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£26m hotel on the cards for former post office

A former post office in Blackpool could be transformed into a boutique Blackpool hotel containing 144 rooms with plans being submitted to the council. The empty building located on Abingdon Street is earmarked for a £26m development by Ashall Projects in a revised plan following the stalling of a previous project in 2021 due to a failed bid for government funding.

A new bid as part of the Levelling Up fund includes around £8 million which would go towards the hotel plan.

Leader of Blackpool Council, Lynn Williams, said that the local authority fully supported any plan to bring the historic building “back to life”.

This latest application consists of a four and five storey link extension to the building with rooftop terracing between the former Post Office and adjacent sorting office as well as a rear extension to the former post office of three storeys. There would also be significant internal and external alterations to each of these buildings.

Ashall Projects are aiming to fully restore the Grade II listed facade of the former post office building as well as the telephone kiosks outside which it claims will add character to the street.

If this plan is approved, the hotel would be a part of the Hotel Indigo brand.

The post office closed its doors in 2007 while the sorting office moved to a new location in 2015. Failure to develop the site would likely result in both buildings deteriorating and this clearly would be in no-one’s interest.