Blackpool: a forgotten town

Soaring antidepressant usage and falling life expectancy are just a few of the problems facing UK coastal towns like Blackpool. The FT's employment correspondent, Sarah O'Connor, and data visualisation journalist, John Burn-Murdoch, explain
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[@danfrost3043]

I lived in Blackpool for 10yrs , behind the facade life is very hard for many people. Most of the work is seasonal & it's almost impossible to get a full time permanent job, everything is casual & there's no security. I would never go back.

[@cpmeadows]

I've lived in Blackpool most of my life. The problem is the council. The majority of the councillors are businesspeople with their own vested interests in the town. As such they have allowed the town to degenerate because of their own financial interests and ultimately greed. In the last thirty years there have been numerous national and international companies who want to invest in the town, but are given the; 'Don't call us, we'll call you.' line. Disney being one of the biggest names who wanted to invest, but then were given a ludicrous excuse as to why Blackpool wasn't the place for the biggest entertainment company in the world. Blackpool really hit rock bottom in the early nineties with the recession. Many small hotel and B&B owners went out of business and sold the properties to vacant landlords who then let out the rooms and properties to the council as HMO's,. As you would expect from Blackpool council it was a totally half arsed, bodge job from the start. Teenage mothers were put into the same property with drug addicts, people with serious mental health issues (mental health hospital and homes were shut during the cut backs in the '90's). A hotel around the corner from my house became renowned because of the countless suicides, murders and arson attacks. The council had an agreement with other councils around the to house people with these issues and were paid to do so. It was very much a out of sight, out of mind philosophy. A generation or so later there still are many problems in the town, there are many addicts-higher than the national average, and families that have grown up in the hotels and B&B's not knowing anything else, and few have any real opportunities. The council are still paying for this to these vacant landlords...They sold the council estates off and have wiped their hands of any involvement with council housing, they just continue to pay exorbitant sums to these landlords. There was once a rumour that one of the biggest property owners was a councillor themselves and had pushed for the council to allow bringing in people from other towns and cities to fill up the hotels and B&B's for their own financial gain. Knowing how Blackpool council operates it is most likely to be true...

[@439bananas]

Jaywick in Essex is as bad.

[@raydematio7585]

Nothing to do with the people who live there. It's the Council. Yeah, keep believing that.

[@tonymaries1652]

My father's family are from Blackpool and I still have a soft spot for the town even though one by one they have all left and I have no family left there. Blackpool is not the only place where people on benefits have been rehoused out of their area into substandard housing but it is probably the largest and most high-profile. I live in a small town in the West Country where the worst streets in the town are full of people shipped in from London and Bristol because they have been told they will never get housed in their.home area. Chris, your description of Blackpool council resonates with me as they sound exactly like Mendip, but with a much bigger trough to sink their snouts into. F-wording Tories consumed with their own self-interest and corrupt to the core. It is a ridiculous and immensely socially damaging policy because people rehoused in this way lose any informal support network of family and friends and with it any chance that they will ever get a job and escape the ever-declining circle of life on benefits.

[@Svetlana-says-it-as-it-is.]

What a shame 😔

[@masterknife8423]

I wouldn't say Blackpool is a forgotten town. Blackpool Tower is one of the country's best known landmarks not to mention it's still known as the UK's No.1 seaside town. And it still gets loads of visitors during the summer

[@andrewsmith3613]

The statistics are pretty undeniable. Blackpool is a magnet for ill-health and welfare dependency.

[@twoosted499]

You should still remember, Blackpool is a hub for drugs. Edgy teens thinking they are bossman and poor houses, It’s great near the coast. But get down into the suburbs you’ll see.

[@milfordcubicle8872]

these two replies are full of rubbish i live in blackpool and i’m a teenager and i have never seen any one handle drugs or even think about them. it is just a few people that people concentrate on

[@rinsim]

Which visitors? Low income people that cannot afford to go to real holiday places. This city is disgusting, I couldn't stay there for more than one hour.

[@MarkSmith-er7fe]

its crap

[@rosschambers1987]

The future of Blackpool is bright. Look beyond the doom and gloom of the facts and figures. Open your eyes.

[@masterknife8423]

Yeah I was in Blackpool yesterday and I can see they're trying to make the town more modern. Well mostly the promenade

[@rosschambers1987]

