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Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Blackpool's traditional holiday sector 'in crisis'
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." 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." 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." 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."
BBC News
06-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Blackpool's traditional holiday sector is in 'crisis'
Blackpool's traditional holiday accommodation sector is "in crisis", one of the resort's hospitality industry leaders has White from StayBlackpool said some of the town's streets have become "shadowlands" blighted by anti-social behaviour and run down, dilapidated said he was calling for more to be done to help smaller hotels and bed and breakfasts to rebuild the overnight trade in the 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." 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." 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 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 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." Mr Cavill said the council was "changing the face of the resort", but said it could not all be done at 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."
