Early years (1896–1930) Pleasure Beach was founded in 1896 by Alderman William George Bean after he failed in his attempt to become an advertising man on
New York City's
Madison Avenue. He returned to the United Kingdom in 1897 and opened two separate amusement parks: one adjacent to
Euston Road in
Great Yarmouth, and another in
Blackpool, opposite the tram terminus. The Great Yarmouth amusement park failed to generate much interest, so Bean moved to Blackpool full-time towards the end of the 1890s. The Switchback
roller coaster, which was built in 1891, predated the park. The park was built around it. In 1903, Bean, along with local businessman John Outhwaite, purchased 30 acres of land known as the "Watson Estate", which was used to expand the amusement park. The original Pleasure Beach was built on the sand dunes along the promenade and consisted of a few roundabouts, a bicycle railway, and several
Gypsy stalls. Bean and Outhwaite decided to grow the business after visiting
Coney Island in the United States. Using a small static fairground in London's
Earls Court for inspiration, Bean added more rides and sideshows to the park, which began to garner the attention of holidaymakers. Bean's aim was to establish a fun park of a relative size that would "make adults feel like children again and inspire gaiety of a primarily innocent character". In 1938, it was demolished and replaced with a more modern
Art Deco-style building, designed by architect
Joseph Emberton. Today, the Casino Building features a number of function rooms and offices, and the ground floor space is used as the main ticket centre. In 1923, land was reclaimed from the Blackpool seafront, and it was during this period that Pleasure Beach moved to its current location along the promenade. The same year, Bean brought in
John A. Miller to design and build Big Dipper, an out-and-back wooden coaster. Shortly afterwards, a boating pool was built for boat rides. This was Bean's final investment before he died of pneumonia in 1929, having spent 33 years shaping and developing the park. Following his death, his daughter
Lillian-Doris inherited the Pleasure Beach business. Lillian-Doris Bean married
Leonard Thompson, a businessman, in 1928. They initially lived in London. However, after Bean's death, the couple returned to Blackpool, where decisions regarding the future running of Pleasure Beach were in discussion. Up until that point, Leonard had not had any active involvement with the park, but in a mutual agreement with his wife, it was agreed that Thompson would take over the park and have full responsibility for all its affairs. His first move was to appoint Oscar Haworth as the general manager and George Palmer as chairman of the company. Over the next two years, Thompson worked with the Outhwaites to expand the business further, starting with the construction of
Ghost Train, which opened in 1930.
Golden years (1931–2004) In 1931, the Outhwaite family sold their share of the park to the Thompsons, giving them complete control and ownership of the business. The following year, Watson Road was built alongside the park, which resulted in the closure of Velvet Coaster. Velvet Coaster's structure was reused in the construction of
Roller Coaster, which opened in 1933 and was designed by Charles Paige. Thompson's next major investment was the construction of Fun House in 1934, and Grand National in 1935, a wooden coaster designed by Charles Paige. The success of Paige's wooden coasters resulted in an extension of Big Dipper in 1936, which was lengthened towards the south-westerly side of the park. During this time, Thompson hired Joseph Emberton for the park. He worked on the Casino Building, Noah's Ark and the Ice Drome, a 2,000-seat ice rink. Emberton continued to design for Pleasure Beach up until his death in 1956. Jack Ratcliffe, who had been involved in the
Festival of Britain, was brought in to continue the work Emberton did. Investments steadily decreased during the
second World War; however, the park remained open throughout the war. The park returned to prominence in 1958 with the debut of
Wild Mouse, the first new ride since World War II. In the following years, Derby Racer and Alice in Wonderland opened. The scale of investments increased into the 1960s, with a
log flume opening in 1967 and The Gold Mine opening four years later. After many successful years as the managing director of Pleasure Beach, Leonard Thompson died in 1976, having run the business for 47 years. Following Thompson's death, Doris Thompson was appointed chairman of the business. Their only son,
Geoffrey Thompson, inherited his father's role, and became the new managing director.