@@masterknife8423 the scale of investment and regeneration is incredible. Off the top of my head; Tram extension from North Pier to Blackpool North New Premier Inn Hotel under construction on old Yates site with restaurant to boot Sands Venue five star hotel under construction on prom with Blackpool Amuseum being built on ground and first floor Holiday Inn being built next to new tram station on Talbot Road, all part of the Talbot Gateway regeneration project, a lot of which has already been completed. Houndshill extension, with new 9 screen Imax Cinema RedBox development of old post office on Abingdon Street (although this seems to have gone quiet...) New roller coaster at pleasure beach, ICON. New Buelevard Hotel at the pleasure beach well under way now. New EasyHotel earmarked for promenade near to Waterloo Road. Development of high quality apartments on South Beach, some of which are already completed. Blackpool Central Station redevelopment, phase one due to be completed 2024 with the UK's first flying theatre (total private investment 300 million). Then if you look at what has been done over the past ten years, piers have had millions spent on them to prolong their existence, the tower and winter gardens purchased by the council and millions spent to refurb and prolong, the pedestrianisation of the town centre with cobbles, the prom defences with the headlands, which is frankly amazing, comedy carpet, new trams, new tram depot at starr gate, bancroft park on yeadon way, and that's just the tourism oriented investment, there's a lot going on in the background in our communities, a lot of good work being done with a lot of influential people involved. There's the Airport Enterprise Zone, and the airport itself is doing very well operating without commercial holiday flights, there's potential for the tramway to be extended to Lytham and beyond. The future of Blackpool is really bright in my opinion. The only way we can really realise its full potential is by getting everybody who lives here focussed and energised to get the wheels really spinning.

[@stegosaur9812]

@@rosschambers1987 thank you,your comment is helping me write my assessment.

[@GasFinger1]

Great place deserves a comeback

[@robertparkes4982]

Blackpool has an amazing future if handled properly........More undercover family entertainment and tackling of anti social behaviour is needed......There are still Europe beating facilities there !!

[@Paul_March]

Blackpool, is not a forgotten town, Blackpool tower is one of the best viewing places in the UK, and ICON, the pleasure beach’s new coaster, is rated the best coaster in the UK. And theme park enthusiasts like me, are going.

[@ellismeah5127]

Sooner live in Blackpool than London, at least it looks like you still live in England unlike London

[@xxxyorks]

Love Blackpool, RULE BRITANNIA

[@vainparasite]

Can’t be that forgotten, I was there two days ago, it’s lovely up north

[@swaggerjagg22]

I love Blackpool I enjoy it everytime I go (im from Brussels btw)

[@jackwood5845]

I love Belgium :)

[@mrblackpooldaddy]

I live in Blackpool and you are spot on with this report.

[@basylpeterjones]

They're not spot on, at all. It has record tourist industry as well as more educated people moving out and non-working people; long-term disabled moving there. They're two different, unrelated, things. Everything the young woman, speaking, said was incorrect.

[@anoshya]

I saw a sign in a Hotel..”No Needles”...not knitting needles either

[@paulnicolas172]

I have lived in Blackpool for 25 years now and I think it’s a great place especially for places to visit and entertainment if you also include the other close by resorts as well such as st Annes and Cleveleys especially now the season has extended to January but the other half of me yearns for more - a lot still needs to be done and the council are either hardly doing anything or doing it very slowly - I mean the council have been promising a lot but hardly doing much over the years . I’ve been living here and it’s hardly changed much since the 90s and have seen less and less tourists coming and a quarter of people are unemployed here, there is a lot of crime and homeless increasing - it’s like every 200m I walk along the prom I see a homeless person sitting there and they harass people for money - it’s depressing and Its easy to see how tourists feel when they see this and then the town gets a bad reputation . But year after year hardly anything is being done . There’s some very derelict buildings and houses on the backstreets behind the prom . It seems like the government would rather line its own pockets and spend on the wages for the tons of people in the House of Lords most of whom are not really needed (the elite) and foreign aid and immigration than deal with its internal problems . I don’t think it will ever change significantly enough well at least not for the current generation anyway .

[@fatmanscoop8650]

Its not forgotten about. People know why they don't want to go there.

[@maxxymeme1207]

Blackpool has loads of good things, my family are coming to Blackpool next month

[@dawnbennett2669]

Always cold, but when its warm its a great place to be. I had a fantastic 5 days there in october an it was nice whether. Lots of homeless people though an closed hotel, central blackpool looks like hell on earth

[@lukaszs727]

Ive been to Blackpool for Easter 2013 or 2014. Cant remember exactly. It was pretty busy, I guess not as busy as many, many years ago.

[@s125ish]

Lukasz S it's still busy in summer but it's tacky

[@lukaszs727]

OK I can see where you coming from. I guess it has not change much over years and definitely has not experienced building and infrastructure developments as London has.

[@booth2710]

i went last Sept ... absolute dead. Depressing and cut my stay short. Lights wer naff and no atmosphere at all. Blackpool needs a miracle.

[@stephenduncan3605]

I've been on a Blackpool Facebook page and each and every one of the Bed and Breakfast places are fully booked for October half term so people still come to Blackpool

[@booth2710]

That's partially because there aren't as many B and Bs and hotels as there used to be. Walk along the Golden Mile, s called, from one end to the other and look how many hotels and b and bs are shut down closed down or faking down ... and take a walk round the back streets of Blackpool - my god it's bleak ...

[@mickharrison9004]

With the lock down and after no plane flights and people no wanting to go abroad, should be great for Blackpool.

[@sharonmotteshead6490]

Blackpool is busier than it's ever been I wouldn't say it's a forgotten town ?

