Hello and welcome to The Blackpool Lead.
A hotel in Blackpool was served with legal warnings by Blackpool Council earlier this year and told to improve in a number of areas relating to food hygiene.
The vast majority of businesses keep on top of their food hygiene - but it is not unusual for the council to take those steps.
When they do send warnings, what typically happens is that a business improves. It’s not great that it happened, but the improvements do happen.
At this hotel, a revisit instead resulted in a further downgrade. And after several months, the hotel still has a hygiene rating of zero.
Blackpool briefing
⚡ Blackpool Council is planning to reach out to residents to explain how a prestigious Blackpool data centre business park – expected to bring up to £14 billion to the region – will operate.
The Silicon Sands scheme has been hailed by Blackpool Council as a ‘game changer’ which will attract top companies and much-needed high quality jobs to the town.
However, the council says it is aware that some residents are concerned about its environmental impact and the scheme is being opposed by both a petition and a demonstration which is being staged this week.
Opponents say AI Data Centres will generate significant levels of light, noise and waste pollution which will cause damage to the environment for both residents and wildlife.
🚔 There was an unexpected Blackpool link in a famous man’s high-profile battle to prevent the publication of allegations against him.
A Supreme Court decision in R (Maguire) v Blackpool and Fylde Senior Coroner established important principles about when the state has a legal duty to protect someone’s life - and when it does not automatically assume responsibility for every risk faced by a vulnerable person.
It followed the 2017 death of Jackie Maguire, 52, who has Down’s syndrome and died at Blackpool Victoria Hospital after becoming seriously ill at her care home - and was cited in a High Court ruling involving the celebrity’s legal action against ITN and The Guardian’s publisher Guardian News and Media.
Lawyers for the media organisations said they want to report on the man’s alleged “abuse of power and status” to contact young women and attempt to take part in “inappropriate and exploitative sexual activities”.
The celebrity’s legal team argued that publication could put him at serious risk of suicide.
The bid to secure an injunction failed, though reporting restrictions protecting his identity remain in place while the possibility of an appeal is considered.
💩 Campaigners against a landfill that has resulted in well over 20,000 individual complaints have essentially been told to expect no change until the new year.
The Jameson Road landfill remains open, despite a Lancashire County Council report admitting it has had a negative and clear impact on the health of the residents of Fleetwood, under operators Transwaste.
But the Environment Agency said that the site is not currently accepting waste under the newly-constructed landfill cell.
A spokesperson for the Environment Agency told us: “We have made it clear to Transwaste that the community should not have to tolerate odour pollution.
“The operator has completed all of the required temporary and permanent capping work and we expect odours to reduce over time. We have also changed the operator’s environmental permit so they can only accept non-odorous waste.
“If we do not continue to see improvements, we will not hesitate to take further action.”
A hotel in Blackpool was told it must improve to comply with the law - instead it got worse
By Luke Beardsworth
A hotel in Blackpool was served with multiple hygiene improvement notices - and then further reprimanded when improvements were not made.
Blackpool Council carried out a visit to The Atlantis Hotel on Hull Road in April 2026 and immediately issued a litany of improvements that would be necessary for the business to comply with the law.
The Atlantis Hotel scored a one out of five food hygiene rating on that occasion - but on a return visit to the hotel in May they were downgraded from a one to a zero.
That revisit took place on 27 May 2026 and a letter from Kenneth Lau, public protection officer at Blackpool Council, to The Atlantis Hotel, informed them of the downgrade.
That letter, seen by The Blackpool Lead, reads: “On 13 May 2026, during my visit with my colleague, it was communicated to [redacted] that improvements were made but there were still a lot of things that needed to be complied with.
“It was made clear to [redacted] that a revisit will be carried out before the end of the month and that if anything is not complied with, the score will be a zero. Therefore, the new Food Hygiene Rating Score is 0.”
The letter continues that, while not impacting on the food hygiene score, there was a missing bed bug treatment report for Room 1 that the council needs to see evidence of.
Now in November 2026, the food hygiene rating of The Atlantis Hotel remains zero.
A spokesperson for Blackpool Council said: “Our Food Control team visited The Atlantis Hotel, on Hull Road, in April 2026 for a routine food hygiene inspection.
“Based on our findings, we then served the business with hygiene improvement notices.