Two hoteliers from the Tyldesley Road area have come out in protest at what they believe to be deliberate neglect of their area by the council in order to devalue their properties prior to compulsory purchase orders.
The council is planning to convert this downtrodden zone of hotels and guesthouses into brand new family homes by 2025 in order to satisfy government house building targets and are negotiating a £35million cash handout to complete the project.
In addition to their apparent neglect, the council have been obstructing all planning applications. This makes clear sense: there’s no point in allowing developments only for them to be subjected to a CPO in a couple of years.
I have a bit of sympathy with the hoteliers to be honest, because the council have been neglecting the area since long before the empty Saville Hotel became the victim of an arson attack (comprising of three separately lit fires requiring the attention of 12 fire engines and over 50 firefighters) in December 2006.
However, it is the case that most hotels in Blackpool are quite appalling and haven’t had any investment by their owners since the dark ages. We saw that one hotel on Albert Road was named the worst in Europe by Tripadvisor and looking at some of the shit holes around the town I can see quite a few others that would give it a run for its money.
I had a look at the website for the Shelborn Hotel which is owned by one of the Tyldesley Road complainants, and it’s not that bad to be fair. Granted, their lounge looks like a dentist’s waiting room and the rooms are made up of characterless Ikea furniture and horrific flowery curtains and duvet covers but it all looks fairly new and clean. I’d rather pay more and stay in a modern, clean, Travel Lodge with car parking though: keeping up with these modern standards is where 99% of hotels and guest houses in Blackpool have failed.
Hoteliers don’t seem to get it that this is the reason the council have an opportunity to level the Foxhall area: it was already massively in decline prior to any fires, and hoteliers’ mindsets are still in the past like the facilities and decor of their properties. Companies such as Travel Lodge have come into the town and addressed a demand for modern hotel rooms and are accommodating quite a few short stay visitors: Peter Callow would probably say they “stole” the visitors from local guesthouses, but that’s because he left his brain in the dark ages as well.
The council might be lashing money out on random aesthetic projects, but hoteliers haven’t. People are more discerning these days and will not stay in a dump. There are declining numbers of people that will, but an ever increasing number of people that wont – so they go elsewhere. I think this is a key reason why visitor numbers have declined so rapidly in recent years. People want flat screen TV’s with digital service. They want king size beds with new mattresses. They want perfectly tiled bathrooms with a powerful walk-in shower. Even in big hotels such as the Imperial you don’t get this.
If I were a hotelier on Adelaide Street and the surrounding area I would be bricking it at the forthcoming 200 bedroom (well, it could be 170 bedroom depending on how many stories the council will approve) hotel right next to the Winter Gardens (bordered by Leopold Grove and Alfred Street). It’ll have nice rooms, it’ll be bookable online and it’ll have a nice car park. I actually think this hotel – whichever brand it ends up as – could be the catalyst for a growth period for Blackpool. It’s serious, practical investment that successive councils have failed to provide despite spending multiples more than the proposed £10million cost for the hotel.
But back to the story. One thing that did surprise me is how readily commenters on the Gasjet have been putting the boot into the hoteliers upon whom the original article is based. Some said that they wouldn’t even let their dog stay in the Tyldesley Road area.
I thought there would be some lasting sentiment and some defenders of the indefensible, but no. It seems that even residents of Blackpool have finally turned on neglectful hoteliers.
The council next, eh?
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The best thing for Foxhole (thanks to Cheeseweasel for that one) is to level the whole area marked by Chapel St, Rigby Road, Promenade and Spine Road and redevelop the area. I think it would be an ideal site for an arena to perfectly complementing the proposed snowdome on Central Station and build some decent quality housing on there not more social housing and bedsits.
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spot on TB,these areas need to be obliterated period (low yield thermonuclear airburst devices) and QUALITY is the key,its the end of an era of cheap tatty filthy hotels, they are an anachronism for a modern vibrant Blackpool.
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My sentiments exactly Harold, quality is the way forward out with the old in with the new. Some people just seem unable to accept change. Its like in Fleetwood, Mike Simmons’ (aka Joey Blower) company wants to build a radical development on the site of the old pier and Fleetwood keep opposing it. Its investment so embrace it don’t chase it away. There are Fleetwood residents saying ‘the pier site was built for the entertainment and leisure of children and that should remain’. That is ludicrous, prior to the tragic fire in 2008 the site had been empty and derelict for about 2-3 years and I don’t see these people offering any suggestions. I have looked at the plans and they look fantastic and I like Fleetwood it is a nice town, but a nice town that has fallen on hard times and desperately needs some regeneration. Why oppose it?
