We've created a £350m mini Canary Wharf to give Blackpool 365-day, year-round global appeal

Creation of a ‘mini–Canary Wharf’ is promoting Blackpool to an increasingly global audience as an all-year round international visitor destination.

That’s the view of the manager of one of the resort's leading hotels regarding the Talbot Gateway development.

Mark Winter, general manager of Holiday Inn Blackpool, described the £350m mixed-use regeneration project as “an economic game changer”, creating a central business district and civic quarter for more than 8,000 workers and students and helping to attract a rising number of corporate and commercial visitors.

Mr Winter said: “Talbot Gateway is creating what I describe as a ‘mini–Canary Wharf’ for Blackpool, acting as a major catalyst for growth and giving a powerful message to national and international audiences that times are changing for the resort.

“As proud ambassadors of Blackpool, we’re projecting the resort on a global stage, with corporate and commercial visitors from home and overseas joining domestic guests to make the town and its many attractions an all-year round, 365-day a year destination.”

Led by Blackpool Council and its long-term regeneration partner Muse, part of Morgan Sindall Group, Talbot Gateway is transforming about 20 acres around Blackpool North train station to bring more than 8,000 workers and students to the town centre.

The project has already delivered:

· The 144-bedroom Holiday Inn Blackpool, providing 100 jobs for almost entirely local people;

· The 125,000 sq ft Number One Bickerstaffe Square new headquarters of Blackpool Council, housing more than 700 staff;

· A 120,000 sq ft Sainsbury's supermarket, multi-storey car parking and public space and tramway extension and interchange with Blackpool North train station.

Other Talbot Gateway schemes include:

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – completed in 2025, a £100m, 215,000 sq ft, seven-storey regional office on King Street, that brought more than 3,000 civil servants to Blackpool;

Multiversity – a new £65m carbon-neutral campus for about 3,000 students and staff at Blackpool and the Fylde College, due to open in 2028;

Ministry of Defence (MoD) - work on a 52,000 sq ft office on the site of the former Apollo 2000 store started in 2025. When completed in 2027 it will be home to about 1,100 MoD staff.

Boosted by that wide-ranging regeneration, Mr Winter said that since opening on May 1, 2024, Holiday Inn Blackpool, owned by Blackpool Council and operated by RBH Hospitality Management under licence from IHG Hotels and Resorts, has welcomed over 150,000 guests; established itself as the Best Holiday Inn UK & Ireland for two years in a row based on guests’ overall experience; seen ‘incredible’ growth in corporate guests, with an increase of more than 140 per cent from year one to year two; delivered over 20,000 rooms to conference delegates attending conventions, exhibitions and conferences in Blackpool and seen global travel surge, with markets such as USA growing significantly into the resort.

Mark Rawstron, property development and regeneration spokesperson for the Lancashire Business Board, said: “High profile schemes including Talbot Gateway prove Blackpool is securing essential public and private sector investment in property and people to generate sustainable growth for the town and Lancashire.

“The resort is building on its long-established brand at home to attract an increasingly international audience by delivering quality office and hotel accommodation, cultural programming and year-round free events.”