Kiddie Funfair: Mablethorpe

~ beetleypete

At the end of the season, there were few takers for these gentle rides at the rather sad-looking funfair.

(Both photos can be enlarged by clickling on them.)

These attractions have changed very little since I enjoyed them as a child in the 1950s. Only the paintwork is different.
(And the cost per ride of course)

I have warm nostalgia for British seaside towns, and don’t mind at all that some are unchanged.

42 thoughts on “Kiddie Funfair: Mablethorpe”

  4. We have many small fairs in local towns that bring in rides very similar to these. Little kids are just thrilled to be going around in a little car or boat or airplane. They don’t care if it is out dated.

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  8. Picture #1: I see Barbie has both a car and a plane. I hope she’s a better pilot than she is a driver. She once ran into the back of a Kenworth on the highway.
    Picture #2: How come Vera Dodds isn’t in charge of the Monster Jam? She may be dead already, but she could have come to work aboard the Ghost Train.

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  10. My only experience with seaside rides was Myrtle Beach South Carolina when my kids were young. Roller coasters and the like. I like the more reasonable scale of the rides in your photos. I don’t, however, like the price. Warmest regards, Theo

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  13. The local area council organised free fairgrounds for the younger kids, they moved from village to village, set up on playgrounds and everyone was welcome. Three bouncy castle \ slides, paddle boats in a giant inflatable pond, trampolines, and merry go-rounds. Hand sanitiser at regular intervals and a clean down of all the rides every hour. I managed to attend two, I made my excuses for the third nearby location 🙂 The only money that changed hand was at the food and drink stalls 🙂

    I once worked at Winter Gardens fair in Morecombe for the school summer holidays and worked the Hook-a-duck stall before getting promoted to the Ghost Train. This was in the early eighties and the rides worked out at about 20p if you bought the £2 book of tickets 🙂

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  14. We have a couple of rides permanently stationed [or, perhaps, more correctly: shoe-horned] on a small patch called The Battery, bordering the beach on Whitby’s west side; at the moment, there is a furore ensuing because a café behind this area has fenced off a section, and the locals are up in arms! The rides look similar to the ones in your photos; they are supplemented all up the west pier for a few days in August [not this year, of course] by a mêlée of riotous colour & noise, when Regatta comes to town. I tend to steer clear, although I have watched the closing firework display with my daughters a few times. Cheers, Jon.

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  16. “ (And the cost per ride of course)” Yeah….those costs probably quadruppled if not more. That said I always like funfairs, and this one while of course it is late in the season, still looks pretty nice. Some things should never change Pete! 😊😊

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    1. It cost pennies to ride when I was young, and is now £1 a ride. I would imagine that parents with a few kids staying in a very cheap and downmarket holiday resort will have problems constanly paying out for rides all day. Probably why most of them were on the beach enjoying free fun. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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