Melanie Sykes serving an ice-cold pint of Boddingtons to a thirsty athlete, played by former EastEnders actor Ken George.
In fact, the recognisable TV presenter and British household name went on to feature in a few of them, including a contemporary recreation back in 2017, but it isn’t any of her appearances that recently re-captured our attention.
The old ‘Boddies’ ad that we stumbled across in 2025, more than 30 years on from when it originally aired, is the Gondola/’Just One Cornetto’ spoof filmed right here in the city centre along Manchester’s famous canal network.
Circa 1993. Recognise where it is?
Just as beautiful as Venice, if you ask us – and that’s just the pint…
As you can see, not only did the once beloved Boddingtons advert capture a glimpse of the River Irwell near the old Granada Studios and how Manchester’s waterways used to look back in the day, but it was also a pretty modern, ironic take for the time.
Inspired by arguably one of the most famous ads of all time, the Boddies marketing team and director Jeff Stark didn’t just imitate or poke fun at Wall’s Cornetto ice cream: they played on the genuine nickname and imagery drummed up by locals who drank it week in, week out.
The famous frothy white head and the ‘do you want a Flake with that?’ is the kind of joke you still hear to this day when someone overdoes it with a Guinness, but turning the glass into a golden ice cream was a bit of genius.
In fact, the old Boddies ad even helped launch the career of stingy ‘Gladys Althorpe’ herself, Anna Chancellor, who went on to appear in What A Girl Wants, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and many more.
She and Sykes weren’t the only ones either; another admittedly sexually-charged campaign released roughly a year later featured another familiar face in Sarah Parish (Doctor Who, Trollied, The Wedding Date) – again, always ending with a stereotypically Manc, if not at least Northern, punchline.
It was smash hits like these that saw Boddingtons dubbed not only Manchester’s most famous beverage but ‘the Cream of Marketing‘ for a time as well.
The beer may not be as prominent as it once was, but its legacy as part of classic UK telly is up there with R Whites Lemonade, Dairy Milk, Compare The Meerkat, and so many more.
You can see a super-cut compilation of some of their retro ads HERE.
Oh yeah, and if watching all this has made you get a thirst on like it did us, you’ll be glad to hear that while it may be difficult to locate these days, there are still a few places you can find a pint of Boddies in and around the area.
Emily Sergeant -
24th November 2020 
