By Road to The Fun of the Fair
Page 48
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Coach Travel has Done Much to Stimulate Attendances at Belle Vue Gardens, Manchester, and Parties Frequently Arrive by Road from Places as Far Apart as Birmingham and Carlisle
ONE day last autumn, members of the Manchester City Police might have been seen counting the numbers of coaches parked on open spaces and in the cul-de-sacs of the Longsight area. Usually, when policemen show an interest in parking questions, there is trouble for somebody, but oft this occasion the coaches had been laid•by under police supervision.
When they had totted up to • something over 1,700 vehicles, the police knew it was a record gathering and that passengers by road to Manchester's Belle Vue Gardens had exceeded all previous figures. However, this was not surprising, for it was the height of the firework season, a period of special attractions at this resort, which modestly proclaims itself as the " Showground of the World—the Venue that Has Everything."
250,000 Pleasure-seekers
For the past 112 years—from the time of the establishment of a little zoo and hotel—northern holiday-makers , have been coming to Belle Vue, but since the advent of road transport its circle of visitors has spread ever wider, until to-day one may regularly see coach parties arriving from all over the West Riding, Liverpool, Wales, Birmingham, Newark, Hull and Carlisle. Coach services have helped materially to step up daily attendances until the record gate now stands at over 250,000.
Incidentally, Belle Vue has an all-theyear round season. Fireworks are maintained until late in the autumn, and the circus—for which parties come from .Sheffield, Liverpool, Nottingham, and places within a like radius—is the star attraction of winter-time.
• This volume of coach business has not resulted solely from the enterprise of passenger transport operators. It has come about largely as a result of the careful cultivation of this field by the Belle Vue authorities.
Apart from extensive advertising in newspapers all over the north-west, regular direct contact is maintained with well over 400 transport operators, both large and small, throughout the North and Midlands. Large and attractive posters have been specially designed for use by the coach operator, and depict some of the most popular amusements that this great rendezvous offers, among them being the giant coaster, the speedway, boxing, wrestling, rugby football, the zoo, and the model railway. Fresh editions, together with guide books, are sent out at fixed intervals.
In consequence of the advertising campaign, many operators receive requests for arrangements to be made for private parties. Where the coach proprietor makes arrangements in advance, he can obtain greatly reduced prices for admission, in addition to securing tickets for the various shows in time for distribution before departure. Menus for meals are quoted in advance, and seats can be booked for such entertainments as wrestling and the speedway.
Most of the long-distance parties arrive in time for luncheon and stay for tea. There are over a dozen cafes and restaurants, with a total seating capacity of about 6,000. As visitors pass the entrance, they can see before them the coach board, which indicates the Meal arrangements for all parties of the day, together with places, times, and the number of persons for whom provision is to be made.
All the attendants at the various gates are ready to admit parties and to instruct drivers regarding the facilities available. There is, of course, free parking, and the driver is first directed to the Long. sight coach park. On his return he is able to obtain free-meal tickets, by means of which he secures dinner and tea in exactly the same type of restaurant as his passengers. During his free time he is able to enjoy the same kind of recreational facility,
Police Supervision Parking is supervised by the Manchester City Police and is arranged so that there is no risk of vehicles becoming hemmed in. Even works parties a 2,000 people and more can move away in good order.
People of all kinds find entertainment at Belle Vile, for there they may enjoy band contests or boxing, celebrity concerts or the circus, a grocers' exhibition or the ghost train, a poultry show of a public meeting, scenic railway or speedway, textile exhibition or table tennis. They may spend hours in the zoo or they (5,000 of them, in fact) may dance in the Coronation Ballroom, or . just stroll in the Belle Vue Gardens, with their tens of thousands of beautiful flowers.
Wherever they go, visitors meet people from far and wide, brought there by the coaches of many colours that stand, rank upon rank, in the park.