Princes Way Promenade

Princes Way is the seafront promenade road, going south from Cleveleys to Blackpool. Technically it’s in the borough of Blackpool, but it feels like it’s part of Cleveleys.

Princes Way Promenade

Princes Way is the very last piece of Blackpool Promenade as you get to Promenade South at Cleveleys. The boundary between the boroughs is at Kingsway. Cleveleys is in the Borough of Wyre, part of Lancashire County Council. Blackpool is a unitary authority. Princes Way is parallel to Queen’s Promenade and the tramway, at the landward side of Anchorsholme Park.

Where Cleveleys meets Blackpool

It was back in 2010 when building works completed at the new stepped sea defence at Cleveleys. The steps end at the boundary with Blackpool, near to the shipwreck memorial on the promenade (below).

On the landward side of the sea wall there’s a little pumping station building. There’s also a slight hump in the road – that’s part of the sea defences and stops floodwater from running along the highway.

Speaking of shipwrecks, it’s also where you’ll see the remains of the Abana at low tide. Look towards the top of the Shipwreck Memorial and you’ll also find it listed on there.

The new sea wall in Blackpool is a different design to the stepped one at Cleveleys. Concrete revetments and wave breaker units form the design of the wall at Princes Way, Anchorsholme. You can see a huge channel against the sea wall in the next photo. That’s caused by the waves scouring the beach where it meets the wall. So in 2026 it’s undergoing some additional works to improve it’s design (more below).

The Sea Wall at Princes Way Promenade

The major civil engineering project to rebuild this sea wall was completed in 2017. The Anchorsholme Coast Protection Scheme was a £27.1m project to rebuild the sea defences and sea wall at Princes Way. The new scheme joins the stepped sea defences at Cleveleys and continues to the tram stop and toilets building at Little Bispham.

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Princes Way Promenade is wide and an attractive public space for everyone to enjoy. The stepped arrangement between the upper and lower levels of the promenade is part of the design of the flood protection. The added advantage is that it provides endless seating too!

There’s plenty of parking here, with a glorious view right across the beach and sea. It’s long-stay pay and display parking, with bays at both sides of the highway. The pay machines are on the landward side of the road, away from the prevailing weather.

Anchorsholme Coast Protection Scheme 2026

The current scheme will protect over 5,000 properties from flooding and help save the sandy beach from coastal erosion, ensuring that homes and businesses remain safeguarded for years to come.

First, a rock revetment will be installed on top of the existing sloped seawall. This will strengthen and stabilise the seawall, with the rocks helping to reduce wave force during storms. Then five new rock groynes are to be constructed on Anchorsholme beach, adjacent to Princes Way seawall.

The rock groynes will help address the ongoing lowering of sand levels on the beach (which you can see in the photo above). At times, scouring has led to the underlying clay becoming exposed. Once this erodes, the beach is lost forever. The groynes will trap sand and raise beach levels, keeping the sand in place so levels don’t change so much. Collectively the sand and rocks absorb wave energy and reduce the risk of flooding.

• Read all about the Anchorsholme Coast Protection Scheme 2026

Building the New Sea Wall – 2014 to 2017

The whole of the seafront was closed to pedestrians and traffic during the work, which took place between spring 2014 and late 2017.

• More about the sea defence works at Anchorsholme

The design of the sea defences utilises ‘wave breaker’ units to dissipate the energy of the tide.

See high tide in action here in the next clip below –

Between the wave breaker units, concrete staircases give access to the beach. If it’s not safe for you to access the beach you’ll see a ‘no entry’ sign hung across the steps on a chain. Please take care and obey the guidance.

During the promenade works, another separate but enormous civil engineering project was also being delivered by United Utilities in Anchorsholme Park. More about United Utilities works in Anchorsholme Park here.

The Old Sea Wall at Princes Way

When a new project is completed it’s amazing how quickly you forget what it looked like before. The landscape’s changed quite dramatically at Princes Way Promenade with the construction of the new sea defences. In the next photos you’ll see what it was like before the rebuild.

The join between the stepped revetment at Cleveleys and the new smooth revetment at Anchorsholme isn’t so obvious now. But it was very clear before the rebuild, as you can see in the next photo –

Up to early 2014, the highway at Princes Way was also much lower than it is now. The land at Anchorsholme Park was previously retained with a high brick wall. You can just see it at the left of the next photo. The following photo shows just how much the seawall and highway were lifted – now it’s level access from there to the park!

The next video clip is from 2015. It’s a drive from the clock shelter at Cleveleys to Anchorsholme Lane West (the turning for Lidl). The sea defence works were well underway at this point. Construction works had begun at the tram crossing at Little Bispham, working north to Cleveleys.

Why was this sea wall rebuilt?

If you visited the area frequently you’ll know why the promenade at Princes Way was rebuilt!

At high tide, the waves hit the sea wall head on. They bounced upwards, taking sea water high into the air. Waves often overtopped onto the road, frequently flooding it. It was a spectacular sight, watching the sea coming over (from a safe distance), particularly on a sunny day. And it made for good photos.

But at high tide and with strong winds the road flooded very easily, so the barriers were frequently closed across the road, diverting traffic elsewhere. And it didn’t take much for the flood water to reach beyond containment area of Princes Way. There was flooding to roads, infrastructure and properties beyond the prom on more than one occasion.

Not only that, the old sea wall was also crumbling.

A huge chunk of the seawall got broken off by the sea in late 2013. You can see the pieces that have fallen off on the beach in the next photo. Erosion of sea defences is just as big a risk as flooding. Maintenance and replacement prevent serious collapse and breach – the consequences of which could be catastrophic.

Overtopping in Winter

These few photos by no means feature the worst of the overtopping. However, it’s not only unsafe to get too close to the sea when taking photographs, it’s unpleasant, cold and wet. It’s not good for your car either! But we braved the weather in February 2012 to capture this clip –

The next photo was taken inside a property, during a really  bad storm. Look at the height of the waves and the white water –

Not Much Protection against Rough Seas!

Have a look at this video clip below, taken back in December 2013.

You can just see the beach and stepped sea defences of Cleveleys in the foreground of the video. The newer stepped defences do their job in dissipating the energy of the waves. As the waves climb the steps they lose their force which in turn reduces overtopping. The design here also incorporates split layers to trap the overspill of waves. In the absolute worst of conditions, the rear wall is the last line of defence.

The old sea wall at Princes Way is in the back of the frame. Then a traditional straight-sided wall, there’s nothing to reduce the force of the sea so big waves crash into it, sending plumes of spray high into the air. It’s taking a right battering! The design of the new sea defences which replaced this wall reduces this overtopping.

Watch this clip to see how the energy of the sea is dispersed by the two different types of construction.

Before the Rebuilding of Princes Way Promenade

From one end to the other, Princes Way Promenade offered free parking to one and all. It was a magnet to visitors, plus legions of campervans and motorhomes. The really wide promenade area was (and still is) popular for walking, cycling, fishing and setting up camp for a day out at the seaside.

Sadly, the free parking didn’t only attract families and people who wanted to enjoy the view, it also attracted anti-social behaviour of all kinds. In order to counteract it, Pay and Display parking was installed as part of the promenade upgrade. It’s a deterrent to the unsavoury antics that once went on in this area. But unfortunately, once again the activities of the few affect the enjoyment of many!