Geoffrey Thompson returned to the family business as head of catering at the Casino Building. He married his wife Barbara in 1962 and had three children: Amanda,
Nicholas and Fiona. He hired Keith Ingham to make extensive alterations to the Casino Building, which was reimagined as the Wonderful World Building (though it has since reverted to its original name of the Casino Building). Thompson's years of management saw the opening of
Steeplechase,
Avalanche, Revolution and
Launch Pad. His most notable investments include The Big One, which opened in 1994 as the tallest roller coaster in the world, and Valhalla, which opened in 2000. In 2000, a recreation of Pleasure Beach appeared in the theme park management video game
RollerCoaster Tycoon as part of the "Loopy Landscapes" expansion. Thompson often found himself in dispute with the
Blackpool Council over their decision to allow private traders to operate on land opposite the park. Further investments followed at Pleasure Beach, including Spin Doctor in 2002, Big Blue Hotel in 2003, and
Bling in 2004. Geoffrey Thompson died of a heart attack at the park on 12 June 2004 while attending a party to celebrate his daughter's wedding. Doris Thompson died nine days later, on 23 June, the date of her son's funeral.
Later years (2004–present) Amanda Thompson, Geoffrey's eldest daughter and director of the park for over 15years, took over the Pleasure Beach business in 2004 following her father's death. Her brother, Nicholas Thompson, became the deputy managing director, and her sister, Fiona Giljé, became the senior company director. During Amanda's years of ownership, the park has seen vast redevelopment, including the removal of numerous rides such as The Whip,
Space Invader 2, Turtle Chase, Spin Doctor,
Trauma Towers, Noah's Ark, Black Hole, Bling, Wild Mouse and Super Bowl. In 2006, the family closed Pleasureland Southport, had not turned a profit for several years. This move coincided with the closure of Pleasure Beach's log flume Drench Falls and the introduction of
Infusion, the park's first new roller coaster in 13years. Infusion was relocated from Adventure Coast Southport, where it had previously operated under the name of Traumatizer since 1999, and was built on the site of Drench Falls. In 2011, the Thompson family signed a contract with
Viacom, owners of
Nickelodeon, to open
Nickelodeon Land, a 4-acre children's area situated within the main park. Nickelodeon Land was a £10 million redevelopment of the park's previous children's area,
Beaver Creek, which closed in 2010. Many rides were relocated within the park or rethemed in order to accommodate the new area. In 2013, the park worked alongside
Aardman Animations, owners of the
Wallace & Gromit franchise, to introduce
Wallace & Gromit's Thrill-O-Matic, a dark ride which was a refurbishment of The Gold Mine. In 2015, the park partnered with the
Royal Air Force to open
Red Arrows Sky Force, a
Gerstlauer Sky Fly ride themed to the air acrobatic team. The ride was the first of its kind in the United Kingdom. The latest record is taken by
Icon, a multi-launch coaster manufactured by
Mack Rides in Germany. In 2018 the park installed
Icon, a £16.25 million
multi-launch coaster built by
Mack Rides, and the first roller coaster to be built at the park in over a decade. In 2019, a second hotel called Boulevard Hotel was built on the site of the former Star Pub. In February 2024, the park rebranded from Blackpool Pleasure Beach to Pleasure Beach Resort. On 6 March 2024, The Big One lost its title as the United Kingdom's tallest roller coaster after 30 years, with the completion of
Hyperia at
Thorpe Park. In 2025, the park confirmed a number of rides would not reopen for the season, including Red Arrows Sky Force, Gallopers, Thompson Carousel, and Alpine Rallye. That same year, Ice Blast, which temporarily closed in 2023, was rethemed and reopened as Launch Pad. The park also entered a partnership with
Coca-Cola to become its new soft drink partner, ending a previous partnership with
PepsiCo and
Britvic that had been in place since 1994. A 42 metre (138 ft)
Gyro Swing was announced to be added to the park for the 2026 season.
Managing directors == Operating rides ==