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Excellent post Phil.
TB completely agree with you too. That entire area is an absolute wart.
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Isn’t it just, I aspire for a better Blackpool and giving the area a lick of paint isn’t going to change anything it needs something radical, I just wish the private sector would show an interest.
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what about making a horse racing track? thinkabout it!!! Holidaymakers will love it. they come to blackpool with money to spend so what about a day at the races?
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Interesting idea, I like it, their actually used to be a dog racing track many years ago where the Odeon currently stands.
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Or a sports arena/stadium/complex covering a variety of sports?
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Also a good suggestion, some kind of radical exciting development to make use of what I feel at present is just wasted space.
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exactly TB, near the airport as well.
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And the dog track made a loss…
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I have some sympathy for the existing hoteliers. It’s ok saying Travellodge comes in and provides what’s needed – but small B&B owners aren’t being lent enough money from the banks to improve their businesses to this sort of level.
As such all big business that choose to come into the town will always swamp the locals and run them out of business until the whole area is a clone of every other town of this type.
That’s not to say all the hotels deserve to be saved – there’s severe overcapacity and a lot are in a terrible mess (and worse) terrible location.
So what can the council do? Maybe implement a new rating scheme so that all dirty derelict hotels are easily identified so that they aren’t kept artificially alive by banks and unsuspecting guests. Then maybe the banks can lend to those with the council ratings in preference to the improvement of all the hotel industry in Blackpool. It’s well known that lending applications are now dealth with at a national level for most banks so local knowledge doesn’t affect these decisions anymore.
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I think blaming banks is too short term to be the real reason. After all, before the last two years or so banks would lend anything to anyone and in some cases you didn’t even have to prove that you could afford to pay it back!
Furthermore even some of the larger hotels that are part of a chain such as the Imperial have failed to modernise. If you look on their site you can see how old fashioned the rooms are.
Bizarrely, the Cliffs seems to have fairly modern rooms in the Travel Lodge style yet the Claremont – part of the same group – has horrendously old fashioned and neglected rooms for such a prominent hotel.
Last time I stayed in the Hilton (it was the Stakis then) that was a dump too, but it looks like they have done it up quite nicely now, flat screen TV’s and big, good quality beds to boot.
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What I don’t get is rather than spend 35 million wouldn’t it be easier to let private developers use the existing buildings and convert them to Town Houses for families.
Just be very strict on who get’s the licences to convert the former hotels so we don’t get any bed sits or apartments and very quickly a new community would be built in that area.
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Good idea Zim.
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I wish they would so something like that. But all they ever build is ‘affordable’ housing which usually means social housing and bedsits. One way of improving an area like Foxhall which quite frankly is a shithole is to gentrify the area, get rid of all the rundown derelict buildings and replace them with quality housing and businesses. London Docklands was an even bigger dosshole than Foxhall years ago until it had a massive revamp and now it is a very desirable area for housing and business.
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What’s actually stopping them doing it?
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Totally agree TB with your comments.Obviously Blakpool council and their leader don’t have the same forsight or vision as all of us on this site.
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Unfortunately yes that is true, Peter Callow is definitely an improvement on Fisher but that’s not saying much really. I would prefer someone a bit younger more in touch with modern Blackpool and future Blackpool not trying to recreate past Blackpool. But then the real jobsworths are the ones in the town hall on salaries like Steve Weaver and Alan Cavill, the biggest pessimists I have ever seen, no belief in Blackpool yet our council tax pays their huge salaries.
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yes and they arent elected, sadly.
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[...] and it has been argued by some residents in Foxhall that the Conservative council are doing this on purpose to devalue their property in advance of issuing Compulsory Purchase [...]
Not defending the council nor attacking suggestions, but salient factors have to be addressed. The cost of building small, individual housing units is prohibitive. If homes are to be the answer then sufficient parking has to be found and the roads leading into the Village Area are not capable of carrying any increase in traffic. This makes larger schemes difficult. Any housing has to take into consideration that most high rise developments in the UK have had to be demolished before their sell-by-date because they were Jerry Built and housed with Scum (alongside very decent folk).
The majority of holidaymakers are now coming from the pensioner age group, hence the reassurgence of isolated hotels associated with bus companies and almost prison-like regimes in day trips, catering and entertainment. Once you’ve experienced queuing behind a grumpy old fart who wants her prepaid port and lemon you’ll either commit suicide or go elsewhere. Victor Kiam said just one thing in all his books. Don’t waste your time on those who cannot afford to buy.
Don’t think big, think better. Better facilities, better clients.
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