Vision for £10m town centre culture hub

An artist’s impression of the proposed Blackpool Culture Hub on Queen Street

A £10m culture hub is being planned by a council to help regenerate a town centre.

Blackpool Council wants to extend Grundy Art Gallery in the seaside town, by building next to it on the Queen Street car park.

The local authority has used money from a £5.9m grant from the Shared Prosperity Fund to work out how easily the extension could be built.

Documents included in an action plan said the investment would help "spearhead regeneration".

'Creativity capital'

The report said it would also support proposals to build on the gay-friendly cluster of bars and hotels in the area, creating an LGBTQ+ village quarter.

Peter Legg, the council's head of economic and cultural services, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the £10m extension plan for the Grundy showed “the level of ambition which Blackpool is aiming for".

Tina Redford, artistic director of arts group LeftCoast, said she was "confident" that they would one day claim Blackpool as "the UK Coastal Capital of Creativity".

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