Nicola Thorp reacts to Blackpool being named one of the most dangerous places in England

A new survey published yesterday (November 9) named Blackpool the third most dangerous major town in England and the most dangerous major town in Lancashire.

According to public safety data group CrimeRate, the overall crime rate in Blackpool in 2022 was 162 crimes per 1,000 people, which is 95% higher than the Lancashire rate of 83 per 1,000 residents.

In light of this, actress turned television presenter Nicola Thorp, 35, passionately defended the town on her Talk Today progamme yesterday.

Blackpool born Nicola, who also used to be in Coronation Street, said: “I'm going to staunchly defend my hometown. Blackpool gets these kinds of stories all the time partly because yes, it has got economic issues, it has issues with crime etc but also because I think there's often this tendency to put down a town that was formerly this tourism hotspot.

“I would say, particularly in the last ten years, Blackpool has gone from strength to strength. There are some beautiful places you can go. I'm getting married there next year. I cannot wait to bring all my friends up from London to Blackpool and show them a good time.

“It's being regenerated. We've got the new Civil Service hub coming. We've got a new Multiversity. There's loads of things happening in Blackpool but it can only happen if the funding is there.”

Launched in October, Talk Today is a news programme on Talk TV hosted by Nicola alongside 58-year-old presenter Jeremy Kyle.

Encouraing the people of Blackpool to tune in ahead of its launch, Nicola told the Gazette: “We have a very interactive show and encourage viewers and listeners to get in touch about every topic we discuss in the show so we really want people to bring a local perspective to the issues we discuss. The opening credits have a shot of Blackpool tower too! If there’s a story affecting Blackpool, we’ll send our roving reporter to cover it.”

Self proclaimed “Sandgrown’un” Nicola attended Arnold School in Blackpool and still visits the town frequently as her mum, dad and brother still run the family business there, Stanton’s Rock Factory, which was founded in the 1962.