We visited Blackpool’s pinkest shop and it was everything we thought it might be

The shop stocked all sorts but we came across some rather unusual items

Blackpool Promenade is the home of novelty and variety and is a place where ‘anything goes’.

For most locals, it’s easy to become numb to the wacky mixture of businesses dotted along the iconic seafront location but when you do step back to take it all in, there’s much to be said about sight in front of you. Where else would you find a dozen chippies, donut stands and arcades all neighbouring each other?

Depending where you start on the Promenade there could be some shops you’re missing out on. If you head towards South Pier and Pleasure Beach, you’re likely to find more hotels, ice cream parlours and chippy’s down that end. Towards North Pier is the Tower. Central Pier is where novelty reigns king.

Coral Island, The Golden Mile, Sea Life and Madame Tussauds are the more memorable locations on this particular stretch of the prom. But a few steps away, stands a strikingly pink building, that is so full of novelty items, you could actually miss the vibrant setting in which all those goods call home.

When you see the tell tale gimmicky gifts, hats and magnets filling baskets outside shops, they all blend into one. But it was when I stood across the shops – walking along the sea front – is when I quite literally stepped back and noticed the entire building was a bright and loud shade of pink.

There is literally no other building that looks like it on the prom which made me question how, having just walked up and down the seafront, had I missed such a blaringly obvious and not so little shop? Naturally, I had to go inside.

Like most novelty shops on the prom, it was full to the brim with Blackpool sweets, magnets, gimmicky toys and souvenirs. Walking in and out the cramped aisles I saw rows of miniature Blackpool Towers ornaments, magnets with donkeys on them and rows and rows of iconic Blackpool rock.

I hadn’t gone into the shop with the intention to buy anything. After all, there are only so many Blackpool magnets I can fit on my fridge. But as I walked by the rock I noticed so very bizarre flavour options.

There was Bakewell tart, jam donut, chocolate mint, strawberry cheesecake and even some alcohol inspired options like Jager bomb. Picking four flavours to try for myself I departed with my pound and went away ready to see if the flavours were anything like the names.

First was cookie dough which I expected to be slightly chocolatey, maybe a little nutty and very sweet. The sweetness was there, this single stick of rock was incredibly sweet but there was also a random hint of liquorice that made me think of the blackcurrant and liquorice hard sweets- not at all like cookie dough.

Then I tried blueberry muffin which was rather berry-ish and sweet but no hint of muffin at all- although I wouldn’t really know how the single taste of muffin could be replicate in rock form. Jam donut caught my eye next and for some reason I was convinced it would taste exactly like jam.

That was very wishful thinking as it tasted nothing like jam, donuts, or even sweet. There was a bizarre aftertaste that almost tasted of spices- not the chilli kind, the cinnamon type. As far as rock flavours go, I would not try this one again. Finally I picked the Cream Egg flavour and held out a lot of hope for this one as a big Cream Egg fan. My hopes were lifted when I smelt the distinct Cadbury Cream Egg smell wafting from the wrapper. One bite in, and my hopes were crushed.

It tasted nothing like chocolate or anything like Cream Egg, in fact it tasted mint. Next time you’re visiting Blackpool you could give the other wacky flavours a go. Novelty reigns kind when it comes to picking these up. And that’s not a bad thing.

By

Fatima AzizTrainee reporter
  • 05:40, 24 JUN 2022
  • UPDATED08:26, 24 JUN 202

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