The Flying Handbag
A big, purpose-built LGBTQ+ bar and club on Queen Street, open from noon every day with drag hosts, karaoke, food and a sun terrace.
Bisexual people in Blackpool
Welcoming venues, BiPhoria and other groups, health services and bi history at Blackpool Pride.
Bisexual means being attracted to more than one gender. That attraction may be sexual, romantic or both, and some bi people also use words like pansexual or queer. Some people use bi+ as an umbrella that also covers pansexual, queer and other identities with attraction to more than one gender. Bi people are the largest group within the LGBTQ+ community, but often the least visible: a bi woman with a boyfriend, or a bi man with a wife, is easily assumed to be straight.
Will I be welcome in the Rainbow Quarter?
Yes. Every mixed venue in the quarter welcomes bi people, whether you come alone, with friends or with a partner of any gender. A few things are worth knowing:
- Couples of different genders are welcome in the mixed bars and in most guest houses. Men-only places (Trades, the Prince Albert, Welhorny's and the saunas) do not admit women, even with a male partner.
- Acqua Sauna says men of every orientation are welcome, including bi and bi-curious men, and it occasionally runs advertised mixed bisexual events. Normal sessions are men only.
- Drag bars and Queen Street's big venues are the easiest places to go as a mixed group.
Funny Girls
Blackpool's best-known drag cabaret, staging big themed revues in a restored 1939 art deco cinema two minutes from Blackpool North.
Mardi Gras
An LGBTQ+ public bar and hotel on Lord Street with three areas, cabaret, hot food, Sunday roasts and keen drink prices.
Groups
There is no bi-specific group in Blackpool at the time of writing. The nearest is BiPhoria in Manchester, which runs some sessions online.
BiPhoria
Britain's longest-running bi group, based in Manchester since 1994, with peer support and socials for bi+ adults across the North West.
Blackpool Allies
A free, relaxed social evening twice a month for LGBT+ people and anyone who supports them, at the Horizon centre on Dickson Road.
Lancashire LGBT Women and Non-Binary Group
A free monthly online group from the county LGBTQ+ charity for lesbian, bi, trans and queer women and femme non-binary people.
Manspace (Lancashire LGBT)
A free monthly online peer-support group from the county LGBTQ+ charity for gay, bi, trans and queer men and masc non-binary people.
Health and wellbeing
Bi people report poorer mental health than gay and lesbian people in many UK surveys, often linked to feeling they don't fully belong in either straight or LGBTQ+ spaces. If that sounds familiar, you are not on your own.
Horizon LGBTQ+ at Renaissance
The Rainbow Quarter's LGBTQ+ health centre, offering sexual health clinics, rapid testing, HIV support, counselling and harm reduction on Dickson Road.
Switchboard LGBT+ Helpline
A free national listening and information line, by phone, chat and email, staffed by LGBTQIA+ volunteers.
MindOut
An LGBTQ+-run mental health charity whose online chat support is open to adults anywhere in the UK.
Bi history at Blackpool Pride
The bi community news site Bi Media reported Blackpool Pride's first bi community stall in 2014, nine years into the festival's history, and bi groups such as BiPhoria have joined Pride weekends since.
Awareness dates
- Bi Visibility Day: 23 September every year.
- Blackpool Pride: June.
More
Sources
Sexual and romantic orientation: more pages
LesbianMixed bars, women-friendly stays, the nearest lesbian socials, and the history of Lucy's and Kings.GayThe bars, men-only hotels and saunas, bears, health clinics, peer support and fifty years of history.PansexualWhat pansexual means, how it differs from bi, and welcoming places and groups.AsexualWhat asexual means, the ace spectrum, Pluto MCR, sociable things to do away from the bars, and support.AromanticWhat aromantic means, the aro spectrum, the nearest group, friendship-first socials and awareness week.QueerWhat queer means today, plus queer art, heritage, alternative drag and community in Blackpool.QuestioningGentle first steps, confidential helplines, youth groups and low-pressure places to start.CuriousWhat curious means, welcoming venues, men-only places, safer sex, consent and support.Every identityThe full list, the long acronyms and UK law.