Blackpool pub bought for £264k by council

Town hall chiefs have bought The Hop on the corner of King Street and Cookson Street for £264,500 from pub chain Greene King.

The site will be used as part of the next phase of the Talbot Gateway development.

The pub, which previously traded as The Veevers Arms Hotel, closed on November 25.

Coun Mark Smith, cabinet member for regeneration, enterprise and economic development, said: “Blackpool Council has bought The Hop on King Street as part of its ambitious Talbot Gateway scheme.

“We have to continue to be forward thinking and enterprising to build a better Blackpool.

“The purchase is another important step in reviving and delivering comprehensive regeneration of one of the key gateways into the town centre.

“This decision greatly increases council ownership in the area and a number of short term uses are being considered until central business district phase three is announced.”

A council report says in the short term it is proposed “to seek a suitable temporary use or if not possible to demolish the Hop and create temporary parking and/or site compound, at a cost of £120,000.”

The council already operates two temporary car parks in Blackpool on Tower Street, and on the site of the former Syndicate nightclub on Church Street, following demolition of buildings.

The Hop is is locally listed by the council in recognition of its heritage value but that does not prevent redevelopment.

At the time of the closure, manager Cliff Thompson said the pub had been up for sale for some time.

Staff were found new jobs in other Greene King pubs in Blackpool.

Coun Tony Williams, leader of the Conservatives on Blackpool Council, has called for a bus station on the site.

He said: “Now the site of the Hop Inn is in council hands this could be a perfect opportunity to develop a better facility for integrated transport services.

"If we take over the council in 2019 the first project on the table would be building a new central bus station.”