Demolition at Blackpool site earmarked for Taco Bell

Town hall planners approved an application by Mexican food chain Taco Bell in November last year for the site on Rigby Road, near the junction with Salthouse Avenue.

Twelve months on, demolition has taken place at the site which sits close to the Festival Park leisure destination.

The building was most recently used as a Steals clothing store but previous to that traded as a carpet store after starting life as a car showroom. It has been vacant for around two years.

Developer the Adil Group, which already operates KFCs and Costa Coffee outlets in Blackpool, was granted planning permission by officers using delegated powers for a two storey drive-thru restaurant.

In its application, it said it wanted “to reinvest, create employment and bring the first Taco Bell restaurant for Blackpool’s community to enjoy.”

The restaurant would hold up to 66 diners in total within the building, with 10 covers at ground floor and 56 at first floor.

Up to 55 new jobs could be created, including 25 part-time positions and 30 full-time positions, according to documents submitted with the planning application.

Signs of progress on the scheme come as other development in the area is also taking steps forward.

Construction of a new bingo hall at Festival Park is now well underway after stalling in 2020 during the Covid pandemic.

Austringer Capital, which acquired Festival Park in 2021, is completing work on the bingo hall on the site of the former Swift Hound pub.

Its plans for the site also include developing a drive-thru Starbucks, and a new access from Rigby Road has now been created ahead of further investment.

Meanwhile planning permission was granted in July this year to convert the Odeon Cinema on the site into a family entertainment centre.

The 10-screen multiplex cinema, which opened in 1998, is not expected to renew its lease when it runs out next June.

New uses approved for the building include bowling, trampolining, crazy golf, arcade games, climbing walls and indoor sports such as tennis or five-a-side football.