Very Art Deco building in the grand style in Blackpool – though actually I think it’s technically in Bispham.

The ground floor now houses Hart’s Amusements. The rest is, I think, holiday accommodation.

From southwest. Its eyes have been poked out, though:-

Full vista. Wonderful deco style. Great horizontals and verticals. Rule of three in columnar windows and the central portion above the rounded canopy. Flagpoles! Clock!:-

Clock and Sculptures, Queen’s Mansions, Blackpool. Fine Art Deco styling. 1936 date on roof half-roundel. The sculptures are reminiscent of the A A Gill ones on the Midland Hotel, Morecambe:-

This was, I think, the other deco building I spotted in Morecambe but didn’t have time to photograph 3 years ago. It’s on the seafront, heading northwards from the Midland Hotel.

But there was more. Much more.

Almost the first Art Deco building we came upon this time though was what looked like a toilet block!

Further still along the front was this:-

There was also a deco pub down a side street,

the Lloyds Bank building,

Morecambe Visitor Centre,*

a deco style bridge between two buildings,

and some nice deco-ish glazing on a disused hotel.

There may have been more still but we only stayed one night.

Also on the sea front was a warren of a second hand bookshop, absolutely stuffed to the gunwhales – the SF was mostly old stuff and stacked high making exploring it a bit problematic. The good lady secured a couple of purchases of vintage crime, though.

*Edited to add It’s not a visitor centre. The Morecambe Visitor is the local newspaper. See the first comment on this post.

I couldn’t stay in Morecambe without once more taking photos of the magnificent Midland Hotel.

This is the view of the building from the stone pier which juts out into the Irish Sea.

Here is a shot of the second set of pillars giving entry to the car park.

The staff were very accomodating and allowed me to take photos inside.

This is the very Deco carpet in front of the reception desk.

This is the lovely frieze behind reception. Not the best shot; the lighting conditions were low.

There is a 30s style map located in one of the function rooms

This photo of the hotel, presumably from its heyday as the seafront appearance is now substantially different, emblazons the wall on the first floor landing. There was a replica on the floor above too.

On our recent trip down south we stopped off at Morecambe again. This time we stayed the night so I was able to take quite a few photos.

The War Memorial there has an imposing position overlooking the sea. The lion surmounting the plinth is a good touch.

This is the west side, commemorating WW 1.

There are more names on the north and south sides.

The east side commemorates WW 2.

You can glimpse part of the Midland Hotel in the background in this angle.

Just to the east of the main memorial there is a small garden area containing a memorial of the Burma Star Association.

The other side of this shows a stone poppy encircling a star.

I assumed the local regiments had been posted to Burma and the Burma Star Association website confirms Lancashire regiments were indeed involved there.

I was watching Country Tracks on BBC 1 this morning – well it was on and I was in the same room.

They were doing what might as well have been an episode of Coast; from Liverpool to Morecambe – with a diversion up the Manchester Ship Canal – taking in along the way Antony Gormley‘s statues on Crosby Beach, and Blackpool.

A lot of the programme consisted of clips shown on previous BBC shows. The introduction to Morecambe was an extract from a 2006 edition of Coast which I remember well as it alerted me to the refurbishment of the Midland Hotel which I looked at last year and Big Rab has photographed recently.

The show is on the BBC iPlayer. For how long I don’t know. (The content wasn’t working when I tried though. The relevant bit will be towards the end.) For a programme called Country Tracks it spent a lot of time in cities and towns this week.

The presenter got to stay the night in the hotel and we saw several shots of the inside and the Eric Gill artworks.

By a curious coincidence yesterday’s Guardian Review (I only get round to reading that bit on a Sunday) had an article about another English sea-side Art Deco extravagance, Marine Court, St Leonards, whose structure is modelled on the liner RMS Queen Mary. Marine Court opened just in time to be made a bit of a white elephant by the Second World War. It’s quite stunning.

I’ve already featured the former Woolies buildings in Kirkcaldy, Dumbarton, Morecambe and Dundee.

Here’s a couple more Art Deco former Woolies premises located in Fife.

The first is in St Andrews, photographed still in its Woolies livery. Nice detailing above the windows and on the roof line. (It has been converted to a Nisa shop since the photo was taken.)

The second is in Cowdenbeath. Not so much ornamentation on this one; just the roof detail really. As you can see, it’s a Poundstretcher now. (I took the picture before Saturday’s game.)

Also in Morecambe close to the Midland Hotel on the sea front on the other side of the road were these two Art Deco buildings.

The first was once a Woolworths.

Here it is when it was a Woolies.

The other houses a Hitchens
This is someone else’s close in view.

There was one more Deco-ish building much further along the front but time was getting short so I didn’t photograph it.

Leaving Haworth we headed back home through Lancashire, skirting Bolton and Blackburn (plenty signposts but nary a glimpse of it from the M65) on our way to the M6 and north. We came off at junction 33A to detour into Morecambe. Mistake. The road takes you through Lancaster and the traffic was a crawl, if that.

Our destination was Morecambe – we passed the local football ground in the way in. As a seaside town we expected it to be in something of a decline but it looked in good enough nick, thriving even.

The goal was of course the Midland Hotel: designed by Oliver Hill. Its vintage is 1933 and it’s one of Britain’s signature Art Deco buildings. It has of course been featured in the Poirot TV series.

More recently, starting in 2006, it has been restored. It reopened in 2008.

This photo was taken from a distance and shows the curvature of the frontage.

Here is a stitch of three I took from the car park. The stitching seems to have flattened the perspective.

The entrance pillars are nice, too. Could do with a bit of weeding, though.

Closer in to the cylindrical tower. You can see the Eric Gill sea horse sculptures adorning the top. The glazing seems okay on the tower but the room windows look wrong.

The view from the south. Eyes poked out on this side?

The view from the south west, (the promenade, essentially.) To my mind the restoration has put in too much glass here. No doubt it protects the patrons from bracing winds.

The north side. Lovely curved entranceway and canopy – plus the glazing on the doors looks right.

Friends of the Midland Hotel website is here.