Cast iron piers reach out from a seafront road, with Blackpool Tower overlooking the promenade.
What Golden Mile looks like
The Golden Mile is the 1.7-mile stretch of promenade between the and the . stands on the inland side near and overlooks the promenade and esplanade. The Tower rises 158 metres from a red-brick base three storeys high, and the Tower Circus sits between its four legs. The steel tower is usually painted dark red.
Three piers have their entrances on the esplanade. North Pier runs out at right angles into the sea, more or less level with the promenade. Central Pier is built mostly of cast iron with wooden decking, and a 33-metre Ferris wheel stands on it.
The , designed by Gordon Young, lies in the esplanade opposite the Tower. The Illuminations run the full length of the esplanade and the promenade.
The piers hold bars and amusement arcades. The theatre on North Pier is in an Art Deco style. The promenade is part of the A584 road.
Shot in Golden Mile
The Netflix series Stay Close and the film Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children both filmed at the piers. In the film, the modern pier with the Ferris wheel is Central Pier, edited with digital effects. The levitation scene was shot in the Blackpool Tower Circus. The film's seafront is a collage of the real town rather than one continuous place.
Stay Close, 2021
Central Pier
Played Livingstone, a fictional English town
Establishing shots for Livingstone, the fictional town, were mostly filmed in Blackpool for the Netflix series. The Central Pier appears several times. The series keeps the Tower out of every scene. Street View
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
North Pier
Played 1940s
The 1940s pier where the children land is the North Pier, without its last wider tip. The CGI team moved it across the street from the Tower, and in the real town it stands more than a thousand feet away. Street View
Coney Island's Riegelmann Boardwalk runs along the beach, set back about 1,000 feet from Surf Avenue. Its Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone coaster give the beachfront a fairground skyline, as the Golden Mile's funfair does. The Tower and the iron piers give the Golden Mile away, so frame the rides and the sand without them. A tight frame on a ride front keeps the promenade road out of shot. Try searching beachfront fairground now.
Luna Park's entrance, a face flanked by two towers, stands on the foreshore at the Lower Esplanade. Its Scenic Railway and carousel make a seafront fairground that the Golden Mile's funfair can stand in for. The Esplanade's trams and the bay give Melbourne away in a wide frame, so shoot tighter on the entrance front. Try searching seafront fairground entrance now.
