Regenerating Blackpool's economy?

Cleaver

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/7891046.stm?lss

Man arrested over Blackpool blaze

A man has been arrested on suspicion of arson after a major fire broke out in Blackpool town centre.

The blaze, which started in Clifton Street opposite the north pier, has damaged several businesses in Talbot Square, including Yates's Wine Lodge.

Lancashire police said the area, which is full of bars and restaurants, was well alight but the flames had been brought under control.

A 21-year-old man has been arrested and will be questioned by police later.

I think you could re-write this story from a different perspective:

Man congratulated for Blackpool economy regeneration efforts

A man has been congratulated after attempts to remove woeful, cesspits from Blackpool's streets by burning them down.

The blaze, which started in Clifton Street opposite the north pier, has damaged several businesses in Talbot Square, including Yates's Wine Lodge, Reflex 80's bar and the Tip Top Celebrity F*ckhut Cattle Bar. Locals are said to be delighted that the opportunity for drunk stag and hen nights decimating their town has been substantially reduced.

Lancashire police said the area, which is full of bars and restaurants, was well alight by the time they got there, but once they realised which bars were burning down they put their hoses away. Local residents are already planning a number of local businesses that will take their place, including a nice Spanish restaurant, a coffee house, a vintage clothes shop and a council run building providing space for local artists.

A 21-year-old man was initially arrested, but after hearing his aims and objectives to get rid of some of the world's worst bars and hellpits he was quickly released and offered a job working for the residential and commerical development team at Blackpool City Council.

Local resident Bobby Bobman was quoted as saying, "I hated Yate's Wine Lodge more than you can ever imagine. It was like walking in to the firery pits of hell, but with more bum cleavages, hair extensions and third-division footballer's haircuts. They could replace it with a big plie of steaming horse manure for all I care and it'd still be an improvement."

chika

Really, and how are the locals going to pay for their Spanish food, afford vintage clothes or pay to see art without the money that the stag and hens bring to Blackpool?

Cleaver

I see a form of new mafia industry in the area, akin to New Jersey in the 1980s or Sicily in the 1950s, that will boost the economy.

My post was a joke, I don't really think buring down Blackpool is a good idea. Well, not really. Although on a list of towns to burn down in the UK, I can't really think of many I would put higher on the list.

Edit: possibly Croydon.

sb44

On a serious note, I think the saddest thing about this is the fact that the pet shop next door to Yates's burned down too and all of the animals in there perished.

I remember as a kid a few decades ago :rolleyes: watching the animals through the window in the arcade where the fire is alleged to have been started.

Our daughter used to love looking in there too on the odd occasion that we went to Blackpool so it brought back memories of when I did.

BettiePage

Nowadays stories like this just make me think 'insurance job'.

Deep_In_Debt

Cleaver wrote: »

I see a form of new mafia industry in the area, akin to New Jersey in the 1980s or Sicily in the 1950s, that will boost the economy.

My post was a joke, I don't really think buring down Blackpool is a good idea. Well, not really. Although on a list of towns to burn down in the UK, I can't really think of many I would put higher on the list.

Edit: possibly Croydon.

Definitely Croydon!

pararct

If you really hate the stag and hen crowd then you will be even more gratified to learn Yates had £500,000 of improvements done just before Xmas..........

chopperharris

I think its a hell hole , and has went downhill since the 90s.Joke was apt.

I would never think of taking kids there now , even though I had fond memories as a kid , but if your a sad lonely git that needs to see strip shows and poledancing then thats your place.Same goes for stag and hen do's , if blackpool needs that to survive then it deserves the fact that everyone else other than those patrons stay away.

The last time I stayed there was last year , before that ten years earlier , before that same again.I paid for 3 days during the week that would have bought a week+ sc in the sun abroad .The room was terrible , the walls were buckling , and it had no money spent since the 80s but had its own wildlife and fungi.If your clientelle of the stag and hen brigade treat where they stay like a toilet then you wont offer them anything better.....which only prevents future or repeat customers that arent stag and hen.

There used to be plenty of places that did signs in the windows "no same sex" big bookings , but even those had to give in eventually...no other customers meant they had to take that or have nothing.

The arcades are all fruit machines , and no they dont dispense one of your five a day.What video games that are there are a decade old.The pleasure beach done away with walkthrough custom , I suspect to stop raging party groups , now its pay at the gate , now pensioners wont even buy a candy floss strolling through it.

You see the long term picture for making blackpool cater for that kind of custom has hurt it badly.....and it wont change now.

They should put petrol in the fire buckets.

SouthCoast

Deep_In_Debt wrote: »

Definitely Croydon!

Avoid Brighton on Friday & Saturday evenings!

Blackpool_Saver

Yep, bomb the lot for me and look up the meaning of decimate....

JasonLVC

chopperharris wrote: »

I think its a hell hole , and has went downhill since the 90s.Joke was apt.

I would never think of taking kids there now , even though I had fond memories as a kid , but if your a sad lonely git that needs to see strip shows and poledancing then thats your place.Same goes for stag and hen do's , if blackpool needs that to survive then it deserves the fact that everyone else other than those patrons stay away.

The last time I stayed there was last year , before that ten years earlier , before that same again.I paid for 3 days during the week that would have bought a week+ sc in the sun abroad .The room was terrible , the walls were buckling , and it had no money spent since the 80s but had its own wildlife and fungi.If your clientelle of the stag and hen brigade treat where they stay like a toilet then you wont offer them anything better.....which only prevents future or repeat customers that arent stag and hen.

There used to be plenty of places that did signs in the windows "no same sex" big bookings , but even those had to give in eventually...no other customers meant they had to take that or have nothing.

The arcades are all fruit machines , and no they dont dispense one of your five a day.What video games that are there are a decade old.The pleasure beach done away with walkthrough custom , I suspect to stop raging party groups , now its pay at the gate , now pensioners wont even buy a candy floss strolling through it.

You see the long term picture for making blackpool cater for that kind of custom has hurt it badly.....and it wont change now.

They should put petrol in the fire buckets.

Agree with all you say. The Big BLue Hotel is very nice (I think the only decent hotel in Blackpool) but it is a massive mistake to make the Pleasure Beach like Alton Towers. When I was there last year there was about 3 people in the park as it just isn't worth £25 each for entry - this is Blackpool - the place for working class/poor folks go on holiday.

The town is sleazy - the sea front full of shops selling blackpool rock and !!!! shaped lollipops - I mean sell one or the other, but not both.