From variety, musicals and comedy giants to Shakespeare, ballet, drama and dance. Blackpool Grand Theatre caters for every age, pocket and personality. Take a look at what’s coming up and book your tickets today!

Heritage Tours at Blackpool Grand Theatre

Backstage Secrets Tours – 10.30am on 12 May. 90min | £20pp
Stand on the raked stage and discover the backstage workings of theatre. (Tour includes Stalls, Dress Circle, Walkway, Royal Box and Stage Door. Plus Fly Floor, Gallery, Dressing Rooms, Matcham Court & Stage). This tour ends with delicious cake and tea in the Dress Circle Bar.

Grand Opulence Tour – 11am & 12 noon on 18 Apr and 6 June. 45min | £12.50pp
Discover the theatres history, front-of-house Grandeur and Opulence. (Tour includes Stalls, Dress Circle, Walkway, Royal Box & Stage Door).

Book your tickets here. Call 01253 290 190 or pop-in to the Box Office to book (& please mention Visit Fylde Coast!)

Cinderella – Pantomime 2024-25 at Blackpool Grand Theatre!

6 December to 5 January including matinee and evening performances. Accessible performances are also available.
Please call the Box Office on 01253 290190 or visit www.BlackpoolGrand.co.uk for bookings and further information.

Martin Dodd for UK Productions Ltd in association with Blackpool Grand Theatre presents Cinderella Pantomime 2024-5 Cinderella… You shall go to the ball! It’s one of the most enchanting rags-to-riches fairy tales of them all.

Starring Britain’s Got Talent finalist, Comic and Panto favourite Steve Royle as Buttons. Jamie Morris and Tarot Joseph return once more as the incredibly gorgeous Ugly Sisters, Melody and Harmony Hard-Up. PLUS an all-star cast, soon to be announced. And of course, the Sensational Shetland Ponies…

Blackpool’s No.1 Pantomime, Cinderella, features sumptuous costumes, magnificent scenery and the unmissable and magical rags-to-riches transformation. The fabulous family pantomime at Blackpool’s Grand Theatre is always a laugh-a-minute extravaganza! Enjoy stunning sets, top musical hits, fantastic costumes and exciting special effects for audiences both young and old!

What’s On at Blackpool Grand Theatre – in 2024

Andy and The Odd Socks – The Are You Ready to Rock?! Tour – Sat 13 April at 3pm

Straight off the TV and onto the live stage! Andy and the Odd Socks bring their brilliant madcap mix of songs, slapstick and silliness to life. It’s a show to entertain families of all ages.

Featuring a host of popular songs from their much loved CBBC TV series “Andy and the Band”, children’s TV megastar Andy Day (Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures, Andy Safari Adventures) along with Moxy, Rio, Blu and Cousin Mac deliver a hilarious, uplifting, fun live performance that not only has songs for everyone to sing along to, but also has a positive message to be yourself and proud of who you are. Being an Odd Sock means digging your differences, bigging-up your bizarre bits, taking on the world AND helping everyone else in the world be whatever kind of Odd Sock they want to be too.

Northern Live – Do I Love You – Sun 14 April at 7.30pm

The World’s Greatest and most authentic touring Live Band Northern Soul Show, Keeping the Faith to the original sounds of the underground movement that started on the dance floors in the North and eventually swept the Nation including an 11-piece band with 4 lead vocalists performing over 30 original hits, expect to hear:

Dobie Gray – “Out On The Floor”, R Dean Taylor – “There’s A Ghost In My House”, Frank Wilson – “Do I love You – Indeed I Do”, Gloria Jones – “Tainted Love”, Al Wilson – “The Snake”, Yvonne Baker – “You Didn’t Say A Word”, Jimmy Radcliffe – “Long After Tonight Is Over”, Garnet Mimms – “Looking For You”, Dean Parrish – “I’m On My Way” and many, many more.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

NT Connections – 15, 16, 17 April at 6pm

NT Connections Festival 2024 is a fantastic opportunity to see 6 brand new, contemporary plays written for and performed by young people.

