'Fear for the future' for residents as plans for demolition of popular Blackpool hotel may change the face of the Promenade

Planning permission has been sought for demolition of the St.Chads Hotel

A prominent seafront hotel has been earmarked for demolition, leaving residents near the site fearing for the safety of their homes and businesses.

The Fragrance group, which owns St. Chads hotel, applied for planning permission for the demolition of the site, which was once a popular venue for holidaymakers until its sudden closure in 2021, the plan's for demolition include the whole block of hotels, meaning St. Chads, The Lyric Hotel, Regency Apartments and the Seaside fish and chip shop are part of the plans.

The Site, which sits between the Promenade, Woodfield street, St. Chads Road and Bolton Street, has been fenced off for the last few months.

Elaine Fazakaley and her neighbour Andy Southerland both own B&B's on St Chad's Road and claim that they have heard 'drillings' at the property since 2022.

• Their are fears by residents for the future of their properties (Photo By LancsLive/James Maloney)

Elain Said: "Notices have gone up in the past week on the street telling us of plans," 

"We're all worried for what any building or demolition work is going to do to our buildings. When we had the earthquakes from the fracking, it caused the walls of our buildings to crack.

"We're worried that any drilling or any big disruptions will cause us damage. Our foundations could be ruined with all the earth moving."

Andy added that: "These B&Bs are only built on sand. It won't take much for them to be effected by any drilling. We've heard that they're wanting to build an underground car park which will need loads of drilling. We had cracks from the fracking, so who knows what this work will do."

Both Elaine and Andy spoke to LancsLive, saying that if given the option, they would both object to the planned demolition of the hotel's.

Sutton Park, another B&B which is around the corner on Woodfield road, run by Steward and Gill Norris, runs adjacent to the back of the building, they are in two minds about the demolition with Steward saying that he recognising that the abandoned hotel has become an 'eyesore', but that he also has concerns about the toll the demolition may have on his property.

He said: "Most of our bedrooms have windows facing St Chads. I don't want that staying there because it's an eyesore. But do I want a load of building work? Preferably not, but you have to put up with it, don't you.

"We'd like for them to take care of the local streets. I'd like them to put some rubber matting on Bolton Street for them to run their 20 tonne diggers over. When they've been running the diggers up and down the road for the bit of building work they've done so far, the whole building shakes.

"I used to deliver to construction sites all around London, so I've seen a variety of construction sites. The rumour is they want to build an underground car park when they build the new hotel. The process for doing that could potentially damage the old Victorian sewer system, which would leave us all without water.

"It could even cause subsidence to us, which would be awful. I'm all for progress, but I think an underground car park is pushing it."

• Demolition of the block could start as soon as May

However, not everyone shares the worries, some residents say they are looking forward to having a brand new building overlooking the seafront, Damian Dodson, who has lived in the area for the last three years, says he's 'all for the modern look'.

He said: "Don't get me wrong, I love all the old buildings and stuff, but look at it. It'll make the front look so much nicer. I can't imagine them putting a building up that doesn't look nice."

It is expected that a planning application to build a new 157-room hotel, on the same block as the current properties, will be submitted later this year.

The Fragrance group, who also own the North Short hotel The Imperial, hopes to redevelop the site with "a new, high quality, hotel" with talks already being had with town hall planners around its proposals, accompanying the application was a planning brief that simply says that refurbishing the existing buildings is a non-starter due to the run down and poor state of the properties.

It says: “The buildings are in a poor state of repair both structurally and cosmetically and, now vacant, are increasingly targeted by vandals and anti social behaviour detracting from the character and appearance of the Promenade.” The building occupied by the St Chad’s Hotel dates back to 1893 with the remainder of the buildings being added in stages since around 1912."

Documents add: “Instead, it is intended that following demolition the buildings be replaced by a single, high quality hotel which would occupy broadly the same footprint as the existing buildings. The new hotel would provide circa 157 guest bedrooms with a range of ancillary facilities including lobby, bar/restaurant and dining rooms which can also be used to host entertainment evenings.”