Quality operators only for Blackpool Talbot Gateway

Coun Gerard Walsh questioned why ground floor units in Bickerstaffe House remained empty several years after the building, which contains council offices, opened.

He told a meeting of the council's tourism, economy and communities scrutiny committee: "I'm concerned that two units still remain empty since 2014.

"If this is such a grade A building you would think people would want to move in.

"Yet five years have passed and no one is in these units."

Coun Jim Hobson added: "You go to Manchester and all these offices have cool bars and places to hang out beneath them."

Alan Cavill, Director of Regeneration at Blackpool Council, said: "One of the challenges with these units is what do we want them to be.

"We have had requests for a micro-brewery, betting shop, bars etc and we have turned all of these down because we don't want to establish these uses in this location.

"So it is not a lack of interest, but we want the right kind of interest."

In December 2018, around 260 staff from Slater Gordon Motor Insurance moved into Bickerstaffe House.