Eating in Blackpool

Seniors Fish Restaurant Blackpool

Eating in Blackpool

GUEST house owners today hit back at TV's acid-tongued "Hotel Inspector" after she served up a scathing assessment of Blackpool.

Ruth Watson gave a no-hold barred assessment of the resort claiming: "There are 1,700 hotels and guest houses in Blackpool and not a single good place to eat."
The Channel Five host - a straight-talking Gordon Ramsey of the hotel world figure - went on to brand the UK's top seaside resort as a place only suitable for rowdy stag nights.
Mrs Watson spent one night at the Sparkles Hotel in South Shore for the programme which will be aired next month and claimed the standard of accommodation in the resort is "just awful".
She said: "I cannot think of anything good to say about Blackpool.
"You would either have to be a lad on a stag night or a toddler in a pram to enjoy coming here."
As for the Sparkles she added: "The hotel owner here is indulging her fantasy. "She is not interested in running a business.
"She certainly does not want to listen to any advice given.
"I have a huge amount of experience, but she simply does not want to listen."
Hoteliers have hit back at the critic saying standards are being raised right across Blackpool.
Sue Ryan, who owns Sparkles on Station Road, said: "I've spent more than £1m on improvements on the hotel and all she could do was tear it to pieces.
"She was out to sensationalise everything. How can she base her experience on Blackpool by staying just one night?"
Claire Smith, owner of the Number One in St Luke's Road, current bed and breakfast of the year, said: "We pride ourselves on the quality of our food. She has obviously never bothered to seek out some of Blackpool's hidden gems.
"We've got some excellent B&B's in the resort and the quality of the self catering is improving every year. It really makes me cross when someone who doesn't even know the area, slams it just because she doesn't like one hotel.
"The place can't be that bad when we get loads of people coming back for more every year." Michael Higgins, owner of the Pembroke Hotel on King Edward Avenue, North Shore agreed. He said: "Many hotels are leaving the cheap and cheerful behind and setting new standards in cuisine. It all depends how much the customer is prepared to pay and you pay for what you get.
"It's basically wrong what this person is saying. Some of the food in accommodation is excellent and more is being done to improve it."
But Colin Asplin, president of the Blackpool Hotel and Guest House Association, said he agreed with some of the comments Mrs Watson.
He said: "To a certain degree I tend to agree with her. The standard of some of the accommodation do need to change their ways.
"That is not to say all guest houses and hotels are the same. Some people prefer it that way and some don't. It's all about choice."
But Jane Seddon, head of tourism for Blackpool council, said: "Her comments are a very sweeping statement to make.
"It seems to me that this critic has stayed in one place and has made a general assumption that because she had a bad experience, she is willing to tar all of the resort with the same brush.
"Has she never ate at some of our award-winning restaurants or stayed at some of our award-winning guest houses? From the reaction we get from some of the customer comment cards, the standard of food is why millions of people come back to Blackpool every year.
"There are some great guest houses and hotels to eat in Blackpool. I'm not saying there is not room for improvement and more eateries coming to the resort, but we have a wealth of good food here. It's not all fast food in Blackpool."
. The Hotel Inspector series begins on Channel Five on Thursday night.
Source: Blackpool Today.

Senior's
Senior's won an award as the second best fish restaurant in Britain. Perhaps Ruth Watson is too snobbish to try fish and chips! Perhaps she is a southerner, and therefore has never experienced good ones.

The Cottage
Long regarded by many as the best chip shop in Blackpool, now that Senior's has gone upmarket, we reckon The Cottage only hold second place, although we must admit to not having sample it for some time now. While writing this we noticed from its website that it is under the same ownership as Whelan's in Lytham, another award winning fish restaurant. If it's good enough for Rick Stein and Gordon Ramsay, it's worth a try.

The Old Coach House
Voted amongst the top ten bed and breakfasts in Britain, the Old Coach House also has a restaurant which has an excellent reputation. It has changed hands recently, and we have not tried it since, but perhaps we should. Here we have an admission to make. We never actually tried it while it was there, but every who did eat there praised it highly.
We recommended it to a discerning visitor for overnight accommodation, and he was very favourably impressed by it, and that was also shortly after it changed hands.
Shortly after adding this page, we discovered at long last where the Smith family have moved to, and it is only about 100 yards from our office! They signed a contract with the purchasers of the Old Coach House that they would not make contact with their old customers, and they appear to have kept very faithfully to it. Although it appears to us that they are not very good at marketing themselves, a number of their old customers have sought them out, and they seem to be quite busy. They describe their new "Number One" guest house as luxury category, and with only three bedrooms, this really is a bijou hotel in all respects.

Terry's Balti House
In our opinion the best Indian restaurant in Blackpool is Terry's Balti House, despite the terrible name.
48 Clifton St, Blackpool, FY1 1JP, Telephone 01253 622349.

