They say Blackpool is the ‘Vegas of the North’ & what better way to test out the saying by booking the ‘Viva Vegas cabaret night’. Located just next to the Blackpool Tower ‘Viva’ is a cabaret venue that hosts evening shows every night of the week. As we were looking for something to do on an evening with the family it became the obvious choice. So we started planning our night out online.
Viva Blackpool Online
Primarily we’d booked into Blackpool to see the lights. It was the Hooper four and Catherine’s Parents. We had a Saturday night to fill in and sitting in a bar isn’t the idea of fun for kids. However, on a previous trip to Blackpool I’d seen that Viva had shows every night. With my fingers crossed for a Magic Show, I started booking.
On the night were planning to go there was “Viva… The Vegas Variety Show”. Described as “It’s Blackpool’s Biggest & Best show night out. A Vegas-style production cabaret featuring a whole night of music, comedy and dance!”. Everything I was looking for (excluding magic).
However, I wasn’t naive enough to assume that it would be children focused. and a little look on the details of the show pointed out “All are welcome, young and old, though the show is not crude or ‘blue’ some content may be of an adult nature and Junior tickets are booked at the parent or guardians sole discretion.” That didn’t shock us, so we booked up.
Tickets were priced at £21 each for Adults and £11.50 for juniors (5-17), with an optional extra of adding in Dinner at the Viva Vegas Bar and Grill next door for £14.95 each from the special menu.
Viva Vegas Bar and Grill
We arrived around 5:30pm for our Pre-show meal, prepared with our vouchers. The Diner was quite busy and I could see reserved booths from the queue. I had thought that the package offer we’d booked would have been connected. Apparently you still need to reserve a table with the Bar and Grill as they don’t know you have purchased a meal voucher until you show up. This wasn’t a problem for us, but a good point to note for others booking in.
Catherine chose Tomato soup, which looked nice and thick.

Both Abigail and Imogen chose Nachos. Served exactly as they like them. Where I prefer a fully loaded approach, Imogen prefers the idea of just melted cheese. If I’m honest I don’t think she touched the additional post of salsa, guacamole, sour cream or jalapenos.

I chose a Buffalo Wings starter. 5 Crispy wings covered in sauce. The portion looked small at first, but the flavour was big. Crispy, crunchy, a bit of a kick and tender chicken inside. I spent some time going back and re nibbling them they were so good.

For mains, most of the table chose Fajitas of some sort. The chicken was a popular choice.

Served with portions of Guac, Salsa, jalapenos, sour cream and cheese. The 3 soft tortillas were enough for the portion, but we ended up eating chicken unwrapped too.

Showtime! Viva Vegas cabaret night.
Around the corner and upstairs is Viva, the cabaret and Show venue. With different shows throughout the week, we chose the Viva Vegas Show.
The main elements of the show were hosted by Leye De Johns. He introduced the night and set your expectations very quickly. We knew that in Blackpool, you may experience “a little bit of Blue”. This was definitely a little bit of blue in the scripting, but at the same time hilariously funny. If you are easily offended this isn’t the show for you. As Leye said “If you look around the room you’ll see the ones who are offended by their impressions of skippy (tutting)”
The Show was focused on Musical routines, a female solo singer and comedy. Drinks were available throughout the show from the bar or table service, which was very efficient.


Viva Vegas cabaret night reminded me of being on my holidays in Tenerife. Where you would sign up for the show night at a restaurant in the middle of the hills. And that is exactly what I was looking for. Something a little different and not just dragging our kids around bars and restaurants. Likewise, we didn’t want to be just sat in our hotel for the night early.
This was the second time we’d eaten at the diner and we’d happily go back again, but I think I’d probably go off the full menu as a walk-up customer instead of the smaller deal menu.
Likewise, next time we’re in Blackpool I’ll be checking out the show line ups at Viva. I’d seen that High Jinx was their resident magic act, who we saw at the Edinburgh Fringe a few years ago and that show was brilliant.
Additional information
Website: https://www.vivablackpool.com/
Address: 3 Church Street, Blackpool, FY1 1HJ
Telephone: (01253) 297 297
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