LONDON, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Blackpool Illuminations, a famous light spectacle in Britain, will be switched off during the national COVID-19 lockdown, official tourism agency VisitBlackpool announced Monday.
"It is with regret that the 2020 Blackpool Illuminations will be switched off at midnight on Wednesday 4 November and the display suspended until further notice due to the national lockdown restrictions due to come into effect the following day," said VisitBlackpool in a statement, adding that if the lockdown restrictions are eased sufficiently at the start of December, the illuminations will be switched on again and run through Christmas and New Year to Jan. 3, 2021.
Overlooked by Blackpool Tower, a structure resembling Eiffel Tower in Paris, lights and tableaux span almost 10 km of Blackpool's seafront, attracting around 3.5 million people a year traditionally.
The statement also said that the lights on Blackpool Tower, which has become "a symbol of hope and optimism throughout the pandemic," will remain lit.
Blackpool, a popular holiday destination for working classes of northern and middle England and Scotland, introduced illuminations in 1879 when it became the first town in Britain to have electric street lighting.
The last major switch-off of the illuminations came during World War II, plunging the resort into darkness for 10 years between 1939 and 1949. Enditem
