Above the garish buildings on Blackpool's promenade looms the grand old tower, a 117-year-old oxblood red metal beacon that is once again causing excitement in England's most famous seaside resort.
The 158 metre (518ft – and nine inches) tower, famously modelled on the Eiffel tower, reopens this week after a year-long £5m revamp. Inside, intricate metalwork is being uncovered as an old cafe becomes a gourmet burger restaurant – the flock red wallpaper replaced by a modern design.
On Thursday, the skywalk, complete with floor-to-ceiling glass observational panel, will be launched as part of the newly named Blackpool Tower Eye, giving views of the three Victorian piers, the Fylde coast and, on a good day, Manchester, the Lakes and Scotland.
The tower will be lit up on Friday, the day the illuminations are switched on, and will be visible for 30 miles up the coast.
An aquarium on ground level, meanwhile, has been turned into Blackpool Dungeon – a Lancashire version of the London Dungeon with actors performing 10 vignettes telling tales of smugglers, Pendle witches, the plague and Vikings.
Visitor numbers to Blackpool in 2010 were up by a million to 13m. Tourism is worth £1bn, supporting 20,000 jobs.
Blackpool council estimates the revamp will attract an extra 800,000 visitors a year to the tower, almost double the current total of about 458,000. This would also bring additional visitor spending of £36m.
Iain Hawkins, of Merlin Entertainments, which runs the tower and much of the resort, said the work would regenerate the town. "It is a building that is globally recognised," he said. "And it is like the heartbeat of Blackpool."
Hawkins believes it is possible for visitor numbers to grow to those of the 1950s and 60s.
"We need to attract families back to Blackpool. There are those who want to get rid of stag and hens completely, but there is a place for them," he added.
"There is a real genuine buzz about Blackpool that things are changing."
The visitors also seem to approve. Sue Mount from Lancaster said: "I think Blackpool had started to get run down and it is good to see all the work that is being done."
