Leonard Thompson

Name 
Leonard Thompson 
Born 
10/04/1903 
Died 
06/09/1976 
Role(s) 
Managing Director 1931 - 1976
WP Table Builder

Leonard Thompson married Lilian Doris Bean in 1928 and had no plans to enter his wife’s family firm. However, when W. G. Bean died the following year, there was no succession plan for the Pleasure Beach Company. By 1931, Leonard was Managing Director and led the company for the best part of half a century.

Working with a number of architects, most notably Joseph Emberton, he worked to upgrade the park’s facilities and buildings, rebuilding vast swathes of the park in a modernist style.

He shepherded the business through the Second World War and a difficult period in the aftermath where materials, a workforce and new devices were difficult to come by. Entertainment also became central to the park’s offerings with the introduction of the famous ice shows in 1937.

A number of the park’s most famous landmarks were constructed during Leonard Thompson’s tenure including the Ice Drome (now the Arena), the new Casino and several rides including the Derby Racer and the Grand National.

"Nowadays we have to turn people upside down, roundabout and in every other way and give them all the sensations that they most strenuously avoid in normal life. To do that we have a whole house of machinery which would make any medieval arsenal resemble a nursery."  ...Leonard Thompson, Managing Director (1931 -1976)