Blackpool was once hailed as the jewel in the crown of Lancashire, a mecca for the British working class in terms of seaside days out, summer holidays, entertainment and sightseeing. The Fylde Coast has lost its shine and over the past twenty or more years and has gone from scandal to scandal, each sordid headlines in the mainstream media reflecting the decline of a once prosperous northern resort.
In 2024 the shine has gone, Blackpool’s reputation has declined to an even lower point. According to the latest government statistics, Blackpool now has the lowest male life expectancy in the United Kingdom. According to the latest statistics the average life expectancy for males in Blackpool is now 73 years of age.
One report states that, “For the first time in 20 years, Blackpool, a once glamorous seaside resort, has overtaken Glasgow to have the lowest male life expectancy in the UK.”
Given that Glasgow is a large post-industrial city, covering a large area of dense housing and with a much larger population than Blackpool, with a long history of areas of poverty and social problems, this situation is pretty damning. The same report goes on to state that, “Blackpool has some of the cheapest and most squalid housing in the UK, often attracting renters in poor health.”
Why has Blackpool gone so far down into the abyss of poverty, sub-standard housing, social deprivation and unemployment? Immigration and the housing of ‘asylum-seekers’ in hotels has of course impacted life in Blackpool. The Blackpool Gazette trots out the usual liberal, leftist position on this situation, the usual ‘Don’t blame the poor asylum-seekers’ and the real villains are of course the “Far-Right”.
“Fewer asylum seekers were being housed in hotels in Blackpool this summer than a year earlier, new figures show. A refugee charity has said hotels should never be used to house asylum seekers, warning it leaves vulnerable people isolated and at risk of being targeted by the far-right.
“Hotels housing asylum seekers were subject to protests and violence this summer, as far-right protesters took to the streets for days of rioting. This was met with counter-protests by anti-racism groups and swift prosecutions through the courts.”
But back in 2021; “The decision to house more than 200 asylum seekers in a seaside resort is “disproportionate and damaging”, an MP has warned.”
“About 220 people will be relocated to the Metropole Hotel in Blackpool from the end of this week. Paul Maynard, Conservative MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys, described the decision as a “short-sighted, panic measure”. He said it was a “deeply inappropriate choice of accommodation”.
“A group of this size, placed in what is already one of the most deprived wards in the country, places a strain on the local community and services which already face immense challenges, and does not help the refugees in any way either,” he said. And now in 18 September 2024; Blackpool South MP Chris Webb has called for an end to using the Metropole Hotel to accommodate asylum seekers.
“The housing of families in the seafront hotel – the only one in Blackpool to be sited on the beach side of the tram tracks – has proved controversial since it was first announced in 2021. Around 220 asylum seekers were moved into The Metropole, part of the Britannia Hotels chain, in September 2021- despite council concerns public services were already under pressure.”
In November 2022, former Blackpool North and Fleetwood MP Paul Maynard told the Commons the Metropole should be among the first hotels to be vacated. Fewer asylum seekers were being housed in hotels in Blackpool this summer than a year earlier, new figures show.
“A refugee charity has said hotels should never be used to house asylum seekers, warning it leaves vulnerable people isolated and at risk of being targeted by the far-right.”
“Hotels housing asylum seekers were subject to protests and violence this summer, as far-right protesters took to the streets for days of rioting. This was met with counter-protests by anti-racism groups and swift prosecutions through the courts.”
Remember what was said in 2021: “About 220 people will be relocated to the Metropole Hotel in Blackpool from the end of this week. Paul Maynard, Conservative MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys, described the decision as a “short-sighted, panic measure”. He said it was a “deeply inappropriate choice of accommodation”.
“A group of this size, placed in what is already one of the most deprived wards in the country, places a strain on the local community and services which already face immense challenges, and does not help the refugees in any way either,” he said.
In November 2022, former Blackpool North and Fleetwood MP Paul Maynard told the Commons the asylum-seekers in hotels and what were once bed and breakfast accommodation properties has contributed to a lack of cheap, rented accommodation and dozens if not hundreds of homeless on the
streets of Blackpool.
British Movement activist, podcaster and musician in the Nationalist band Whitelaw, Benny had first-hand experience of the situation on Blackpool seafront last year. He reported on seeing numbers of asylum seekers just ‘hanging around the front of the Metropole Hotel while homeless White British individuals were sheltering and sleeping in shop front doorways.
In recent months officials from the Labour government have tried to play down continuing public concerns about the housing of asylum-seekers in Blackpool. In deliberate juggling of numbers the statistics were used to show that in August 2023 there were 494 migrants in Blackpool hotels, but by June 2024 it was reduced to 346. In addition it claimed that in June 2023 there were 525 migrants/asylum seekers living on government support in Blackpool, but by June 2024 this was down to 462 individuals.
And What Has Happened to the Golden Mile?
The Blackpool sea front shops once reflected British working class holiday shopping for sticks of Blackpool rock, buckets and spades for the beach, ‘Kiss Me Quick’ hats and all the cheap, trashy souvenirs associated with the British sea side. There were arcades of slot machines and bingo halls and pubs.
