Blackpool nostalgia in 1992: Lewis's to close, rock factory fire and first look at rollercoaster plan

End of the road for resort store Lewis’s

Lewis’s Blackpool’s largest department store, was to close in the New Year with the loss of 220 jobs.

The shutdown was being heralded by a £1m clearance sale.

Large price reductions were expected to provide a boost for recession-hit shoppers, but that came as little comfort to shop workers starting 1993 on the dole.

The exact number of redundancies was yet to be known because two thirds of the workforce was employed by companies with concessions in the store.

About 80 Lewis’s jobs were certain to go and company insiders said the vast majority of the concession jobs were likely to follow.

Some shopworkers were looking at being relocated by their companies.

The 1960s style store was being bought by property developers Chartwell Land Investments, preparing it for takeover by its sister company Woolworths.

The new look store was due to open in 1994. The closure announcement came in a brief statement from the Lewis’s receivers, accountants Arthur Andersen.

Andersen’s spokesman James Gleave said the closure was a shame.

Payout packages sealed as workforce faces redundancy

Fleetwood’s MP was seeking urgent talks with Smiths Crisps bosses in an attempt to cushion the blow for more than 160 workers facing the dole queue.

But Keith Mans believed his Wyre constituency, with unemployment below the national average, had a good a record of absorbing staff made redundant.

The 162 strong workforce at the factory were due to join the 1,300 Fleetwood residents already unemployed.

Smiths Operations director Tim Raven said that workers were to receive generous redundancy packages. Pay-off terms had been sealed following talks between union leaders and the snack giant’s managers.

Mr Raven said: “The talks have been conducted in a constructive atmosphere and we have completed the first phase. Terms have been enhanced in recognition of the exceptional workforce.”

Mr Mans said: “I will be looking closely at exactly how the company is going to try and help to find additional employment for those people it is making redundant.

“I will be trying to make sure the problems that will obviously occur will be dealt with in as sympathetic a way as possible.

Two fires broke out within four hours

Intruders had been blamed for two mystery fires which destroyed a Blackpool rock factory, causing £100k of damage.

Police and fire officers were investigating the blazes, which broke out within four hours of each other, at the Coastal Candy Company inBack Keswick Road.

Two firefighters were slightly injured at the height of the blaze when struck by falling slates but neither required hospital treatment.

The first fire began on the ground floor of the detached property and rapidly spread across the whole of the first floor, severely damaging machinery and stock. Reinforcements were drafted in from South Shore.

Firefighters returned to the station at 12.30am only to be called out again at 2am to a second, smaller fire.

Company chairman George Parker said: “It appears to be a break-in, it is devastating.

Huge scale of new rollercoaster

An artist’s impression of the world’s tallest roller coaster was unveiled.

Up to 30 white knuckle riders a time could plummet at 85 mph from 235ft over the Pleasure Beach’s Ocean Boulevard shopping parade before continuing on a gripping mile long journey.

The drawing, superimposed over the boulevard and the Big Dipper, gave a true perspective of its height.

Meanwhile the descendents of thousands of goldfish who never made it home were still swimming around. The unwanted rewards for funfair games had been recovered from the Pleasure Beach Log Flume. The water had been drained for pile driving and as the level dropped it revealed an aquarist’s treasure trove of goldfish as well as koi carp and bream.