Luke Marsden: ​we need more family thrills and spills closer to home

Back in high school we were lucky to have trips to Alton Towers but I wasn’t a thrill-seeker like I am now, so I hardly went on any rides.

Some 20 years later I basically toured the entire park with my mates, hopping on the new Nemesis Reborn over four times.

We decided to plan our lads’ trip post-Easer holidays to miss the crowds and my top tip for Wiganers looking to get a quiet day in the park, is that they should do exactly the same.

Ultimately, like most things, Alton Towers has turned into a cash-extracting machine. From the cost of the tickets to the prices of drinks in the hotel bar, it is all designed to get us tapping our credit cards until we are tapped out.

However, what’s the alternative? If you’re looking for the ultimate theme park experience in the UK, Alton Towers has to be it. Sadly Blackpool Pleasure Beach hasn’t actually pleased me in a very long time: it feels tired and dated.

If you’re a family with young children and want to have a full day out experience you’ve no choice but to leave Wigan. Once you’ve visited the usual sites, what else is there to do? How many times can you visit a farm?I’m not saying another theme park should be constructed in the North West and we don’t seem to build anything anymore in Wigan, just bulldoze it down, but we need better places to go for days out.

Blackpool is at a crossroads between poverty and trying to be the next Manchester and the future for Wigan remains very uncertain.

But we need to up our game. Four lads from Wigan shouldn’t have to flock elsewhere for a day of thrill-seeking and expensive drinks.

If I wanted London prices, I would’ve gone to London. Overall though, I did come away smiling but that’s because The Smiler does remain the best ride in the UK, for now…