It was once a popular destination for families from Liverpool
Oliver Radcliffe GAU Writer
10:00, 26 Sep 2025
Frontierland in Morecambe was loved across the region(Image: Christian Solar (CC SA 4.0) | https://www.solars.de/cgi-bin/p.pl/parks/altegalerie/frontierland.html)
When you ponder on theme parks, your mind might drift to the city-sized parks of Disney World in Florida, or perhaps the closer-to-home thrills of Alton Towers and Thorpe Park. However, just two decades ago, a greater number of theme parks dotted our coastlines and countryside.
While the Lancashire coast still echoes with rollercoaster screams, kilos of candyfloss and the clatter of rides on tracks at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, one spot just up the coast has its thrills frozen in time, deserted and left to decay.
While thousands may harbour childhood memories from family days out, now all that remains of those days at one park are the memories. Coastal Lancashire boasts its fair share of charm, and Morecambe in particular has captured many hearts for decades.
Its promenade, vintage amusements, and views across the bay continue to attract people from miles around. But beneath that familiar seaside postcard, there are corners of the town that feel as though they belong to a completely different era, and one such place is Frontierland.
Families used to flock to Frontierland in Morecambe (Image: Christian Solar (CC SA 4.0) | https://www.solars.de/cgi-bin/p.pl/parks/altegalerie/frontierland.html)
First opening its park gates back in 1987 following the redevelopment of Morecambe Pleasure Park, Frontierland proclaimed itself as one of the first “genuine” theme parks in the UK. It was owned by Geoffrey Thomson, managing director of the more popular Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Pleasureland Southport, reports the Mirror.
It provided log flumes, a Wild West theme, rollercoasters and cable cars, offering a vibrant getaway for countless families across the generations.
The location had operated as a theme park of some description since 1906, and it previously featured a timber rollercoaster named the Cyclone, which was designed and constructed by American engineer Harry Traver in 1937 for the Paris World Exposition.
A subsequent addition was a 150-foot Big Wheel, which had to be swiftly dismantled in 1982 due to complaints from neighbours.
However, as footfall kept declining at the attraction, and in Morecambe more broadly, the park opted to start scaling back operations just 10 years after opening, and merely two years afterwards, in 2000, it would close permanently.
Frontierland in Morecambe now lies abandoned(Image: Christian Solar (CC SA 4.0) | https://www.solars.de/cgi-bin/p.pl/parks/altegalerie/frontierland.html)
Numerous rides were either demolished or relocated to Thompson’s two other venues.
The “Rattler” was transferred to the Pleasure Beach, whilst “The Wild Mouse” and “Chair-o-Plans were relocated to the Southport location, which would also shut down in 2006.
For the following two decades, the remainder of the park stayed abandoned, frozen in time and gradually deteriorating into wasteland.
Following years of abandonment, Lancaster City Council purchased the location in 2021 and has called upon interested parties to put forward proposals for its future.
Earlier this year, reports emerged that the town council was examining development plans.
Despite 35 developers expressing interest in pursuing Frontierland concepts and being ready to submit proposals and bids to the council, no updates have been announced, meaning much of the park remains there as a relic of bygone days.