[@robertinman7683]

Record numbers visited yesterday....

[@will8244]

I’d love to see my town get back on its feet

[@basylpeterjones]

High rate of long-term disabled and social problems but record tourism. It's not a case of getting back on its feet at all: you have to separate the two issues.

[@will8244]

@@basylpeterjones the issue is it’s currently a shithole

[@penfloyd]

Blackpool,,,, Still Rocks!

[@jonvickerson7694]

I live here at the moment and what a rundown shitty place this is...

[@GeorgeSoroshasenteredthechat]

Was there back in the 90's, saw the decline first hand, the "season" and profits was always gonna pick up "next week", till the end of the season. The big chain pubs made a killing though.

[@439bananas]

I lived there for a year in '92. Even then there were people whose work was extremely seasonal, who would spend 6 months of the year unemployed. God only knows what it is like now, especially with the Universal credit waiting times and zero-hour contracts.

[@daleatkins5100]

I am visiting blackpool soon

[@tobyjackman3212]

Good comment

[@Chipchase780]

Blackpool a forgotten town ? Ask anyone in the British isles where it is and what attractions it has, I would be very surprised if no one could tell you ! There is a danger it is remembered for - let’s call a spade a spade - it’s rather seedy image as much as the tower, lights, and golden mile. £22,000,000 is being spent on a half mile spur tram link between the train station and promenade though, so maybe things are improving. They really need to demolish pretty much the whole town and start again though, the original Victorian properties are looking very run down and tatty.

[@rosschambers1987]

Agree that some of our dated architecture might be in need of refreshment, but a lot of our heritage needs to be preserved. It's what put Blackpool on the map in the 19th century and some have really historical significance. Grand Theatre for example, amazing building, Winter Gardens, stunning, Tower, no words necessary, our tramway, one of the oldest in the world, the forgotten giants of the Imperial, Cliffs, Savoy, Metropole, I think they all have a big part to play in the future. They have character that can't be just built, nostalgia, which I agree can't fuel the whole town, but it's a really important part of why some people like to come here, especially with our golden generation. People can sit and criticise from the outside can't they, but sod them, we live here and we know what's really going on :)

[@jockmcglashan6149]

Well i love visiting Blackpool, holiday there twice every year. Ok, some negative comments but always far more positive ones & that shows we Brits still love good old Blackpool. The proof of that is in all the coach loads of tourists that arrive every year & that's not just in the summer season either, back in march this year i saw a Blackpool promotions coach full of passengers departing from Dunfermline for Blackpool ! . Blackpool is popular with all ages and thats why it will always be a favourite holiday destination.

[@manicminer4127]

The money being spent in the UK on construction and investment is off the charts. £22 million is small change. Birmingham town center there are cranes building towers every where and have been for years. This is same around all mayor cities. HS2 is costing £100 billion alone. Not disrespecting Blackpool as I am considering moving there just giving perspective.

[@georgedlanod7370]

@@rosschambers1987 totally agree!

[@hallnasmaleri1285]

Love the place. Original England and so on.

[@flavourtasters]

Doctors in the UK Should be trained in giving life advice as well as giving experience from their own experience

[@MrDirkles]

As long the senior data visualisation experts of this world stay in London the north will still be a great place

[@PeakyBlinder]

England a forgotten country.

[@kopynd1]

bring back the work houses, easy answer, thats the victorian way, like weeds if you dont control them they take over, put me in charge and al show you how to bring back law and order, death penalty just for a parking offence, yu think the ss were bad

[@milfordcubicle8872]

it still is a good and thriving town

[@themeparkreel]

Blackpool is still the number 1 seaside destination in the UK and recently won the 2nd best beach in the world. the Pleasure Beach recently opened a £16 million double launch roller coaster, and pretty much all the b&b’s in blackpool are always full

[@rosemoore2450]

I hope they don’t dirty it with grime

[@craigmccarthy2114]

No its good as it used to be come back soon but once new stuffs built nae harm in a wee puff off the weed its legal every where else in the the world that heroin is horrendous for people it's onit pure joke should be more help out there for people on that stuff

[@trying58]

Government is not the solution!

[@andrewbarrett42]

Blackpool is full of poor Scottish familys,I live there.

[@tyrants3062]

The greatest place on earth

[@swiftsifu]

Best place in the world when I was a kid, absolute dump now.

[@G4RY1159]

Harsh

[@stephenduncan3605]

London is the biggest dump of the lot

[@dstone2067]

Blackpool is a toilet unfortunately

[@masterknife8423]

D STONE If it's such a bad town nowadays then how come everytime I go in the summer there's still loads of people on the prom? There are worse places in the UK you know

[@G4RY1159]

Nail on the Head

[@davebarnett9294]

It's the outsiders that make Blackpool seem bad. Blackpool is always busy in the summer and tge council should spend more money on the back streets.

[@stephenduncan3605]

So is London so get stuffed

[@stephenduncan3605]

@@davebarnett9294 yeah like the ruffians from Manchester and Salford