Welcome to Cleveleys – all you need to know

Welcome to Cleveleys, here’s all you need to know about this family-friendly, traditional seaside town. Find it on the Lancashire Fylde Coast, just four miles north of Blackpool.

Known for its clean, expansive sandy beach, award-winning promenade, and bustling town centre. Cleveleys offers a quieter, “classic” seaside experience compared to its neighbour. Enjoy scenic coastal views, excellent tram links and a great town centre shopping experience.

Welcome to Cleveleys

Key Features of Cleveleys

Location

Cleveleys sits between Blackpool and Fleetwood. It’s a great small town in its own right, and also a convenient base for exploring the coast.

Best Time to Visit: The town and seafront are accessible all year round, popular for day trips and longer stays. Always busier on brighter days, but Cleveleys isn’t a seasonal town. It’s open for business seven days a week and 52 weeks a year, including Bank Holiday Mondays.

Seafront and Promenade

The town has a modernised, multi-award-winning promenade and seafront. It’s ideal for walks, with amazing views over the Irish Sea. You can usually see Cumbria and the Lake District to the North and on a clear day Wales to the South. At sunset, if you’re lucky, you might even be able to see the Isle of Man from Cleveleys – but that’s a mirage!

Promenade Art Trail

The seafront isn’t just stunning, it also includes the “Mythic Coast” art trail, featuring the 30-foot “Sea Swallow” sculpture, the stone Ogre and the iconic Mary’s Shell. Plus the Shipwreck memorial, the signature, graceful ‘Sea Swallow’ (in the above photo) and the Ogres paddle!

Local History

Find out about the area’s interesting past and history. Including almost being the first garden city and an offshore petrified forest. Pick up the History and Mystery walking trail leaflet from the Care for Cleveleys Shop and head off to explore.

Town Centre and Shopping

Victoria Road West is a busy high street. Compact and very user friendly, there are plenty of shops in Cleveleys busy little town centre. Visit the independent stores along with national chains, local shops, cafes, and restaurants. Victoria Road West is neat and compact and offers a wide variety. Including the usual high-street names and plenty of unique finds too.

Set at 90 degrees to the seafront, the shopping centre is a very pleasant place to visit. The wide pavements are fitted out with plenty of benches and decorated with planters and creative installations. Care for Cleveleys volunteers look after the planted and built displays; weeding, gardening and improving the space for everyone’s enjoyment.

With good public transport links, town centre car parks and public toilets on hand, it’s a great place to visit. There’s more about these things below!

Events and Entertainment

The Care for Cleveleys volunteers organise events throughout the year: at Christmas and Easter, in the school holidays and at weekends. They also facilitate the use of Princess Road event space, if you’ve got an idea for an activity or entertainment you’d like to run.

There’s also a seasonal weekly market on Wednesdays at Princess Road and occasional other large events throughout the year. For example, Cleveleys Car Show takes over the town in June.

You’ll also find a good selection of buskers playing throughout the town centre – from acoustic guitar to mariachi bands. Most of them are excellent – a few are so bad that they’re funny! And on Saturdays, Cleveleys Community Church often hold outdoor worship events at the seafront Plaza.

On top of that, a number of licensed premises host their own entertainment. Enjoy a variety of entertainment on Sunday afternoons at The District. Backstage, The Vault and Decades all run entertainment nights. The Venue at the seafront hosts a number of festivals throughout the year – Caribbean, Beer, Gin and Oktoberfest. There’s a few clubs in town – for example Cleveleys Working Men’s Club has a busy and varied entertainment schedule too.

Places to Eat and Drink

Whether you’re in town for coffee, visiting for a day out or looking forward to an evening’s entertainment, you’ll probably want somewhere to eat and drink. And this small town has it all! From coffee shops and cafes to restaurants, fish and chips and fine dining. We’ve got working men’s clubs and bars. Some have outdoor seating in the sunshine, others are on the shady side of the street.

Family Activities

The town centre features two amusement arcades for all the family. Find the Olympia Amusement Centre, complete with mini-golf, at the central seafront. And at the seaward end of the high street is Treasure Island. For a complete seaside day out, visit one of the ice cream cafes and stalls in that area.

Meanwhile, at the promenade is The Vue cinema, showing the latest releases along with favourite films. Perfect when you don’t like the weather!

Public Toilets

You can never have too many loos, and fortunately there are some public toilets in Cleveleys! One block is to the rear of Iceland at Rough Lea Road car park, another at the Bus Station (also off Rough Lea Road). More toilets can be found at the seafront Cafe near Jubilee Gardens.

Parking

Along with on-street parking, there are two main car parks in Cleveleys. Behind Iceland at Rough Lea Road is a popular short-stay car park. Just off Rough Lea Road is the long stay car park, split into East and West by Derby Road. At the seafront cafe there is also a council short-stay car park. Currently being used for a site compound, there’s a further long stay car park at Jubilee Gardens.

Public Transport

If you can’t or don’t want to drive into Cleveleys, you’ll be pleased to hear that it’s well served by public transport. A variety of operators use the bus station, including Blackpool Transport buses. Organised coach tours are welcome here too – there are coach pick-up and drop-off bays throughout the town and free coach parking bays at Derby Road East car park.

The Blackpool to Fleetwood tramway also travels through the centre of town. Find the tram stop right in the heart of the town, adjacent to the main through-road. It’s a fast and pleasant way to travel the coast, running from Fleetwood Ferry all the way to Squires Gate at the very south of Blackpool.

Tourist Information

If you’re looking for local information, news about events, bus timetables and more, call into the Care for Cleveleys Shop. Run by volunteers, they’re the people who keep this town clean, well maintained and vibrant. Not only do they know what’s happening in town, 100% of profits from the shop are reinvested into Cleveleys.

Points of Interest in Cleveleys…

• Jubilee Leisure Park: Head to the seafront for the Vue Cinema, showing all your favourite films. Or if you’re into fitness the neighbouring JD Gym.
• Jubilee Gardens: the seafront green space with activities for all ages. There are toddler play frames for the tiniest ones, and a separate kids swings area. Plus a skate park with ramps – and MUGA for older children.
• Star Wars Cafe: Where the new-style promenade meets Rossall Beach is a circular seafront cafe. Did you know it was used as a filming location in the Andor Star Wars series?
• Rossall Beach: To the north of the modernised, stepped seafront. Rossall Beach is a more natural, shingle and sandy landscape. This beach is also dog friendly all year round, and features free sea-front parking too.
• The Towers: If you like wildlife, woodlands and countryside walks, you’ll love this little secret space. Find it just off the main road into Cleveleys, tucked between residential streets. It’s a historic site that’s bursting with life – lovely to visit throughout the year.

…and Close By

• Marsh Mill: A historic 18th-century windmill located in the neighbouring village of Thornton.
• Wyre Estuary Country Park: Located in Stanah, providing scenic riverside walks.
• Anchorsholme Park: Actually in Blackpool, but at the southern end of and adjacent to Cleveleys seafront. A large open green space with something for all the family. The Friends of the Park organise events and funfairs throughout the year.

Have a Great Time!

We hope you enjoy your visit to Cleveleys and our guide (and website) helps you to have a great time. Why don’t you share your photos in our Visit Fylde Coast Facebook group? And make sure you’re following Visit Cleveleys on Facebook too – for reminders and updates as they happen.

Is there anything that you like to do, see or visit when you come to Cleveleys? If we’ve missed anything out please let us know!
Just send an email to jane@theRabbitPatch.co.uk and we’ll do our best to cover it.