Seaside resort's hope for summer season boost

Businesses in Blackpool say they are hopeful for a bright future for the resort as they prepare for the start of the summer season.

With Easter traditionally marking the start of the busiest season of the year, shopkeepers, bar owners and hoteliers have been making last minute preparations for the arrival of thousands of tourists.

And they hope that they will benefit from the recent multi-million pound investments in projects that promise to draw punters to the seaside.

Graham Scott, who has been running the Scotties Got It gift shop near North Pier for nearly 40 years, welcomed the £13m investment in the Showtown museum dedicated to the resort's history, and the £21m multiplex cinema that has one of the largest IMAX screens in the north-west of England.

But he said interest in traditional seaside novelties remained strong.

"The come in the door and they go, 'Oh I love these sorts of shops'", he said.

"They still want the old-fashioned Kiss Me Quick hats."

He added he hoped that the bar set to open next door to his shop would help boost trade, and that the planned Marriott hotel would also bring more conferences to the town.

Elizabeth Brown spent the winter upgrading her family-run North Shore hotel the Sheraton, renovating rooms, the swimming pool and restaurant.

"We're happy as a business," she said. "We're growing, so we're confident about the season ahead.

"I think Covid had a massive impact on the Promenade, and a lot of hotels haven't survived.

"We reopened when we could, and then it boomed from then because a lot of our guests are quite elderly and they suddenly thought, 'We're not going to go abroad anymore - let's just got to Blackpool to a place that we know'.

"Many guests come four times a year, some guests come 10 or 12 times a year."

Robert Wynne recently opened a new music venue at the West Coast Rock Cafe near the Winter Gardens.

He said the biggest problem his business has faced in the past in consistency.

"It's very hard to budget when energy prices can go through the roof and then come back down again," he said.

"We thought this was the right time to make a big new commitment to the town.

"I think if we're still standing then we've done very well, so there must be good times ahead."

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