Sara Louise Evans
I have lived in Blackpool all my live. I love Blackpool but I feel the Council need to now support our hard working Hoteliers and public house landlords and help them get up to scratch and invest in Blackpool and to stop wasting money on the rubbish attempt of a good sea defence which wont work. The council should be trying to keep business owners going in these hard times.
djrank
i am really disgusted with wot people have said about blackpool,i moved here from the lakedistrict wen i was 15,3years ago and iv never looked back,the council r doin there best for blackpool,they r makin it better,if ur gonna slag it of and the people who live here dnt bother cuming back
Daniel
I visit Blackpool on business roughly every 2 months, and it never seems to shake off it's tacky, low budget, run down image. This is a shame because it has the potential to be so much better.
andy c.
i moved to blackpoofrom yorkshirel .i was very dismayed with how badly run down blackpool has become over the years,the streets are filthy and there is far far too many drunks living here.
Sylvia
I would please like to add my twopennuth in by siding with Helen. We ( that is the genuine people of Blackpool NOT the transients and down and outs ) were not born into poverty nor do we live in poverty, the majority are hard working folk who like getting on with our lives not interferring with others, you might find that the majority of crime in Blackpool is undertaken by people who have moved into the area and are mostly on benefits to start off with, so before you, and you know who you are, start slagging off our community, you should perhaps take a long look a little nearer to home and with hand on heart say that your community is better than ours.
Will Parker
I thought Blackpool deserved to get the super casino becauseit is a mini las veagas with all the illuminations etc.. But on the other hand i found it incredibly funny when Manchester got the casino and everyone was gutted!!! :)
Leahh
Blackpool Should have got the casino. Manchester have already got a lot going for them and judging from past visits i have experienced they have a lot of pulicity as it is.Blackpool is getting run down and there are many people without jobs...We Will end up a decrepid and run-down town...
Chris W
Manchester has not been awarded the Super casino. No-one has. There's nothing wrong with Blackpool itself - its the low-life from everywhere else who visit here and cause all the trouble.
james
i am pleased manchester got it. blackpool needs two get a better council if they had a better council they mite of won it. i went two blackpool yesterday 22nd april 2007 it was dead just drunks everywhere i got a parking tickit when i got back two my car i was half hour early and had a tickit on my car. i rang blackpool council they just don't care they want tourtist but don't look after them, i will never go two blackpool again unless blackpool pull there finger out.
sash
blackpool needs the casino more than any other place end of story. its a disgrace that manchester got it. i still feel sick
James Holden
Any town "council" that bases it's own survival on gambling and is also so short sighted to not have any form of contingency plan in place does not seem fit to host such a high profile resort. I have been to Blackpool several times - it is a dump in Summer, a dump in Autumn, quiet in the Winter and a dump in Spring. If Blackpool had maybe explored with any gusto other regeneration avenues open to it then maybe I'd have more sympathy - but they didn't... and I don't. Go Manchester!!!
rohan delaney
i think blackpool should of got the super casino because it would of brought lots of tourist to the area and also more jobs would be open to the public. I dont think its over for blackpool
Julia
Blackpool is an awful place. Nuke it!
Ken Palmerton
I only hope that Manchester can cope with the poisoned chalice. An expansion of gambling opportunities is the very last thing that Blackpool needs. Regeneration speaks of creating wealth. Allowing the Mafia a bigger foothold will suck what money is spent right out of the community, creating nothing. Ken.
Tony B
Went to Blackpool last week got a parking ticket on a car park with bags on the meters in Feb. Going to the East Coast in future. Casino would not have saved it Blackpool's got no idea how to treat visitors.
Kelly Chilcott
Im really dissapointed that the Dome didn't get the Super Casino, I don't think it will do at all well in Manchester and I think the desicion should be seriously reconsidered.
shaun antrobus
absolutly fantastic news for the place go manchester
john garnham
The biggest problem for Blackpool's future is it's totally undemocratic and poor thinking executive councillors who just do not listen to or ever reply to their residents!!!
