8 hours ago
Grand National at Blackpool's Pleasure Beach Resort reopens
Britain's only surviving twin-track rollercoaster has reopened at Blackpool's Pleasure Beach Resort.
The iconic Grand National celebrates its 90th birthday in 2025 - and has been under maintenance for a number of months in preparation.
Ongoing work involves replacing sections of the wooden track, installing a new drive sprocket, replacing parts of the pull up chain, and painting sections of the ride.
Due to the ride's heritage maintenance must be carried out by a specialist team and can sometimes require longer periods of work has been delivered by Pleasure Beach's own engineers, who have had an incredibly busy start to their season.
What is the Grand National rollercoaster?
The Grand National was designed and constructed by American engineer Charles Paige in 1935.
It was a part of the program of new rides being built at the Pleasure Beach and was the main new ride for the beach that year.
The rollercoaster's theme and name come from the famous Grand National horse race, with elements of the ride signposted to mimic features of the Aintree course, including Becher's Brook and Canal Turn.
It's the only surviving twin-track roller coaster in Britain in which two cars race against one another. This ride has an individual lap bar and seatbelts as the restraints.
The ride was designated as a Grade II listed building on 19 April 2017.
Amanda Thompson OBE, CEO of Pleasure Beach Resort, said: 'The wonderful thing about Pleasure Beach is that we have a unique blend of old and new.
"We're home to some industry-leading, modern coasters like ICON, as well as nostalgic fan favourites such as Grand National.'We know Grand National has created wonderful memories over the years, and we're thrilled to be able to announce that she will re-open in June.'
Engineers simultaneously worked on the re-imagining of Launch Pad, which opened in May.