15 April – Age is Revolting / Back in the Day
16 April – Replica / Kiss/Marry/Push Off Cliff
17 April – The Periodicals / Orchestra

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book – 19-21 April at 10.30am-4.30pm

Charlie Cook loves reading. Especially books about pirates. But his sister hates it – it’s boring! Can Charlie convince her that reading is fun? Perhaps if she read a book about a pirate, who is reading a book about Goldilocks, who is reading a book about a knight…

Come and delve into a range of books with Charlie Cook, brought to life with puppetry and enchanting songs, and perhaps you will be able to help his sister discover the wonderful world inside a book…

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

2:22 A Ghost Story – 23-27 April at 7.30pm

The new stage phenomenon that has taken the West End by storm now comes to Blackpool. It’s a brilliantly funny and adrenaline-filled night where secrets emerge and ghosts may or may not appear… What do you believe? And do you dare discover the truth?

Winner of BEST NEW PLAY at the Whatsonstage Awards, this edge-of-your-seat, supernatural thriller is written by Danny Robins, creator of the hit BBC podcasts Uncanny and The Battersea Poltergeist, and comes fresh from record-breaking seasons at five West End theatres with a host of acclaimed star performances.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

The Illegal Eagles – Sun 28 Apr at 7.30pm

Celebrating over 50 years since the formation of the legendary West Coast Country Rock band The Eagles in 1971. The Illegal Eagles make a welcome return to Blackpool with a brand new production, promising more of their trademark musical prowess, acute attention to detail and incredible showmanship.

This critically acclaimed show features the very best from the Eagles’ catalogue of classics including ’Hotel California’, ‘Desperado’, ‘Take It Easy’, ‘New Kid In Town’, ‘Life In The Fast Lane’ and many more…

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

Twelve Angry Men – 29 April-4 May at 7.30pm

Following a recording-breaking West End season, this powerful production of TWELVE ANGRY MEN is back in session! A life in the balance. Twelve men. One verdict.

Twelve Angry Men has been hailed ‘the classiest, most intelligent drama playing on the West End’. It brings the 1957 three-time Academy Award-nominated film, considered one of the great ‘must-sees’ of all time, to the stage.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

Surfacing – 1 & 2 May at 7.45pm

Asylum Arts presents Surfacing, a new play from Stephen Bailey, director of The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man PERFORMED IN THE BLACKPOOL GRAND STUDIO.

What if you came up for air and the world you knew was gone? NHS therapist Luc is fine. Honest. She’s definitely not overwhelmed by meeting Owen, a new client, definitely not freaked out by what she’s started seeing, definitely doesn’t think her reality has been punctured and something else is leaking in. Luc feels a hand dragging her down to the bottom of the lake… When she surfaces, her reality is different. She’s haunted by tormented mice, shape-shifting shadows and her own vicious thoughts. As she hunts for answers through this upside-down world, she comes dangerously close to the secret she tried to bury.

Papatango & Offie Winner Tom Powell’s breath-taking new thriller Surfacing, examines hallucinations, neurodivergence, and the state of mental health care. With innovative creative captioning and haunting music, the production uses new motion sensor technology to create responsive light and sound, evoking a very real and lived experience of disassociation.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

The Boy At The Back Of The Class – 7-11 May at 10am/2&7pm

Told from a child’s perspective, balancing heart and humour, The Boy at the Back of the Class highlights the power of friendship and kindness in a world that doesn’t always make sense and reminds us that everyone needs a place to call home.

There used to be an empty chair at the back of the class, but now a new boy called Ahmet is sitting in it. He’s nine years old (just like me), but he’s very strange. He never talks and never smiles and doesn’t like sweets – not even lemon sherbets, which are my favourite!

After learning that he has fled his own war-torn country, Ahmet’s classmates have ‘The Greatest Idea in the World’ – a magnificent plan to reunite Ahmet with his family. An unexpected and often hilarious adventure follows all topped off with a terrific twist.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

What the Butler Saw – Tue 14 – Sat 18 May

What the Butler Saw is Joe Orton’s final, most ambitious play, manic farce and a masterclass in fearless comic writing. No institution, political view or tradition is safe, as Orton focuses his wicked sense of humour on a range of targets, including the establishment, an ex-Prime Minister, cross-dressing, misogyny and the medical profession. Orton brings together an array of distinctive characters, placing them in a series of improbable situations, unflinchingly exploring comic territory few playwrights before or since have dared to visit.

