Blackpool post office to boutique hotel conversion plans hit

Blackpool Council had sought £8m towards the cost of converting the Grade II listed former post office on Abingdon Street

Plans to convert a former post office into a £26m boutique hotel have again missed out on government funding.

Blackpool Council sought £8m of Levelling Up money to put towards turning the Grade II listed building on Abingdon Street into a 144-room hotel.

A previous bid for £7m of government funding was rejected in November 2021.

The council said it was "disappointed" but would look for alternative funding options for the building, which has lain empty for 15 years.

Ashall Projects, which is proposing to develop the building, said it would also be looking at other ways of proceeding, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Full planning permission was granted in November 2021.

Last month a revised application was submitted for the construction of a four- and five-storey link extension, with roof-top terraces between the former Post Office and sorting office, a three-storey rear extension to the former Post Office, and internal and external alterations to both buildings.

Also proposed are terraced areas in the courtyard following the demolition of the existing fourth-floor roof extension to the former sorting office.

The Post Office closed in 2007, with the sorting office moving to a new site in Bispham in 2015.

Blackpool was awarded £40m to support a new "multiversity", a carbon neutral university campus as part of the Levelling Up funding announced on Thursday.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [e-mail]