Blackpool Urban Area
Greater Blackpool is the informal name for the urban area surrounding Blackpool in Lancashire, England. The ONS define a Blackpool Built-up Area or Blackpool Urban Area, with a population of 239,409 in 2011 this is considerably down on the 2001 population of 261,088 mainly due to Fleetwood no longer being considered as part of the built-up area. The population of the Blackpool Urban Area has been declining for some time with the 2001 population down 0.1% from the 1991 figure of 261,355.
Blackpool
Blackpool rose to prominence and as a major centre of tourism in England when a railway was built in the 1840s connecting it to the industrialised regions of Northern England. The railway made it much easier and cheaper for visitors to reach Blackpool, triggering an influx of settlers, such that in 1876 Blackpool was incorporated as a borough, governed by its own town council and aldermen. In 1881, Blackpool was a booming resort with a population of 14,000 and a promenade complete with piers, fortune-tellers, public houses, trams, donkey rides, fish-and-chip shops and theatres. By 1901 the population of Blackpool was 47,000, by which time its place was cemented as "the archetypal British seaside resort". By 1951 it had grown to 147,000.