IF there's one town that knows how to celebrate its success in style it's Blackpool.

And The Citizen was delighted to be involved in Friday's second annual Blackpool Tourism Awards (February 4) which recognise and reward achievement in the tourism industry.

Compere for the night Andy Mitchell of The Wave whizzed through the list of 13 categories which included Hotel of the Year, Restaurant of the Year and Tourism Employee of the Year.

But the top award on an impressive night at the Imperial Hotel went to the irrepressible Funny Girls of Queen Street for Entertainment Venue of the Year sponsored by your very own Citizen.

Betty Legs Diamond and DJ Zoe swept on to the stage to a standing ovation with beautiful big hair and fabulous frocks along with Funny Girls owner Basil Newby to accept their gold accolade from Citizen editor Alex Stuttard with their usual charm. "Please may I just say a few words, Mr Newby," said Betty Legs. The few words were"Pay rise" which brought a roar of laughter from the audience.

Silver went to Bashir Rassas from The Palace nightclub who gracefully added: "We are all winners here tonight."

Head of tourism, Jane Seddon, told the 400-strong audience: "We launched these awards to recognise and honour the achievements of the tourism industry in Blackpool.

"And this year we have received more than double the nominations from the general public which amount to more than 50,000.

"It is obvious from the positive comments on all these forms that we are providing a quality visitor experience and all those nominated and short-listed should be congratulated.

"We look forward to continuing this initiative in the year 2000."

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