LIGHTS & DARK
Rows of crack dens, £10 heroin hits and barefoot kids ‘in rags’… how seaside mecca became UK’s ‘early death capital’
One local warns parents can't afford to feed their kids, let alone clothe them...
THE noisy slots machines are doing a roaring trade at Pirates Bay amusement arcade as the race commentator calls horse number 11 home on the £1 game.
Outside on Blackpool’s famous Golden Mile, an elderly couple point at the resort’s Tower Ballroom which recently hosted the glitz and glamour of Strictly Come Dancing.
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But just behind Blackpool Tower, away from the bedazzling lights and hidden from the hordes of tourists and TV viewers, is a far grimmer world that has the lowest life expectancy in the country.
Here dealers peddle hits of heroin for just £10 and drinkers sup pints of beer for as little as £1.80 in packed pubs.
Cheap kebab shops compete for customers with fast-food vans and beloved fast food hotspot even sells burgers for just £1.
There, kids in rags have even been seen running barefoot through the streets and locals tell The Sun about the ever-worsening problems including “undesirables” plaguing the area.
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Locking her front door in a street lined with crack cocaine dens and boarded-up terraced houses, Janet Edwards, 53, said: “It’s like Detroit”.
The mum-of-three added: “But I like it here in Blackpool.
“It gets a bad rap but I don't think it’s any worse than anywhere else.
"It's just that there’s too many pubs and takeaways.
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“There’s just too much temptation for people – that’s why they die so young here.
"It's bad diet and booze problems here but it can be a nice place at times – the beach is stunning, especially in the summer.
Thieves, gang attacks and 5am parties - Strictly's biggest Blackpool scandals
“However there are problems here… it’s damp here and there is a lot of mould in the houses.
“A lot of the houses are old and not great and we get a lot of undesirable people dumped here.”
£10 heroin hits
Walking down the road with a coat zipped up against the cold, former soldier Ian Thomas, 53, has just got a place in a hostel in the shadow of Blackpool Tower after being homeless.
The former drug addict served in the army in the first Gulf War in 1990.
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He was stabbed in the stomach while fighting in Iraq and later suffered from PTSD.
The 53-year-old said: “I came to Blackpool on leave from the army. I met my partner in a nightclub in 1990 and never really left.
There's too many people who have bad diets. I see some people in my street have two or even three takeaways a day.
Hayley Moss
“Blackpool is awash with drugs and I got hooked on heroin, you can get it for as little as £10 here so a lot of people get hooked on it.
“You think you are doing the best for your kids but looking back we probably neglected them. It’s not something I look back with any pride.
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“There is a lot of homeless here and people begging. I have just got a place in a homeless shelter and want to turn things around.”
Just as we speak, three suspected dealers walk down the street, trying to sell deadly substances to a man passing by.
Former crack cocaine addict David Castell, 48, moved to the glitzy resort three months ago from Leicester.
He said: “I wanted to come here to try and escape my old life.
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“It was my parent’s favourite place and I like it here so it was my choice to come here.
“I have been in out of prison and done time for burglary.
“At one point I had a £300-a-day crack cocaine so I needed to find that money every day.
“I can see there are a lot of drugs and alcohol problems here and there are a lot of homeless people.
UK's early death hotspots
A SHOCKING new report has declared the UK as having the lowest life expectancy in all of western Europe.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), we can expect to live up to 80.9 years.
That's falling behind other countries including chart-topper Switzerland with 84.2 years, Spain with 84 years and Italy with 83.6 years.
And more shocking, ONS data from earlier this year reveal it's an even gimmer picture when it's broken down into areas across the UK, as we reveal below:
UK areas with the lowest life expectancy for men
- Blackpool - 73.41
- Manchester - 74.80
- City of Kingston upon Hull - of75.04
- Blackburn with Darwen - 75.15
- Liverpool - 75.32
- Middlesbrough - 75.43
- Burnley - 75.50
- Stoke-on-Trent - 75.55
- Rochdale - 75.67
- Sandwell - 75.68
UK areas with the lowest life expectancy for women
- Blaenau Gwent / Blaenau Gwent - 78.88
- Blackpool - 78.98
- Manchester - 79.22
- Liverpool - 79.31
- Knowsley - 79.32
- Merthyr Tydfil / Merthyr Tudful - 79.44
- Middlesbrough - 79.48
- Barrow-in-Furness - 79.81
- Stoke-on-Trent - 79.86
- City of Kingston upon Hull - 79.88
Source: ONS 2024 report
“But I have been put in decent housing and I hope this is a fresh start for me.”
