If you ask most people what images are conjured up when they think of Blackpool, it will more than likely be kiss-me-quick hats, donkey rides on the beach and enjoying a bag of chips before returning to a cheap-and-cheerful guest house.
One thing the Lancashire town is not synonymous with is five-star luxury. Yet Scunthorpe United chairman Peter Swann intends to build a 96-bed, five-star hotel at his Blackpool entertainment venue, The Sands (above).
If approved by planners, the £7m hotel will sit alongside Blackpool Tower on the famous Golden Mile. It is hoped the scheme will receive consent by the end of this year with a view to being open for the start of the 2017 holiday season.
Designed by North West architect Frank Whittle Partnership, the building will be constructed on the site of the town’s old Palatine Hotel. It will feature a glazed pinnacle to echo its predecessor’s circular tower, as well as spacious penthouse suites with views over the Irish Sea.
Swann says: “Our aim is to create a very special luxury hotel that will be a real boost to the town’s visitor economy and points the way ahead for the resort in terms of the standards it has to reach.”
If any coastal town needs such a boost it is Blackpool. Long gone are the days when the resort attracted swarms of mill workers, desperate to enjoy a week’s seaside entertainment as a reprieve from hard graft.
Blackpool’s status as a British coastal mecca was hit hard with the arrival of cheap foreign getaways and increased competition for the tourist pound.
The town lost out on a bid to build one of Gordon Brown’s super-casinos and also fell from favour as a venue for political party conferences.
“But we’ve come a long way since then,” says Claire Smith, president of hoteliers association StayBlackpool. “There has been a lot of investment in the town and tourist numbers are rising. We attracted around 17m people a year in our heyday and that fell to around 9m, but we’re back up to 14m and there are now so many more reasons for people to come.”
The town has pulled its socks up and a proactive council is widely praised for helping attract £400m of public and private investment over the past five years.
Projects include regeneration of the promenade and Winter Gardens, alongside Merlin Entertainment’s transformation of the iconic Blackpool Tower. In addition, the town is benefiting from a new tram system and work is under way on Muse Developments’ Talbot Gateway Central Business District.
Merlin’s other attractions, Madame Tussauds and the Sea Life Centre have improved the leisure offer, as has the promenade’s new Comedy Carpet and Illuminasia light show at the Winter Gardens.
“The investment means the tourist demographic is changing,” says Smith. “We’re now getting the As and Bs. Whether it’s a glass of champagne watching the sunset at the top of the tower, going to see a West End show, or getting an adrenalin rush on the new Pleasure Beach rides, Blackpool is attracting a greater range of people.”
After years of reliance on the stag and hen brigade, the town is finally managing to broaden its appeal. “There are already five-star B&Bs in the town trading very well and a five-star hotel will be a big success,” says Smith.
There are other hotel developments under way, with investment by the likes of Hampton by Hilton, Premier Inn and Travel Inn.
Colin Salisbury, commercial sales manager at Blackpool agent Broomheads, says: “We’ve historically suffered from an oversupply of low-quality accommodation and now tourists can finally have the choice of opting for trusted brands where you know what you’re getting.”
Salisbury says that after years in free fall, hotel prices have plateaued and buyers are returning. It is still difficult to persuade banks to lend, but demand is increasing for the right strategic assets. He says: “I’m getting a lot of calls from people in the south who now see Blackpool recovering and believe it’s a great place to invest.”
Pier pressure
As well as attracting outside investment from hotel chains and leisure operators such as Merlin, Blackpool’s future as a tourist destination will still largely depend on the commitment of local entrepreneurs.
In July, Peter Sedgwick, whose family has operated rides on Blackpool’s piers for more than 20 years, acquired the town’s Central Pier and North Pier from leisure operator Crown Entertainment Centres.
Sedgwick, who has owned North Pier since 2011, paid £8.1m for the historic assets. As well as assuring his family can continue running concessions on the piers, Sedgwick says the investment is testament to his faith in Blackpool’s revival.
“We’ve had a great year,” he says. “Blackpool has hit rock bottom but is now on the comeback.”
Yet he admits that comeback is down to long-term investment and concedes that if the piers are to continue to thrive, they need to respond to the needs of the 21st century tourist.
It remains to be seen how much money Sedgwick can afford to plough into the piers, and they are hugely expensive to maintain. Two years ago, half of the North Pier was washed away in a storm and Sedgwick says ongoing structural work “soaks up money like blotting paper.” Yet future plans include remodelling Central Pier’s family bar and eventually updating the North Pier theatre.
Balancing retaining Blackpool’s proud heritage with adapting to the demands of the modern tourist economy will perhaps prove the town’s greatest challenge.
“While it is great to have a local family owning the piers, you can’t help but worry about their future,” says David Nolan, sales manager at Kays Commercial Estate Agents. “How popular are they now as places to visit and do we really need three of them in one town?”
Whatever the answer, Blackpool can’t afford to turn away investment and in the face of fierce competition from other tourist destinations, has to maintain momentum.
Another local agent, Paul Crossley from Kerricks Commercial, says: “We just have to keep going and shout from the hilltops about how Blackpool is being transformed and it’s about time people gave it a second look.”
