Temporalities of contingency: hope and play in amusement arcades of Blackpool

Whether in film, media rhetoric, or academia, Blackpool is a myriad of things in the British imaginary, often depicted as nostalgic, childlike, and dreamy, as well as a tacky, tawdry holiday of spectacle and intoxication. On the other hand, the Financial Times has described Blackpool as 'economically and physically unwell' (O'Connor, 2017). Most…