Within the pristine walls of his private psychiatric clinic, Doctor Prentice is interviewing a new secretary. Geraldine wants the position but seems underqualified and uncertain about her parentage. Mrs Prentice appears, flushed and in urgent need of a drink, following an illicit encounter with Nick Beckett, blackmailer and bell boy at the Station Hotel. In the meantime, Doctor Rance, a Government Inspector and Sergeant Match, a policeman, arrive amidst increasing chaos with searching questions of their own.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

Beyond the Barricade – Sun 19 May at 7.30pm

Beyond the Barricade is proud to be celebrating its 25th Anniversary in 2024. The UK’s longest-running Musical Theatre Concert Tour delivers over two hours of the best of Broadway and the West End, from The Phantom of the Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, West Side Story, The Lion King, Blood Brothers, Miss Saigon, Hamilton and many others, climaxing with a spectacular finale from, of course, Les Misérables! This brand new show will include many of the best numbers that have made Beyond the Barricade the most popular musical theatre concert in the country.

The concert tour will feature Andy Reiss, David Fawcett, Katie Leeming and Sarah Ryan who have all played principal roles in both the West End and UK Tours of Les Misérables, together with a live band who capture the feel of the original orchestrations of the chosen musicals. To this day every musical note is still played and sung live – very rare indeed. Beyond the Barricade gives musical theatre songs a bold concert format treatment – but with the conviction and intention to deliver the material as if the audience are watching the original performance.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch – Tues 21 – Sat 25 May

Fresh from complete sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and around the UK comes this critically acclaimed smash hit parody musical. Starring Shawna Hamic (Orange is the New Black, 1776 on Broadway) as ‘Ursula’ and River Medway (RuPaul’s Drag Race UK) as ‘Ariel’, Unfortunate is coming to Blackpool and things are gonna get wet!

Join everyone’s favourite Disney Diva, Ursula, as she gives her take on what really happened all those years ago under the sea. With an original hot pop soundtrack and trademark filthy humour, it’s time to take the plunge and dive into this year’s hottest night out.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

The Searchers – Sun 26 May at 7.30pm

Don`t miss your very last chance to catch the final appearance of a truly legendary band. Appropriately the tour, at the request of The Searchers themselves, has been given a title. THANK YOU. The Searchers are proud and grateful to all their followers and fans who have supported them over the years for a wonderful and successful career.

Their concerts are packed with their chart hits and more, which have made them a major attraction in theatres across the U.K. Sweets For My Sweet, Needles & Pins, When You Walk In The Room, Goodbye My Love, Don`t Throw Your Love Away, Sugar & Spice, What Have They Done To The Rain. Just a selection of their thirteen entries into the British charts. Songs that are the soundtrack to our lives.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

Sound of Springsteen – Wed 29 May at 7.30pm

Celebrate 40 years since the iconic ‘Born in the USA’  album was first released with the world-class theatre production THE SOUND OF SPRINGSTEEN. Experience the pure rock ‘n’ roll euphoria of Bruce Springsteen as this outstanding show brings his iconic sound to life taking you on a musical journey through the incredible catalogue from ‘Greetings from Asbury Park’  to 2020’s ‘Ghosts’  via the legendary hits ‘Born in the USA’  and ‘Born to Run’.

From high-octane vocals to the phenomenal stage production, every detail is meticulously crafted to transport you back to the golden age of rock ‘n’ roll. Whether you’re a lifetime Springsteen fan or discovering his music for the first time, you will be captivated by the thundering guitars, iconic saxophone and powerful lyrics that defined generations.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

Jurassic Live – 30 May – 1 June at 3 & 5pm

The Jurassic Live World Tour arrives in Blackpool! See our life-sized, monstrous beasts up close in this award-winning spectacular. Exclusively featuring the world’s only Mosasaur, the world’s last flying Pterodactyl and more dinosaur species than any other show on Earth! Jurassic Live is the UK’s most interactive theatre show where audiences become part of the dinosaur adventure.

Jurassic Live takes you on a musical journey as you join little Amber, Ranger Joe, Ranger Nora & the rest of the Jurassic Live rangers to help save the day from an evil man who is trying to shut down the Jurassic facility. With lots of audience participation and fun with your favourite comedic rangers on stage alongside dinosaur favourites such as Trixie the Triceratops, Herbie the Stegosaurus, Nessie the Apatosaurus, Rocky the Velociraptor, Bash the Stigimoloch and Suzie.. the world’s largest Tyrannosaurus Rex and many more!

