Blackpool's traditional holiday sector 'in crisis'

A red disused and rundown building. The photograph shows brown wooden doors in the middle of the building with its windows boarded up with yellow plywood. Water damage can also be seen in the top of the building.

A disused and vandalised former shop in Coronation Street

Gina Millson
Lancashire political reporter

Blackpool's traditional holiday accommodation sector is "in crisis", one of the resort's hospitality industry leaders has said.

Ian White from StayBlackpool said some of the town's streets have become "shadowlands" blighted by anti-social behaviour and run down, dilapidated buildings.

He' said he was calling for more to be done to help smaller hotels and bed and breakfasts to rebuild the overnight trade in the resort.

Blackpool Council said £2bn had been spent on regeneration the town, which it described as a "work in progress".

But Mr White said areas like Coronation Street, Bond Street and Waterloo Road had become "lost".

He said: "The council really needs to get back to grips with the traditional holiday areas, which have been forgotten and left to go to rack and ruin."

A picture of Alan Cavill taken on Blackpool Promenade, with the Tower in the background. He's wearing a blue suit and yellow tie and has white hair and a beard.

Alan Cavill, director of regeneration at Blackpool Council, says the town is a "work in progress"

Alan Cavill, the director of regeneration at Blackpool Council, said the regeneration of the resort was a "work in progress".

Speaking about Coronation Street, he said: "We've spent an awful lot of money putting an IMAX cinema on there and completely changing the face of the Houndshill.

"We're going to spend £90m on improving housing. So I'm not saying the job's finished, but it's really well in progress."

A picture of Paul Gregory-Ward taken outside the Corona Hotel in Blackpool. He is standing in front of glass UPV brown doors, one side is closed, the other open. There is a blue sign with the word vacancies in white lettering to his left stuck inside the window. Paul is wearing a floral shirt, with blue glasses and an earring in his right ear. He has balding grey hair and is smiling.

Paul Gregory-Ward has owned the Corona Hotel since 2001

Paul Gregory-Ward, owner of the Corona Hotel in Clifton Drive, said the lack of regulation within the industry was also taking its toll, and that he thought hoteliers should have to have a licence to trade.

He said: "Any new business or existing business, whether it be an Airbnb or the traditional bed and breakfast... they've never required a licence to trade.

"It's just buy a business and get on with it. The owners don't need any experience, there are no standards. It's up to the hotelier to decide what their standard is."

He said he recognised that Blackpool Council was trying to improve things, but that there needed to be more consideration for smaller businesses.

He said: "There's a lot of importance put on the big investments, but not the smaller companies like us that are the backbone of Blackpool, we do get forgotten."

An image of Blackpool seafront. The tower is on the right-hand side of the photo, and the north pier, jutting out to sea, is on the left. PA Media

The council said more than £2bn had been invested into regeneration Blackpool

Mr Cavill said the council was "changing the face of the resort", but said it could not all be done at once.

He said: "It's pointless having really wonderful hotels if there's no reason to visit the place, so we focus very much on that and developing the products and working with partners like Merlin and the Pleasure Beach to really give new reasons to visit the town, then working on the areas immediately surrounding that and trying to make those better and more improved."

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