NEWS: City of Blackpool buys Tower and Winter Gardens

[Airtime&Gravity]

In a last-ditch effort to arrest Blackpool’s decline, the local council on Tuesday bought two of the resort’s most popular attractions, the Tower and the Winter Gardens, with a pledge to create a world-class tourist destination.

 

Rosie Winterton, communities and business minister, announced in the famous Tower ballroom that £38.9m would be spent on buying the assets from Leisure Parcs, the group controlled by Trevor Hemmings, the leisure entrepreneur, including £10m to refurbish the rusting tower.

 

Mr Hemmings bought large parts of the seafront, including its three piers, in 1998 for £74m in the expectation that Blackpool would be granted a licence for a “supercasino” that would have brought millions of extra visitors to the north-west resort.

 

However, the government awarded it to Manchester in 2007 before Gordon Brown scrapped the plan entirely in one of his first acts as prime minister. Local businesses believe Mr Hemmings has underinvested in the town, increasing its decline.

 

The entrepreneur has also been distracted by other investments, such as his property empire and lossmaking Preston North End football club. The 2009 Estates Gazette Rich List estimated that his personal wealth fell from more than £1bn in 2008 to £300m, although property prices have since recovered somewhat.

 

The council has hired Merlin Entertainments Group, the world’s second-biggest theme park operator, to run the attractions. Merlin, owned by Blackstone Group, operates the London Eye, London Dungeon and Legoland among other destinations.

 

Its job is to raise visitor numbers to 800,000 annually from 458,000 in 2008/09, bringing an additional £36m per year of visitor spending.

 

The Winter Gardens, once a staple of the party conference circuit, now in poor condition, will undergo a first-phase refurbishment and upgrading programme to create a new mid-size, multi-purpose conference venue. It will have to compete with well-regarded centres in Manchester and Liverpool.

 

Some £10m is coming from Blackpool council, with £14m from the EU, £7.9m from the Northwest Regional Development Agency and £7m from the Homes and Communities Agency. The deal should create 1,000 jobs and deliver £223 in annual benefits to the local economy, with a return of of £7 for every £1 of public sector investment, the government claimed.

 

Blackpool remains one of the most popular tourist destinations in the UK, but has lost out to cheap package holidays abroad.

 

Annual visitor numbers have dropped from 17m to less than 10m in the past 15 years and only five per cent are from the sought-after middle-class high spenders. Many stay for a weekend and half are day-trippers rather than spending a week as was usual up until the 1960s.

 

The authorities believe it has become trapped in the low-budget market, with 60,000 bed spaces being sold at an average of £25 a night amid cut-throat competition. The Blackpool Tower buy caps £250m-plus of public and private investment that has created a new seafront, housing and shopping centre.

 

Ms Winterton said: “Blackpool is one of our most iconic seaside towns. This investment will revamp these historic buildings and secure their world-class status well into the future alongside jobs and regeneration now.

 

“Today’s announcement is part and parcel of concerted action on the part of the government to help seaside towns thrive.”

 

The Conservative party has accused the government of pre-election spending spree in marginal seats, especially at the seaside. However, it controls Blackpool council, so it will be unable to do so with this deal.

 

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Blackpool will be "the most exciting resort in Europe" after its upcoming revamp, the regional minister for the North West has said.

 

Phil Woolas was speaking after the local council completed a deal to buy some of the resort's main attractions, including the Tower, in a £38.9m deal.

 

England's second Madame Tussauds and a dungeon attraction like the famous one in London will also be opened.

 

Merlin Entertainments has been appointed to manage the attractions.

 

Blackpool Council on Tuesday announced its completion of the purchase of the Tower, Winter Gardens, the Golden Mile Centre and Louis Tussauds buildings.

 

"There really is an economic revolution in Blackpool"

 

Phil Woolas, regional minister

 

It was made possible following bids for European and government funding, as well as £10m from the authority's own budget.

 

"It is going to create the most exciting resort, in my view, in Europe," said Mr Woolas.

 

"There really is an economic revolution in Blackpool.

 

"This is the most popular tourist destination in the UK anyway but we are going to double the number of visitors."

 

Merlin Entertainments - which runs the London Eye, Alton Towers and Legoland - already operates a Sea Life centre in the town.

 

'Premier league'

 

Blackpool Tower, which opened in May 1894, will be restored with £10m of the funding.

 

The current observation platform will be replaced with a 4D cinema show as part of its revamp.

 

A new conference centre will be built near the Winter Gardens, which hosted the Royal Variety Performance last year.

 

The authority hopes the investment plans will bring in an extra 800,000 visitors a year.

 

More than 1,000 jobs will be created by the venture, which it is hoped will be completed by summer 2011, the council said.

 

Merlin Entertainments' chief executive Nick Varney said: "From 2011 no other UK centre other than London will be able to offer visitors such a unique and broad selection of international attraction brands.

 

"In our view this will help take what is already one of the best loved and iconic seaside destinations in Europe into the premier league."

 

The investment comes from the Northwest European Regional Development Fund, the Northwest Regional Development Agency, Blackpool Council and the Homes and Communities Agency.

 

BBC

 

V Thanks

Edited March 30, 2010 by Airtime&Gravity

[StealthFan]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/uk_news/england/lancashire/8595329.stm

 

Theres a link to the BBC article.

 

Its good to see some real huge investment going into Blackpool. A new Madame Tussauds & Dungeons to go with the Sea-Life already in Blackpool (Which I might add I think is one of the best out there). Along with the huge investment already going in with the tram line also I can see Blackpool finally getting its feet firmly back on the ground.

 

Also I would like to think with the sort of huge investment Amanda will now have the opportunity and reason to begin some serious investment into the Pleasure Beach. I just seriously hope she doesn't try and do something stupid like sell it to Merlin!

 

-Craig "Another Annual Pass Increase Next Year" Knight