Birley Street in Blackpool Town Centre

Birley Street is at the heart of Blackpool Town Centre. The short pedestrianised area is home to bars, outdoor seating and those big arches!

Birley Street in Blackpool Town Centre

The Mayor of Blackpool opened the newly pedestrianised Birley Street on 1 May 1996. It’s another one of the old streets of Blackpool, dating as far back as 1828. In this page we’ll take a look at it as it is today, and some interesting secrets from its past.

We’ve made a couple of videos of the street, each a few years apart, so it will be interesting to see how the area changes over time. This is the most recent one, filmed in March 2026:

Filmed back in February 2021, the next video is actually from the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. See how the streets were deserted, as everyone is told to stay at home.

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Where is it?

Birley Street is between West Street and Abingdon Street – almost across from the entrance to Abingdon Street Market. See the red pin on the map below. Click on the map to explore –

What’s at Birley Street?

At the crossroads of West, Corporation and Birley Streets is the Rose and Crown Inn, opened back in 1845 as the Crown Inn. Along Birley Street you’ll find a selection of different cafes and bars, all with outdoor seating underneath the arches. We’ve visited a few of them over the years, to make food review videos. Here’s a few:

Have you seen the Conch Shells? The sculptural seats were made by artist Philip Bews, he was commissioned to make them in 1997. They’re one of many pieces of public art in and around Blackpool.

Brilliance Arches

It’s not an alien landing from some far away Galaxy! The huge steel arches at Birley Street are the Brilliance installation – to create a sound and light show!

Brilliance was officially switch on on 13 December 2009. The six illuminated arches, project images and play music at night. In the daytime they’re an interesting feature to the outdoor eating area. In the above video from March 2026 we’ve even managed to catch them playing music!

Birley Street Back in the Day

Did you know? Most of the land that’s now Birley Street and Church Street was a large orchard?

But the orchards of 1825 were to change, with the formation of a new grass path, laid out in 1828, from the promenade to St John’s Church. Covered in gravel it became Birley Street – named after Thomas Birley of Kirkham.

He was one of the trustees of the William Gaulter Charity – which became Lytham Schools Charities in 1773. In 1754, the charity bought land in and around the hamlet of Blackpool for £500. They were big investors of the day, people willing to take a risk with their own money. Just like todays investors risk their own money on projects in Blackpool today.

The Rose and Crown has seen some changes over the years. Originally the Crown Inn, it’s had various names and uses over the years. It was only in 1988 when the name was lengthened to ‘Rose and Crown’. At one time there was even a private cinema upstairs, with seating for 100.

Keep your eyes open when you walk through these old streets of Blackpool. Look up and around to see lots of decorative features. Like this 1897 ornamental date plaque above one of the buildings at Birley Street –

Other streets to explore…

There’s all kinds of interesting things to explore in Blackpool town centre. Visit shops, businesses, attractions, cafes and pubs of today. Keep an eye out for traces of the past as you walk around…

• Look around Cedar Square, the area to the right of St John’s Church
• Explore Church Street – from the sea past The Grand, M&S and the Winter Gardens
• Corporation Street – bisects Birley Street and West Street
• And Market Street also cuts across West Street
• St Johns Square – the area between the church and Winter Gardens front entrance
• Take a look at Talbot Square – opposite North Pier
• The first street in our videos above is West Street

And there’s much, much more to explore! MANY THANKS to Nick Moore and his fascinating History of Blackpool for historical information used in this page.