Operators of Reform UK's first pub, where Nigel Farage drank last week, previously hosted BNP including jailed neo-Nazi Jack Renshaw
PLUS: Hope Not Hate say it is unfortunate that Reform UK have joined a 'miserable guestlist'
Hello and welcome to The Blackpool Lead.
Today we report on the links between the operators of The Talbot - the UK’s first Reform UK pub - and the BNP through their hosting of meetings and even a conference at their previous venue The Tangerine Tavern.
Among those to visit The Tangerine Tavern during the time when Peter Flynn and Nick Lowe were stakeholders was neo-Nazi Jack Renshaw - a convicted child sex offender and planner of the attempted murder of an MP.
One of those stakeholders told us that he hosted the BNP to protect his daughters.
We also report from Preston Crown Court as a Blackpool teacher appeared with a trial date provisionally set for 2026. He is accused of murdering 13-month-old Preston Davey.
As Nigel Farage visits Reform UK's first pub, we reveal when its operators hosted British National Party events
A venue associated with the owners of Blackpool’s Talbot - the so-called “Reform pub” visited by Nigel Farage last week - hosted a British National Party annual conference and other meetings, The Blackpool Lead has learned.
Among the far-right figures who attended meetings at Blackpool’s Tangerine Tavern between 2012 and 2014 was neo-Nazi paedophile Jack Renshaw, who is now behind bars after plotting the murder of an MP, and its then-leader Nick Griffin.
Documents describe Flynn and Lowe as “stakeholders” in the Tangerine Tavern at the time it hosted the BNP meetings. Only Flynn was listed as a director with Companies House, however, and he appears to have been the authorities’ point of contact at the Tangerine Tavern.
Pete Flynn and Nick Lowe's pasts have come under scrutiny since the venue they own in Milbourne Street in the town centre - The Talbot - joined forces with Reform UK to become the party’s first branded pub last month.
As previously revealed by The Blackpool Lead, the businessmen have already faced criticism over The Talbot’s alleged ties with neo-Nazi bands, while it emerged recently that Flynn gave up his licence after holding a boxing bout elsewhere without permission and then having a lock-in that led to a street brawl which left a woman with a broken arm.
Now a video seen by The Blackpool Lead appears to show Renshaw, who is serving a life sentence for plotting to knife MP Rosie Cooper to death, and is also a child sex offender, at a BNP meeting at the Tangerine Tavern addressed by then-leader Nick Griffin at the height of the party’s popularity.
The footage was uploaded to the YouTube channel BNPTV on June 10 2012, the same day as police logs relating to the Tangerine Tavern mentioned a BNP gathering.
Titled “Nick Griffin speaks at Blackpool rally”, the 27-minute video at one point pans to show Renshaw sitting at a table.
The packed room - with a wood-panelled bar with striped front, tangerine walls, red beams and distinctive curtains - matches images purporting to be from the Tangerine Tavern uploaded to a review website.
One local woman, who was shown the pictures, told The Blackpool Lead they show the Tangerine Tavern's upstairs function room, which she once hired for a birthday party.
Renshaw, who reportedly gave what appeared to be a Nazi salute as he was jailed for his politically motivated murder scheme, was shown in the same venue in another video, titled “A Golden Dawn breaking over the Golden Mile”, uploaded in December 2013.
A number of other videos on the BNPTV YouTube channel also appear to show a BNP presence at the Tangerine Tavern.
The description of one clip, titled “Reverent West on his persecution” which features the same orange walls and red beam, says it shows an interview “taken at the BNP Annual Conference 2014”.
Another video, called “Adam Walker interviewed at BNP Conference 2014”, shows the same features, as well as similar lightshades, as in the leaving party photographs.
Gregory Davis, researcher at the campaign group Hope Not Hate, said: "It's clear that the owners of the Talbot and Tangerine Tavern have been very happy for their venues to be used by and associated with the most extreme and unpleasant racists in the UK, and it is unfortunate that Reform UK seems happy to join them on that miserable guestlist."
The Blackpool Lead put all of the above to Flynn, who confirmed its accuracy. He said in an email: “After watching TV today. Report what you want.
“I recommend you don't incite racist hate. You have watched the video and sent them to me. Turns out all true, but if you want to prove I'm trying to look after my daughters go for it.
“I was like you bringing the truth to the surface, but I did it on my own. I did not involve anyone else. The truth is the truth.
“Keep this to yourself because it could incite racist hate. I'm not racist but I want to look after my country. I'm constantly working with the authority [sic].”
Both Flynn, who said he hopes to stand as a Reform UK candidate, and Lowe have strongly denied being racist.
Their names do not appear on a previously leaked list of BNP members and there is no suggestion either have ever been personally involved with the party.
The BNP’s presence in Blackpool grew after the party, then headed by Nick Griffin, adopted the disappearance of resort youngster Charlene Downes as a cause celebre, using it to bolster its profile and push its anti-immigration agenda.
It held conferences and marches in the town, though its popularity has dwindled in recent years and it has essentially vanished from the political arena.
Documents have further revealed that police arriving at the Tangerine Tavern, which was in St Annes Road, South Shore, were told it had been earlier hosting a gathering of BNP members.
Officers had been called by the ambulance service to reports of trouble at the now-closed venue, with a woman said to be unconscious, according to Lancashire Police logs of the incident.
One police log entry, at 12.28am, said paramedics were waiting around the corner until police could arrive.
Another, a minute later, said the “BNP and their friends” had been in the venue.
It added: “This is where (the) BNP were having their gathering.”
The woman was later confirmed to have fallen during an argument at a wedding party, which had gone “impressively wrong”, and banged her head.
These latest revelations come just days after Reform leader Nigel Farage visited The Talbot, where Lowe is the sole licensee.
The Blackpool Lead has also told how Flynn surrendered his personal licence after holding a boxing bout elsewhere without permission and then hosting a lock-in that led to a violent street brawl which left a woman with a broken arm, according to police papers.
He was alleged to have taken £500 to keep serving after-hours at the Tangerine Tavern, the documents also revealed.
Police said they reported Flynn to licensing chiefs after being called to a melee outside the club, and accused him of not being “fit to run a licensed premises” and showing a “complete disregard for the authorities”.
The council decided it had to strip Tangerine Tavern Ltd - where Flynn was a director - of its licence to prevent more crime and disorder.
Flynn told The Blackpool Lead he agreed to give up his licence to save people’s jobs, adding: “That was rather heroic and it was a big deal but it was my fault and I brought it on myself.”
He insisted: “The only thing I’m guilty of is having a row with the police and making a fool of myself. I went to court and voluntarily surrendered my licence to save jobs.”
A senior Reform source said recently The Talbot is the “first of many” party pubs across the country, adding: “First we replaced the Tories … at the local elections. Now we are replacing their clubs, too.”
The party did not respond when asked what checks it carried out before announcing the partnership.
It comes after the venue was due to host a neo-Nazi concert that was only axed after Hope Not Hate reported on it.
Lowe previously said of the neo-Nazi links when speaking to The Blackpool Lead: “It’s nowt to do with me, I just rent the room out. I’m not racist at all but I have to make money somehow.”
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