But now on the sea front and the connecting streets there are Curry houses, Asian takeaways, kebab houses and similar Asian owned and operated small businesses are now dotted among the old tourist shops. Takeaways made infamous during the case of Charlene Downes’ The Charlene Downes case is still an open investigation.
Although there are those local politicians and left-wing activists who wish that the story would remain hidden away. There are of course some journalists in the mainstream media who are prepared to keep reminding the people of Lancashire that Charlene Downes remains missing and that the police have not closed the files on this investigation.
The unsettling aspect of the Charlene Downes case for the political Left was of course the unsettling revelations made during the failed trials of the main suspects and the negative light the case threw on ‘multi-cultural Blackpool’ and the potential the case had for stoking up tensions against diversity in what was once a solid White British working class town and sea side resort.
The Manchester Evening News back in 2019 reviewed the Charlene Downe TV documentary.
“What really happened to Charlene Downes?
“The Blackpool schoolgirl who vanished without trace In the wake of a TV documentary, the M.E.N. looks at a case which shone a light on the dark side of Blackpool Promenade.”
The revelations given by both the TV documentary and the review in the Manchester Evening News was hardly the kind of image of Blackpool that the tourism industry would want to dwell on nor promote.
“The parents of a 14-year-old girl thought to have been murdered 20 years ago have made an emotional appeal for someone to come forward with new information and “end our nightmare”.
Charlene Downes disappeared in the Lancashire town of Blackpool on 1 November 2003. The mother of a teenager who police believe was murdered when she went missing 15 years ago has issued a warning about grooming gangs.
Police believe Charlene Downes is one of a number of girls who were sexually exploited in Blackpool. The 14-year-old disappeared near the town’s North Pier on 1 November 2003, but has never been found. Following a police decision to treat Downes’s disappearance as murder, there were several arrests in the case, and two men stood trial in May 2007.
The prosecution alleged at Preston Crown Court that Charlene had been murdered by Iyad Albattikhi, a 29-year-old man from Jordan and the owner of Funny Boyz fast food outlet in Blackpool. Mohammed Reveshi, Albattikhi’s business partner, was accused of disposing of her body. According to the prosecution, Albattikhi had sex with Charlene. Her case uncovered the dark side of Blackpool Promenade, where she took to hanging around after being excluded from school.
The prosecution alleged that the men had discussed disposing of her body by putting it in kebabs sold from the fast food outlet. It revealed that predators lurked in the seaside town’s arcades and takeaways, exploiting children with offers of burgers, cigarettes, booze – and the promise of affection. The botched police investigation that followed Charlene’s disappearance would uncover stomach-churning claims about her fate.
It was alleged that Charlene had been strangled and dismembered, that her killers had joked of having turned her into kebab meat and tiling grout – after she had ‘had enough’ of being exploited and threatened to go to police.
Iyad Albattikhi, who ran the Funny Boyz takeaway in the town, and his landlord and business partner Mohammed Reveshi, are the only men ever to have been charged in connection with Charlene’s disappearance, which they have always denied any involvement in. Mr Albattikhi, then 29, was charged with murder, and Mr Reveshi, then 50, was charged with helping him dispose of her body.
A jury failed to reach verdicts following the 2007 trial at Preston Crown Court and a retrial was also dropped because of a flawed investigation. The police watchdog found the investigation was ‘handled unprofessionally’ and was plagued by a ‘catalogue of errors’ which undermined the court case.
In 2017, Charlene’s mother, Karen Downes, published a book about the case, Sold In Secret, in which she outlines her belief that the police did not take Charlene’s case seriously enough because they were ‘uneducated and working class’.
It’s a sentiment that families of the infamous Rochdale grooming gang will recognise. Indeed, the documentary described how Blackpool had become a ‘playground for paedophiles’ – a place where the exploitation of youngsters from difficult backgrounds had become endemic.
Add to that Blackpool’s reputation now for illegal drugs, Lancashire Police launched a major operation against drug dealers in Blackpool in 2022/2023 which resulted in large scale arrests and the conviction of 26 people directly involved in trafficking and dealing in Class A narcotics in Blackpool and the surrounding towns of the Fylde Coast.
The Blackpool Gazette reported this at the time: March 2023 Blackpool Gazette
“Gang who flooded streets of Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre with Class A drugs jailed for more than 130 years. 26 people who flooded Blackpool’s streets with Class A drugs have been jailed for a total of over 130 years.
“Officers from the West Targeted Crime Unit took down a major supply operation between October 2020 and June 2021. It targeted dealers bringing in large quantities of Class A drugs into the Blackpool area which were then distributed at street level.”
Not exactly the Lancashire tourist agency’s desired image of Blackpool as a focus for family holidays and entertainment. So back to the original question – what the Hell has happened to Blackpool?
Is this what happens to traditional working class Britain when diversity, multi-culturalism and ‘progressive’ politics ousts the traditional British population and entertainments?
Credits:
Main Image: Photo by Francis Heathcote on Unsplash.
Lower Image: Stock Photo.
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