Blackpool History, Mystery, Heritage and Hauntings

Goodbye to another building ! Council chiefs agreed in December that the Star Inn, on South Promenade, should be bulldozed to make way for a new £12m hotel on the site. Blackpool Pleasure Beach managing director Amanda Thompson revealed ambitious proposals to redevelop the land by building a 120-bedroom hotel to sit alongside the existing four-star Big Blue. A heritage report accompanying the application to pull down the Star describes the pub’s design as being “at odds” with the scale of surrounding buildings. It says the Star has “limited heritage merit” and the loss of the building will be outweighed by the value of the proposed replacement. Although the pub is a locally listed building, there was no objection to the demolition by Blackpool Council’s conservation officer, but a request has been made for a historical record to be made of the site prior to any work commencing. Read more at: https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/business/demolition-of-well-known-bl...

Life gets in  the way sometimes - you know how it is !  Good news for me this year ( I did need some ! Won't bore you with what has been going on behind the scenes and door of  'House ala Gregson & Hart ' !  Early Jan saw me dip a toe into the Grundy ART gallery as they held an exhibition where you could enter just the one piece - I did - and to my utter surprise and delight , was one of only six that sold ! I had the great honour of being able to place artwork in a shop on Talbot Road in Blackpool town centre ( left on the image below all three )  I have also been asked to take photographs for a UFO conference next weekend in St Annes !  Later in the year I will also be speaking at this event - again in St Annes - I do owe then a guest talk and I really do need to crack on penning my 2nd book ! The above  is in Cleveleys and I rather think it looks like a UFO - think will have to incorporate this int...