I honestly don’t know whether this will be the end of my Blackpool business Fredstar Afrocaribbean store

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The owner of an Affrocaribbean store located in the footprint of Blackpool’s new mutiversity area fears the plans are going to ‘kill off’ his business.

“I’m not asking for an arm and a leg, just some assistance,” says Fred Omasan.

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For more than 15 years he has lived and worked in Blackpool, never once claiming benefits, he’s keen to point out. But the council, he says, is “pushing him off a cliff”.

He runs Fredstar Afrocaribbean store – most recently located on Cookson Street, in a building earmarked for demolition to make way for regeneration of the area.

“We have to move out but we haven’t got a location yet. This is going to kill my business off,” he told The Blackpool Lead.

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Omasan’s time in the town has been marred by Blackpool’s ambitious development projects, which have delivered blow after blow to his trade despite promising a brighter future for the resort overall.

The owner of an Affrocaribbean store Fredstar located in the footprint of Blackpool’s new mutiversity area fears the plans are going to ‘kill off’ his businessThe owner of an Affrocaribbean store Fredstar located in the footprint of Blackpool’s new mutiversity area fears the plans are going to ‘kill off’ his business
The owner of an Affrocaribbean store Fredstar located in the footprint of Blackpool’s new mutiversity area fears the plans are going to ‘kill off’ his business | Blackpool Lead

His once thriving business was dealt an initial setback in 2021, when Omasan was forced to pack up the shelves, pull down his signage and move from his King Street site.

The move, he accepted, was to facilitate part of the council’s plan for the Talbot Gateway – a £350m project which will see, among other features, a new UK Government hub housing approximately 3,000 civil servants on the site of his former shop.

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Omasan, 49, accepted the council’s assistance and moved his business to Cookson Street – an area which at the time, was not publicly earmarked for an overhaul. Fast forward three years and the father of two, along with other independent traders, finds himself facing the barrel-end of a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO), which will find him uprooted once again – this time to facilitate the construction of a ‘Multiversity’.

The CPO, which comprises land housing residential and commercial properties between Cookson Street, Grosvenor Street, George Street and Milbourne Street, was issued in April this year and dozens of the buildings have already been vacated.

“At the time of the first move I said, I hope you’re not moving me now then going to come across the road,” Omasan says. “They assured me ‘no, no, no’. If I had any inclination at all that this was going to happen I would never have gone there.

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“I have had no communication from the council. They are trying to just do it all through the landlord. There is just silence – they don’t want to speak to the tenants. I have even been to the council building myself.

“I need at least some explanation about what is going on. There has been no communication. If they were about to demolish the building how would I even know?”

The £65m Multiversity project is set to result in the country’s first ‘carbon neutral’ Higher Education campus with courses delivered by Blackpool & Fylde College in partnership with Lancaster University.

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Artist's impression of proposed multiversityArtist's impression of proposed multiversity
Artist's impression of proposed multiversity | n/a

The development will replace the existing University Centre on Park Road, including Palatine Road arts college, the future of which is unknown. And arts does not appear to be a key focus for the Multiversity – so called because it will be ‘multi-functional’ and ‘multi-layered’.

“Future higher education institutions will need to be very different creatures than in the past if we are to truly achieve levelling up,” Blackpool & Fylde College’s website states. “They will need to cater for multiple entry points and cater across the age distribution, rather than focusing on the young and traditional academic years.”

Once completed, earmarked for 2027, the campus will allow B&FC to offer more than 70 courses ‘enhancing its existing higher education provision’. The college believes it will be a transformative project which will improve business connections, education and investment in the town. It also claims that the hub will ‘deliver the skills needed to drive the local, regional and national economy’.

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Omasan, who moved to Blackpool after visiting a friend here 17 years ago, says that he understands the need for the CPO, but as a tenant who does not own the building he is unable to negotiate any terms.

“The landlord is obviously concerned about what he will get out of it,” he says. “I am just in limbo, I don’t know who to speak to about it now.

“It is killing my business financially. Surely someone can give me some money to move? For me to move my shop, including the signage, it will cost no less than £10,000. Everywhere around here now is so pricey. I don’t know if I will be able to afford the new rent. If I go further into the outskirts of Blackpool then that will affect trade.

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“I honestly don’t know whether this will be the end of my business.”

Omasan’s landlord, Lee Dribben, has allowed Fredstar to continue operating in the building at a reduced rate while the anxious trader figures out his next move.

“I am quite happy for Fred to continue there on low rent,” he says. “I hope that it doesn’t come as a big shock when the sale goes through. If I was a commercial tenant I would be looking for alternative premises.

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“If Blackpool wants to progress it needs to knock down buildings. If that’s by CPO then so be it. But I wish the council was more considerate towards tenants.”

The area fronting Cookson Street which will be clearedThe area fronting Cookson Street which will be cleared
The area fronting Cookson Street which will be cleared | Blackpool Council

Blackpool Council say no will be asked to move with ‘reasonable warning’ and that all conversations have begun with the landowners in the first instance.

A Blackpool Council spokeswoman said: “We fully understand the impact on people living in the properties in the Multiversity area, as we are buying their homes and some businesses need to relocate. We continue to support any residents or tenants who have to move as a result, and nobody will be asked to move without reasonable warning.

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“While we cannot go into the details of individual negotiations, these have to take place with the landowner at first. While we’d expect the landlord to update their tenant as per any landlord and tenant agreement, due to the nature of the scheme we have also regularly written to all tenants in the affected area explaining the process and what advice and support is available to them before, during and after the completion of the sale.

“Approximately half of the land has either been completed or has been agreed to be completed in the coming months.”

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