Who pays for Blackpool to have a world-class arena?

Plans for an arena in Blackpool are ambitious and not without obstacles - but there aren't many confident enough to rule them out

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Figures for 2023 showed that 21.5m tourists visit Blackpool each year - but its biggest music venue is the Empress Ballroom at 3,250.

That somewhat overlooks the Tower Festival Headland Arena - capable of holding up to 20,000 people - but a proper indoor venue capable of attracting the world’s biggest performers on a regular basis is lacking.

Arenas are expensive - calling for one and delivering one are two completely different things. That doesn’t mean a deal cannot be done - but it’s far from straightforward.

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Blackpool briefing

🎡 There has been much interest in two proposed new attractions for Blackpool seafront – but it now looks as though they will not be coming after all. Potential crowd-pullers the Upside-Down House and Spinning House – a two-in-one attraction earmarked for land close to South Pier - offered something different for the resort. The applicants operate multiple “Upside Down” attraction houses across the UK, with current or recent locations including Bournemouth, Brighton, Clacton-on-Sea, Liverpool ONE, Lakeside (Thurrock), Bristol and Gulliver’s Kingdom. However, the plans have now been withdrawn by the applicant.

🍸 Plans to extensively revamp an Art Deco pub on Blackpool seafront have drastically changed after the whole building had to be demolished. The ambitious multi-million pound regeneration of the former Yates Wine Lodge, at 407-411 Promenade in South Shore, was expected to see much of the original, locally-listed building retained. But chronic deterioration of the concrete and steel structure of the building meant that the original infrastructure could not be made safe. It means that for the project to continue, not only will the pub have to be rebuilt from scratch but an entirely new planning application will have to be submitted to Blackpool Council on behalf of owner Raghbir Singh Basrai.

📌 Blackpool Council today released details of the business case it will submit as part of local government reorganisation. Blackpool will support a model that sees four councils delivering services across Lancashire. In the proposal, the areas of Blackpool, Fylde and Preston councils would combine along with the western half of Wyre borough up to the River Wyre.

Who pays for Blackpool to have a world-class arena?

How an arena in Blackpool could look

By Luke Beardsworth

A new world-class arena is not an unthinkable outcome for Blackpool Central- but comes with clear and obvious obstacles to overcome.

Chris Webb, MP for Blackpool South, has reiterated his desire that a new arena be built on the site of Blackpool Central.

He first raised the matter in October 2024 - though he is far from the first to point out that both Blackpool and the wider region are missing a venue capable of hosting the top tier of act.

The future of Blackpool Central is up in the air after the collapse of Nikal Ltd in 2024, as was first reported by The Blackpool Lead.

Previous plans included a 1,300 car-park, a 200-bedroom hotel, a flying theatre, two indoor theme parks, a 70,000 sq ft public square and bars and restaurants - but Webb feels that the gap left by Nikal Ltd leaves the opportunity to do something better.

But clearly, a truly world-class arena for Blackpool is not the easiest path to take.

Co-op Live in the most recent arena to open in the North West and held its first gig in May 2024. Billie Eilish, Charli XCX, Paul McCartney, Ed Sheeran and Sabrina Carpenter have performed since then.

But the cost was anywhere between £365-450million and Blackpool Council have stressed that the Blackpool Central development will not be funded by them - whatever it ends up being.

That funding for Co-op Live came, at least to a significant degree, from the City Football Group does not help the case for an arena for Blackpool Central. Unfortunately, Blackpool Football Club’s owners are unlikely to have the will or means to bankroll a similar development.

Cllr Paul Galley, the Conservative leader of the opposition at Blackpool Council, says that is some burden to overcome.

He told The Blackpool Lead: “I welcome new ideas for this site, and credit to Chris Webb for at least trying to get the Council thinking rather than outsourcing everything to consultants.

“But the real question is: who’s paying for it? What Blackpool needs now is an investor conference—bringing together small and large investors, local and international—to get behind ambitious projects.

“That’s how we build a 21st-century equivalent of the Blackpool Tower.”

The view of Blackpool Council is that an arena can absolutely happen - if someone is willing to pay for it. They remain bullish that the development - so close to the Tower in a town known for tourism - is one of the most attractive in the country.

It does not hurt that the site already has the go-ahead for a leisure development - and it’s highly unlikely that anything other than a leisure development would be allowed to be built there.

A spokesperson for Blackpool Council said: “We are excited to see how the leisure industry responds to the exciting opportunity of Blackpool Central.