Today’s blog is holiday flats in the 1970’s. But before I get onto that, haven’t we had some wind, rain and sun in the last week or so. What a combination. The storm gates have been up and down. One minute it’s batten your hatches down and the next crack open the suntan lotion.
Jane had braved the weather during one of the stormy episodes to go out and film it. All done from a safe distance I might add, or from behind the sea walls. Remember never to tangle with the waves.
Holiday Flats in the 1970’s
Anyway, enough of the weather and onto the subject of this blog.
We were talking about all the hotels that are going up like sprouting mushrooms and the effect it’s having on the guest houses and small hotels that Blackpool is known for. As we chatted we said that it was another phase of changes to how things are done, just like there have been in the past.
Three Glorious Weeks
We were lucky to stay in Blackpool for three weeks every Summer holiday at holiday flats that some friends of ours let us have for next to nothing.
Now this was when Jane was just a young girl, six or so upwards which is a long time ago, as my story will show you when I get going. The owners of the block of sea front holiday flats were our friends. The block was demolished long, long ago. It’s been a car park for many years, at the right of the Viking Hotel.
There was a private conservatory to the ground floor flat which we usually had. It was lovely to sit in and watch the world go by and see all the different people and what they were doing as they passed us.
My parents usually came with us as a change of scenery for them, so we had some lovely family holidays.
How Things Change…
Before I go any further, you must understand that this was a long time ago. Standards weren’t what they are now, not by any means, as you’ll see as my story unfolds.
Pull Down Beds
The rub was that this flat didn’t have proper bedrooms as such, just a curtain which was pulled across the room at night to separate them from us. Maybe we couldn’t see one another but we could hear them. My dad used to be snoring in one ear while Derek was turning them over in the other ear! What a cacophony.
Of course, as they did in those days, most holiday flats in the 70’s also had pull-down beds. If you don’t know, they were a bed which folded back to the wall in an upright position in the daytime to make more room. You pulled a curtain across the collapsed bed to hide it. Most flats had these horrible beds. You needed to have eaten your spinach as the blooming things weighed a ton!
The mechanisms had really stiff springs and I couldn’t pull them up and down even in those days. They could come in handy if you were ‘off’ with your partner as you could trap them in the bed and slam them to the wall! Ooh just imagine!
50p in the Meter
Our toilet was just into the corridor along with the shower room. There was a meter that you had to put 50p if you wanted a shower. My was it a greedy meter, it gobbled them up. It wasn’t much fun when you ran out of money and had to yell your head to get someone to come and feed the beast!
I don’t get along well with showers at the best of times, but this one was freezing cold one minute and the next scalding. It didn’t help my state of mind and make me want to take a shower. Whenever I do have a shower, I get a strange feeling like I can’t breathe and gasp for air like a fish out of water! It really is horrible. I just can’t get air into my lungs and feel as though I am going to stop breathing. So although we have a shower at home I steer clear of it and use my lovely bath. There’s only Kevin uses it, unless we have a secret shower-taker when I’m not looking!
En Suites
And so onto my favourite subject. Yes, that’s right, toilets.
En suites in those days were practically unheard of. They were only in very posh places, which we couldn’t afford to stay in in those times. For many, many years, holiday places would have a shared bathroom for guests to use. If you were lucky there was one bathroom on each floor of the building….
In the late 70’s and 80’s when people were flying abroad to foreign holidays they got used to having their own bathroom. British holiday accommodation had to change to keep up and so they all started fitting en suites.
When things in general were starting to improve in the flat letting business, it was decreed that each of these holiday flats in the 1970’s had to have its own toilet, yes so far so good. But when we returned on another holiday and saw the said toilets, we didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Shared Toilets
The toilets were in a block in a room just for them and for all the world looked like public toilets in Debenhams or somewhere. The owner proudly showed us that he’d obeyed the rules but the toilets were like thunder boxes.
The whole room echoed and every tinkle could be heard. To use them was to let all the world hear every rustle and all the other sounds you get in toilets. Not for me thank you, I’m very private when it comes to toilet habits.
He showed us that each toilet had a number on the door and on the matching key that you got so that nobody else could use yours.
By this time we were stifling our laughter and thanking our lucky stars that we had a toilet next to us on the ground floor with our own key and didn’t have to go up there in the middle of the night. Heaven help you if you were desperate!!
Emergency Escape
One year we had to stay on the top floor of these flats. It was pretty high up I can tell you. It wasn’t far off the height of Blackpool tower, well ok, that’s a slight exaggeration.
To our horror when we went up there for the first and last time, the owner showed us a rope ladder which unfurled to hang out of the window as a fire escape.
The windows were small too and the sight of that flimsy rope ladder swaying in the wind was too much for us. We recoiled in horror at the thought of actually climbing out of the small window…
There were such a lot of things about holiday flats in the 70’s! I’m sure you’d agree that the changes we’ve already seen are for the better. I’m sure that the improvements brought about by all these new hotels will improve the resort again into the future. What do you think?
While you’re here…
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