‘If you hear your town is scum all the time that sinks in’: the young people in Blackpool refusing to be written off

Michael in a Blackpool amusement arcade. ‘There’s a lot of people my age here that just get stuck in this cycle of feeling like they’re going nowhere, that there’s nothing here for them’. Photograph: Polly Braden/The Guardian

Michael knows exactly how he feels about his home town of Blackpool. “It’s just brilliant,” he says. Walking along the beachfront past people soaking up the sunshine on benches and kids playing in the sand overlooked by Blackpool Tower, he throws out his arms with a huge grin.

“For me, it has been an amazing place to grow up. I don’t understand why anyone would talk down their home town. If you feel shit about your town, you’re going to feel shit about yourself, right?”