New shops could open in Blackpool town centre as part of a major regeneration of the seaside town. Developers behind the £350m Talbot Gateway are hoping to attract new retailers as part of the ambitious scheme.
The council is seeking tenants for five units within the £34m Holiday Inn and new tram terminal, which will be available from Easter next year. This will coincide with the opening of the four star 144-room hotel.
The site also links to Blackpool North train station – where footfall was more than two million people last year.
Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features.
Coun Mark Smith, cabinet member for levelling up (place) at Blackpool Council, said: “The scale of regeneration in Blackpool right now is incredible and we’re proudly boasting about our £2bn growth and prosperity programme.
"At the Talbot Gateway, progress is being made on three major phases to regenerate the area around the train station which will bring thousands of professional workers and students into the area every day. While the tramway extension and underpass make it much more accessible to reach Blackpool Promenade and all our major attractions by rail.”
The site will see more than 5,000 sq ft of retail space released by developers. The Station View retail units range from 400 sq ft to 1,800 sq ft in size, with mains water and electric, alongside telecoms and data access.
The units have planning permission for Class E retail use with the high volume of passing traffic offering options for food to go and convenience retailers. Town centre footfall is expected to increase even further as regeneration continues including construction of a new civil service hub and multiversity.
Around 3,000 workers are set to relocate to the town centre in early 2025, while the multiversity campus will bring 2,000 students and staff to the area. But the council has previously struggled to find tenants for units in the Talbot Gateway, where two units remain empty beneath Bickerstaffe House – and came in for criticism from opposition councillors for delays.
Tenants in Bickerstaffe House now include the Post Office and Subway, while Mr Basrai’s World Cuisines and The Gym Group are tenants on the ground floor of the Talbot Road multi-storey car park on Cookson Street.
For more information on the retail units, go here or email regeneration@blackpool.gov.uk
