Work could begin on these new hotels in 2025

Regeneration chiefs hope 2025 will finally see stalled hotel projects get off the ground in Blackpool – bringing more national brands to the resort’s holiday sector.

Schemes to transform the former Post Office in Abingdon Street into an Indigo Hotel, and to build a new hotel next to the Winter Gardens are both expected to begin in the next 12 months.

Each project has seen numerous delays but has planning permission and developers on board.

The council’s Planning Committee approved reserved matters in December for a five-storey development with 266 bedrooms on land opposite the Winter Gardens currently used as a car park.

The decision gave the final go ahead for the application by developers C1 Capital Partners Ltd and Mottrom Estates whose brands include Hilton London Olympia and Mercure.

They have been working with the council, which owns the land, to come up with a scheme to provide the Winter Gardens with its own hotel and boost its appeal to the conference and exhibition trade.

Since 2010 at least four previous hotel schemes had been brought forward for the land but none reached the construction stage.

Another hoped for investment which has suffered numerous delays is the proposed transformation of the former Post Office on Abingdon Street.

A £26m scheme is supported by £8m of Levelling Up funding from the previous government but has yet to progress.

The Grade II listed building has been empty since 2007 but Ashall Developments secured planning permission in September 2023 to transform it into a 150-room hotel.

It was the fifth time full planning permission had been granted for the site, which also includes the former sorting office which closed in 2007, to be converted to uses including a hotel.

Ashall Projects first got planning permission in November 2021 but submitted revised proposals in August 2023 after the Levelling Up funding was confirmed after twice being refused.

Structural surveys have been carried out this year on the building which has fallen into disrepair over the years but it is now hoped work is close to getting started.

Meanwhile a prominent site on Blackpool Promenade remains empty despite planning permission being approved in spring 2024 for a £30m hotel.

Singapore-based Fragrance Group has the go ahead to build a 143-bedroom hotel on a site between The Promenade, Woodfield Street, St Chad’s Road and Bolton Street after demolishing the former St Chad’s Hotel on the site in May 2023.