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

Count Arthur Strong… And it’s Goodnight from Him – Sun 2 Jun at 8pm

Join Arthur for this never to be forgotten start to his farewell tour in… Count Arthur Strong… And It’s Goodnight From Him! Having consulted with top Harley Street specialists, the St Anne’s Jombulance Brigade and Professor Twitty, that did covid, (the bald one), Count Arthur Strong has decided to gradually phase in his farewell tour over a yet-to-be-specified number of parts, because of the likelihood of people doing ‘Cold Turkey’ in theatres over him.

Whilst partial, himself to the odd bit of cold turkey, it is banned in most theatre auditoriums, apart from in the northeast, because of it getting trodden into the carpets etc, and the cumulative smell. The management would appreciate your co-operation in this matter.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

Moby Dick – 4-5 Jun at 7.30pm

“It’s true. It’s all true for Moby Dick. He’s a killer, he’s a fury, he’s an angel of hell. Why if the white whale could talk he’d talk like Ahab.” In search of fortune and adventure, Ishmael, a humble schoolmaster, ships on the Pequod, a whaleboat sailing out of Nantucket. The skipper, one Captain Ahab, charges his crew to wreak revenge on the white whale that lost him his leg – the infamous Moby-Dick. Ahab’s single-minded pursuit consumes Ishmael, the crew and the Pequod itself.

The spirit and atmosphere of Herman Melville’s masterpiece – romantic, ambiguous, and rich with allegory – is gloriously captured on stage by Simple8. Using some planks of wood, tattered sheets and an old accordion, the hunt for the most famous whale on earth is ingeniously brought to life.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

The Best of Queen – The Break Free Tour – Fri 7 Jun at 730pm

Get ready to Break Free with the UK’s biggest Queen Tribute band – Majesty, in a brand-new show – The Best of Queen The Break Free Tour! Join Freddie, Brian, Roger and John as they take you on a magical journey performing The Best of Queen, whilst celebrating the music and showmanship of the UK’s favourite rock band.

From Queen’s early beginnings with Bohemian Rhapsody, to their sell out concerts at Wembley Stadium, you’ll experience highlights from Queen’s extraordinary musical performances, whilst you relive the spellbinding atmosphere that Queen delivered over their illustrious career.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

Red Hot Chilli Pipers – Sat 8 Jun at 7.30pm

There has never been anything quite like The Red Hot Chilli Pipers, from their formation in 2002 and a cameo appearance at T in the Park in 2004 with the Darkness to opening the main stage in their own right in 2014. The past twenty years have seen the Red Hot Chilli Pipers become the most famous bagpipe band on the planet…ever! Bagpipes with attitude, drums with a Scottish accent and a show that leaves people with warm hearts and smiles on their faces.

In 2024 the band will embark on a world tour to celebrate their 20th anniversary. The tour will be accompanied by the release of a first Best Of Live album in the Spring of 2023, featuring new recordings of all their best loved tunes and songs.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

The Carpenters Story – Sun 9 Jun at 7.30pm

The Carpenters Story is a musical journey through the glittering career of pop’s most famous brother and sister duo. This highly acclaimed production continues to captivate audiences across the UK with its spectacular celebration of the classic songbook that made The Carpenters a legend in the world of popular music, selling over 100 million albums and singles.

This brand new show for 2024 once again features the outstanding vocal talents of Claire Furley, with Musical Director Phil Aldridge leading The Carpenters Story band as they re-create Richard Carpenter’s original orchestral arrangements. Featuring all of the Carpenters hit songs.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

Bowie Live – Tues 11 Jun at 7.30pm

Bowie Live’s unrivalled portrayal of David Bowie’s music and live performance will transport you back through space and time from 1976 to 2004, to the Bowie shows we dreamed of seeing. This celebration of Bowie’s music and performance is illuminated by a backdrop of intense visuals all drawn from Bowie’s rich body of work from Space Oddity to Lazarus.