But David will undoubtedly face difficulty, despite a number of big drug house raids by police in recent years and the arrests of kingpins Anthony and Bradley Gill, who "flooded" Blackpool with "huge amounts" of cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis worth millions.
Early-death hotspot
A report by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has just found that the UK has the worst life expectancy in western Europe.
And the Office for National Statistics has said Blackpool has the lowest life expectancy for both men and women in England and Wales.
A boy born in Hart, Hampshire, between 2020 and 2022 can expect to reach his 83rd birthday - the highest recorded.
Meanwhile, a boy born in Blackpool will likely only live to 73 - a gap of more than a decade.
You see a lot of mothers and families struggle to feed their children and sometimes even to clothe them. It’s very sad.
Jamie-Lee Curry
The Lancashire tourist mecca has some of the highest rates of deaths linked to alcohol, drug abuse and suicide.
The popular seaside town - known as ‘Las Vegas of the North’ - has also regularly been named as the unhealthiest place to live in England.
Cheap booze and takeaways are all too common a sight in the popular seaside town.
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It is plagued by high unemployment, deprivation, cheap drugs and bad diet.
Three takeaways a day & kids in rags
Unemployed cleaner Hayley Moss, 27, said: "There are people with obesity and diabetes.
"There's too many people who have bad diets. I see some people in my street have two or even three takeaways a day."
Charity worker Jamie-Lee Curry, 49, said: “It’s not just one problem here, there are lots of different factors.
“There is a lot of work going into helping people.
Blackpool is awash with drugs and I got hooked on heroin, you can get it for as little as £10 here so a lot of people get hooked on it
Ian Thomas
“You see a lot of mothers and families struggle to feed their children and sometimes even to clothe them. It’s very sad.”
However, there is a lot of civic pride in the town which has tried to move on from its reputation for boozy hen and stag dos and drunken violence.
Millions have been invested in redeveloping the prom to attract more families to its beach and the Pleasure Beach with its Big One rollercoaster.
Donkey rides and carriage horse rides are popular in the summer as people flock to the shops selling Blackpool Rock.
Blackpool Council's response
A Blackpool Council spokesperson told The Sun: "As a local authority, we are wholly committed to improving the quality of life of our town’s residents, as well as continuing to attract the millions of visitors who come to Blackpool every year because they love it so much.
“Whilst Blackpool is so well known for fun and happy times, like many other seaside towns it is faced with both economic and health challenges including high levels of deprivation, dependency and social need and we are doing much to tackle these issues head on.
“Working proactively alongside our colleagues in the NHS, as well as other partners we provide a number of health and welfare schemes to try and ensure that families, children and individuals get the help and advice that they need.
“At the same time we also need to look to the future. So we along with partners are investing heavily in Blackpool in a diverse range of development projects to drive economic regeneration, create new jobs to help our communities, and deliver an improved environment for residents and visitors alike.
“Next year will see the opening of our new Civil Service hub, bringing over 3,000 office workers into our town centre – a huge boost for local businesses. Next door to this, work will continue on the development of a new Higher Education campus, Multiversity, which will deliver skills and opportunities for generations of our children in a location accessible for all.
"In 2025 we will also start to deliver the £90m of funding we won from Homes England to create hundreds more genuinely affordable, quality homes for Blackpool residents.”
Mum-of-three Alicia Lucas, 76, said: “I love it here – the shops are in easy reach and everything is here.
“The prom has been spruced up and, of course, it is stunning in the summer.
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“I feel lucky to live here but there is poverty here. You see a lot of families use food banks.”
And unsurprisingly, most are thrilled by Strictly’s annual visit to Blackpool for its most iconic show on the series in the resort.
The BBC dancing competition first rocked up there in 2004 and the Strictly stars have even been known to throw the odd wild party in the resort too.
Co-hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman seemed to enjoy a boozy night out in November 2019, when they were seen dancing around with champagne glasses still in hand.
Back outside Pirates Bay by the main pier, Strictly fan Tracey Hughes, 53, said: “It’s very fun to have them here in Blackpool.
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“I once chatted to Craig Revel Horwood. He was very nice and not all grumpy like he can be on the telly.
“He called me ‘Darling’ and said he loved being in Blackpool.”
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