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The Blackpool of the West It’s so close to the endless edgelands of Avonmouth, That warehouse-dystopian modernity, Where no-one seems to manufacture anything, Just store stuff, move stuff or exchange stuff, And then choose a café for a coffee and a croissant: The British economy. But a century ago, courtesy Of the Great Western Railway, Severn Beach was reinventing itself, As a holiday resort of sorts, A Pleasure-land of the floodplains With their isolated farms and cottages, And then a railway station opened there in 1923 (The circular Avonmouth line had opened Earlier at the turn of the century). Its inter-war hey-day saw excursions, Cyclists, promenaders, hikers, Chalets, sheds, a structure built from bits of an old bus, A boating lake, cafes, tea shops, And the Blue Lagoon Swimming...