Wah Wah's
Wahnee Wah Wah's describes itself as an Oriental Noodle Bar. We would call it a Thai restaurant. The owners tell us they wanted to establish it as an oriental fast food eatery, and they have succeeded. Although the menu selection is quite limited, all the food is good. It's fairly simple, clean and basic, but very good value.
It's a great place for an excellent quick meal when we have been working late, or had a long week. The first time we tried it, we were somewhat put off by the garish yellow picture board along the entrance stairs, but it's best to judge a restaurant on its food rather than its signage.
Many times we have sat at one of its window seats and watched taxi loads of people crowd into the mediocre (and we are being kind) Mamma's Two Italian restaurant across the road.
To our mind this illustrates that many people fail to notice the quality of a restaurant or its food. Perhaps diners get the food they deserve.

September Brasserie
In our opinion, this was the best restaurant in Blackpool for many years. Sadly it closed down in late 2005. The owner, Michael Golowicz has appeared as a guest chef elsewhere in the Fylde, and we look forward to him re-opening somewhere soon. Michael or Pat, please contact us.

Bill Clinton's Favourite Blackpool Restaurant?
When Bill Clinton, ex US President visited Blackpool a few years ago, he ate at:-...

Macdonald's!

But then, he probably got paid about $50,000 to promote it.

It all goes to show that some people have no taste and very little class.

Courtfield
It is easy to forget that Courtfield is not only a restaurant, but one of the best around. Not that its food is unforgettable, just that as part of the local Blackpool and the Fylde College, it keeps a fairly low profile. It is only open three evenings per week, during college trimester term times. It is necessary to book, and also to arrive early, as the staff and students are too polite to turn the lights off at 9 o'clock! As one would expect, the food is excellent, and the prices very reasonable for the excellent quality. The service is often somewhat hesitant, and it is well not to expect polished perfection. Many of the students go on to work in top international hotels and restaurants. Cunard take many of its QEII staff from here. There is also a self service cafeteria, snack bar, and shop. These are mainly used by the students, but a number of canny locals are regular customers.
The old Courtfield was a fine old house in Palatine Road, Blackpool, but has sadly long since been demolished. It had its own character and elegance. A good effort has been made to retain some of this ambience in the newish six storey concrete block in Ashfield Road, Bispham which now houses the catering department of the college. A visit to the toilets soon reminds any visitor that this is a fifties concrete monstrosity. It reminds me of the "new" Blackpool Collegiate Grammar School at Highfurlong, Blackpool, complete with draughty steel framed windows. The restaurant itself does actually have a pleasant view of much of the Fylde Coast looking north and east towards the Pennines.

Kwizeen
Kwizeen has been open since about 1998, a fact which surprised us, as we had never tried it into recently. We tried to think why we had not visited it before, and think it was possibly the combination of the somewhat gimmicky sounding name, and the location on King Street. We really should approach these things with more of an open mind! We are told it is a partnership between the front-of-house restaurant manager, and the Spanish chef. The menu is quite ambitious in terms of the number of unusual or complicated dishes it contains.
We tried it once, but will try it a second time before we publish our opinion.

No Chips!
Writing this reminds me of local man. a very successful local businessman who made a few million pounds as a builder and caravan site operator. He died a few years back, so we don't suppose he will object to us mentioning this:
For many years, one of the best restaurants in the Fylde Coast was a country house hotel called Rivermede, which was in Great Eccleston. It was run by the Fielding sisters, who also came from a well know family of builders. It used to serve a three or four course Table D'Hôte menu, with a narrow choice. Every single dish it served was excellent, and it was also good value, although it was justifiably at the upper end of the market price range at the time. Even so, it would have been easy to pay more for lower quality at many other local restaurants. Those who thought is expensive were possibly comparing it with the price of single main courses elsewhere. There was no taped music, and the service was mainly by local youngsters, so it was pleasant and friendly rather than being polished and refined. Our businessman didn't rate it for these reasons. It didn't serve chips, the portions weren't very big (although we could hardly find room for desert most times, perhaps because we did get tempted to eat too many of the vegetables), and it did not serve Niersteiner or Piesporter.
The moral of this particular story is that the review of any restaurant depends as much on the reviewer as on the restaurant itself.

No Taste!
This brings us back neatly to the starting point of this page. We can find place in Blackpool where diners as discerning as Michael Winner would want to eat, so we have serious doubts about the objectivity of Ms Watson's opinions, or the quality of her research.

Environs
No this is not the name of a restaurant. Most Blackpudlians tend to go outside of Blackpool to eat, and there is an impressive number of good restaurants in the nearby towns and villages of the Fylde Coast area. We will add a page about them when we get chance. As a service to our viewers, we will force ourselves to research the market, and report back!

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