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Illuminations 'have become an art vanity project'

Andy Mitchellin Blackpool
News imageVisitBlackpool General shot of Blackpool Illuminations at night, with an array of lights in many different colours.VisitBlackpool
The Blackpool Illuminations will light up the town until 4 January 2026

Blackpool Illuminations are no longer "fun, scintillating and exciting", the leader of the town's Conservatives has claimed.

Councillor Paul Galley said there had been too much emphasis in recent years on "gigantic art projects" - led by designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen - rather than on the resort's traditional tableaux.

The lights are "more designed to support the personality and the vanity projects of a former TV star that seems to run them and is obsessed with all things art", said Galley.

But the Labour-run council's leader Lynn Williams said people were still coming to see the Illuminations in their thousands and Llewelyn-Bowen had been a major supporter and promoter of the annual display.

News imageLDRS Councillor Paul Galley stands on a green-liveried tram in a workshop wearing a yellow high-vis vest over a black fleece. With dark, centre-parted hair and wearing glasses, he smiles for the camera.LDRS
Councillor Paul Galley said the Illuminations "no longer reach to our inner five-year-old"

"We've seen examples of where there's Illuminations of celebrities' dogs - who's asked for this?" Galley said.

"What market research is being carried out as to what the visitors or the residents of Blackpool want?"

Once described as "artificial sunshine", the Illuminations - first staged in 1879 - are one of the biggest and longest-running light-based festivals in the world, reportedly attracting more than 12 million visitors a year.

They extend nearly seven miles (11km) along the Promenade, starting at Squires Gate and finishing at Red Bank Road.

More than a million LEDs feature in the Illuminations.

The features are made using a variety of methods, combining 3D printing with traditional metalcraft and woodwork.

News imageJames Mountford/BBC Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, dressed in a multi-patterned green jacket and black shirt, has long brown hair and a beard with grey tufts. He is standing either side of images of two spaniels wearing royal costumes.James Mountford/BBC
Blackpool Illuminations creative curator Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen

Galley said recent years' displays "no longer reach to our inner five-year-old".

He added: "We have an amazing archive of all the former Illuminations, so let's open those archives.

"We don't need to get former TV celebrities up and dominate with their own personalities.

"We need to look at what worked in the past and bring the best of the past back."

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