With incendiary and stunningly accurate live performances of David Bowie’s greatest records, join us on this imaginary trip – just for one day with Bowie Live

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

The Glenn Miller and Big Band Spectacular – Weds 12 Jun at 7.30pm

Now in our 3rd year of the Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular, the Moonlight Serenade Orchestra UK returns to the Grand Theatre, Blackpool showcasing the music that filled the dancehalls during the 30s, 40s and 50s

Million seller numbers from Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra and more are brought to life by a 16-piece big band that really swings. Fronted by our charismatic bandleader Kevin Cunningham the MSO UK will have your feet tapping and even enjoying a sing-along in a tribute to the Forces Sweetheart, Dame Vera Lynn.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

The Simon and Garfunkel Story – Thurs 13 Jun at 7.30pm

Few shows have experienced the phenomenal global success of The Simon & Garfunkel Story, with multiple sold-out shows in over 50-countries worldwide and over 20 headline performances in London’s West End, including multiple appearances at the world-famous London Palladium.

Using huge projection photos and original film footage, the international hit show tells the story of the origins and meteoric rise of Simon & Garfunkel blended together seamlessly with a full live band performing all the hits including Mrs Robinson, Cecilia, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Homeward Bound and many more.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

Peppa Pig’s Fun Day Out – 15 & 16 Jun at 10am, 1 & 4pm

Peppa Pig is back in her oinktastic brand new live show, Fun Day Out! Join Peppa, along with her family and friends as they go to the zoo and also the beach for a special party- it’s going to be an exciting and fun packed day.

Prepare to sing and dance with colourful scarecrows, feed the penguins, build big sandcastles, and even swim in the sea! Packed full of songs, dance and muddy puddles, Peppa’s Fun Day Out guarantees giggles and snorts for all Peppa Pig fans, and a perfect introduction to theatre.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

Uncanny: I Know What I Saw – Mon 17 Jun at 7.30pm

Due to PHENOMENAL demand, the sell-out hit show Uncanny : I Know What I Saw with Danny Robins is back in 2024! In 2023 Danny asked the questions – do ghosts exist? And if not, why do we see them?

25,000 people at theatres across the country came to find out the answers, in the biggest live investigation into the paranormal. Ever. You now have another chance to join Danny and his team of experts for this terrifying and thought-provoking evening, featuring chilling real-life stories of the supernatural experienced by ordinary people from ordinary places, brought to life on stage through thrilling theatrical invention in a mix of projection, sound and spellbinding storytelling.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

The Rolling Stones Story – Thurs 27 Jun at 7.30pm

The Rolling Stones Story promises you an unforgettable Jumpin’ Jack Flash back in time. It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll, but we like it!

The Rolling Stones have dominated Rock ’n’ Roll music since the 1960s and were at the forefront of the British Invasion of bands that conquered the US in 1964. They ran neck and neck with The Beatles in the popularity stakes with the late sixties and early seventies considered by many as their Golden Age. Their live shows are legendary and The Stones musical legacy is up there with the very best. They’ve recorded some of the most phenomenal Rock ‘n’ Roll songs of all time – Satisfaction, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Not Fade Away, Honky Tonk Woman, Brown Sugar, Start Me Up…to name just a few.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

Thick & Tight: Tits & Teeth – Fri 28 Jun at 7.30pm

Thick & Tight are touring the UK with Tits & Teeth, the best bits of their back catalogue from their sell-out shows at London International Mime Festival 2023.

Mixing ballet and contemporary dance with drag, satire, mime and lip-syncing, Tits & Teeth is a variety show like no other. TITS & TEETH: A retrospective of a dazzling career. Presented by Queer Amusements, Blackpool Grand Theatre and Marlborough Productions. Performed portraits of famous and infamous people will appear before you. Catch a hilarious double-headed Barbara Cartland and an imagined meeting between modernist composer John Cage and musical theatre legend Elaine Paige. They are joined by some all-time favourites; Rasputin, Grace Jones, Dame Margot Fonteyn and a Kathak-dancing Winston Churchill. Don’t know these amazing cultural figures? You soon will! See them at Blackpool Grand as part of their whirlwind tour.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

Steve Steinman’s Love Hurts – Sat 29 Jun at 7.30pm

Love Hurts – Power Ballads and Anthems. From the producers of Anything For Love & Vampires Rock, this brand-new show features a powerhouse cast of amazing singers, dancers and 7 piece live band. You’re guaranteed the night of your life, rocking out to some of the greatest power ballads and anthems of all time!

