The Empire on Aqueduct Road opened in 1910 and is now a volunteer-led charity, which shows in the prices. The panto, Aladdin this year, has a £58 family ticket, which is a lot less than the big city houses charge. Most of the rest of the calendar is tribute acts and comedy for grown-ups.
Family shows outside Christmas are occasional rather than regular. This autumn there is Wonders of Our Universe, an astrophysicist-led space show on 28 October (a 7.30pm start, note), and Teach Rex, a live dinosaur show, is booking for 31 March 2027.
What it costs: Aladdin (21 November to 3 January) is £14 child, £16 senior, £20 adult or £58 for a family ticket. Wonders of Our Universe on 28 October is £19.50 to £21.50.
Blackburn Empire's panto is Aladdin this year, with a long run from late November into January. Flat prices, £14 a child and £58 for a family, with no premium dates on the booking page, which is refreshing. The December weekend shows were already marked as selling fast in September.
Looking for more museums & science near Blackburn?
Sending it to the group chat?
★★★★★ 4.8 across 992 Google reviews.
Read all 992 reviews on Google - filter by star rating there
Blackburn's biggest green space: 480 acres with adventure playgrounds, woodland trails and a visitor centre in the old Victorian stables. Free to walk in and £2 at most to park, and it absorbs a whole afternoon without anyone asking for much money.
Blackburn's showpiece Victorian park: a triumphal arch at the gate, two lakes with swans, a playground right beside them and a lime-tree avenue climbing the hill. Free, and less than a mile from the town centre.
A proper old-fashioned free museum in the town centre: Egyptian gallery, natural history cases and paintings upstairs, all doable in an hour. Closed Sundays and Mondays, which catches people out.
24,000 square feet in the middle of Blackburn, with go karts, bumper cars and laser tag alongside the climbing frames. Not really soft play any more, more an indoor funfair.
Trampolines, a ninja course and an inflatable obstacle run, with a foam-padded soft play area for the ones too small for all that. Shut on Tuesdays and Thursdays in term time.
Darwen's independent play centre with a sensory room, open five days a week in term time and every day in the holidays. Somewhere to sit that is not a plastic bench.
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.