Including tracks from Queen, Heart, Whitesnake, Billy Idol, Aerosmith, Tina Turner, Cutting Crew, Boston, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Rainbow, Van Halen, Europe, Extreme and many more.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS – Call the Box Office on 01253 290 190. (Please mention you saw it on Visit Fylde Coast!)  or visit the website

Blackpool is the home of entertainment

Presiding over it is the ‘Grand’ Old Lady. From opera, ballet and Shakespeare to variety, musicals and comedy giants. The Grand Theatre caters for every age, pocket and personality.

Go into the Victorian auditorium of the Blackpool Grand Theatre and you’ll understand what ‘the glorious Grand’ means. This Frank Matcham designed masterpiece offers ornate, gilded plasterwork, baroque ceiling and cavorting cherubs. The cantilevered balconies give every seat a clear view of the stage.

125 Glorious Years!

The Grade II* listed Grand Theatre celebrated its 125th Birthday in 2019. The doors opened on 23 July 1894 – now one of the few surviving examples of the work of Frank Matcham.

The Grand Theatre has hosted a multitude of stars since its opening. From Lily Langtree to Michael Macintyre, Gracie Fields to Ken Dodd, Arthur Askey to Lee Evans…and the list goes on!

Photo: Sean Conboy

It attracts the very best in award-winning touring companies. Including The National Theatre, English Touring Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Opera and Ballet International and the Russian State Ballet.

A varied programme

It’s a programme of quality drama, comedy, dance and children’s theatre at The Grand Theater Blackpool. They also play host to the outstanding talents of local performers from groups across Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde.

By the early 1960s theatres across Britain were closing due to loss of audience to television. In July 1972 the then owners, the Tower Company, applied for permission to demolish it. In its place they proposed to build a department store. By then, the theatre is listed as a Grade II* building. So there had to be a full public enquiry.

Early in 1973 the Friends of the Grand Theatre was formed. After legal and financial wrangling, together with EMI and the local council, put together a deal. It involved leasing the theatre for £10,000 per annum and final purchase for £250,000.

• Find out more about the history of this amazing building here

Grand Returns to its Original Footprint – for the first time in more than 40 years

The Friends of The Grand, after thirty-five years of fundraising, have, at last, achieved their long-held ambition to return the Grand Theatre to its original architectural footprint.

When Frank Matcham, the famous Victorian theatre designer, was commissioned to create the Grand Theater Blackpool in 1893 its owner, Thomas Sergenson, briefed him to incorporate a number of small shops on Church Street into the design.

However, back in 1981, when the Friends purchased the Grade II* listed building from the then owners, EMI, these units were not included in the sale. Ever since, the Friends have been saving in a special fund for the day when it might be possible to buy them.

Well, that day has come and John Buck, Chairman of the Friends of the Grand said “it’s like a dream come true. We’ve been saving for this day for years; selling raffle tickets, lapel badges, holding coffee mornings and, even as recently as April we received a bequest from our long-serving Treasurer, Alan Sears, who sadly died earlier this year. It came with the specific instruction that it should only be spent of the purchase of the shops. Alan will be smiling down on us this day”.

Reopening The Grand Theater Blackpool

John was one of the original group who raised the money to save the theatre from demolition in 1973.  Along with other passionate and dedicated Friends, he cleaned, repaired and painted in their spare time. They got the building back on its feet ready for its reopening and dedication from HRH The Prince of Wales in 1981.

“We were invited to buy the shops back in the 1990’s” remembers John. “But, back then, the owners wanted more than a million pounds for them. We thought we’d never be able to raise that much. And we were right! Obviously, times have changed, and, thankfully, we’ve been able raise enough to buy them for less than half that price”. With the purchase complete, the deeds of the properties will be donated to the Grand Theatre Trust. The heritage conservation charity which owns and cares for this beautiful historic building.

Roger Lloyd Jones is Chairman of the Trust. He said “there are many, many people who have made this wonderful purchase possible. I would like to thank everyone who has helped. The theatre is now 122 years old and, as you can imagine, needs constant care and attention. We hope the shops will prove an asset to the theatre. It’s a small but much-needed rental income to be re-invested in the upkeep of this precious architectural gem”.

The Friends of the Grand is a registered Charity.

The Friends of the Grand volunteer their services as Front of House staff, envelope-stuffers and runners of the theatre’s coffee stall. Last year, they provided 13,174 hours of voluntary service for the theatre at a value of £88,000.