Greg Daniel
As a resident ofManchester, I've watched my town successfully regenerate itself through new enterprise and business. Blackpool HAS to use ammenities and attractions to bring in visitors. The wrong decision was made here. Unless the stag and hen type drunkards are put off swamping the place at weekends, this will be a difficult hole for Blackpool to get out of. That 'station' is diabolical too. Worse posible first impression. Armour-plated ticket office, for gods sake??
Andy Watson Jnr.
Not by a long shot! Blackpool need to focus on ways to revive itself, the place has dwindled in the last 14-15 years and it now only caters for party goers. There needs to be a plan in place for the familys that thrived in blackpool all those years ago. Blackpool will bounce back but there are serious issues that need addressed, meybe some of the reasoning behind the rejection of blackpool is the down to a number of factors like for example airport size and the current state of a few of the towns attractions. If a panel were looking at possible sites and fast cash then I reckon that manchester has it all. Maybe if the town gets the work carried out that it needs and more publicity with fair prices for all to pay on the likes of drink food and attractions it may just make it through at these tough times.
santa fe
people saying 'smack in the face!' and 'kick in the teeth!' as regards blackpool's failure to win the Super Casino bid, this kind of talk makes me happy to see them lose. Were they so arrogant to presume they'd get it? I vow never to visit that dump again in my own time, it's so backward looking and embarrassing. Well done Manchester, it's nice to cock a snoop at London too, I'd love to have seen their faces, they were counting their chickens and drinking the champers prematurely.
Mike D
I am not surprised that Blackpool lost the vote. It's councillors can see no further than the 'Golden Mile' when commissioning grand artists impressions. What big business want's to see is a town where enterprise is manifested in decent housing, well designed retail centres, safe streets to walk down and decent affordable services. It only takes palm grease to soak up the billions of Euro/lottery money available. Perhaps our councillors should spend some time in Liverpool or Manchester to see how it's done. When the ratepayers can say they are proud to be in Blackpool then so will big business.
MR H.PICKEN
I find it difficult to simpathise with blackpool when for some considerable years the town has shown so little regard for improving itself.Manchester has strategically planned not just for its super casino but has been planning its future in general since the i.r.a. bomb.Blackpool cannot expect to override any other bid because of who it is, and because of what it is.maybe its time for some of those multi millionaire business owners to dig deep and give a little back to a town that has given them so much!Good luck with your future Blackpool but please lets not have any sour grapes.
Cliff J,
It seems to me that Blackpool is and has been designed to provide a holiday atmosphire for people and since it has been in decline for the last decade or so, it needed this Super Casino for its future. As for Manchester, it does need monies in order to regenerate its deprived areas but I don't believe a Super Casino is the right way to do this as all it will do is provide temptation for people who want to obtain fast money to get them out of poverty and will lead them into debt.
Councillor Steven Bate
The independent experts on the Casino Advisory Panel spent months investigating all the conflicting evidence. On balance they agreed with concerns we raised. Quotes from the panel report ...."We find little of the economic modelling to be convincing". "We have more than a little scepticism about the impossibility of a plan B". Casino "reliance for years has inhibited the production of other ideas for addressing decline". Boss’s of the 2nd most popular tourist venue in Blackpool said; " It is time Blackpool escaped the blight on regeneration caused by the blind focus on casinos. We should focus now on Legoland, Rainforest Ventures [Eden centre of the north] and other attractions wanting to invest in Blackpool." We have read many government reports over the years. Never have we read such a stinging critic of a council proposal. Lib Dem Cllrs Jon Bamborough and Steven Bate Anchorsholme Ward Blackpool Borough Council
steve m
It has to be said that blackpool's decline is its own making the town has been ripping people off for years with rubbish hotels, violent nightlife, poor food and services. Where else would they shut the bus station to make a car park and make passengers wait in the rain, encourage clamping for those brave enough to bring their car to town or have a muggers paradise to link the dismal station to the town. Sorry Blackpool this is just deserts you need to take a long look and look after your customers and residents better if you are to move on from being a dss resort. Maybe if you were still part of Lancashire the resort would be on the move like Preston etc but oh no you chose to go independent and could do things better- has it really benefited the town?
HAZEL ROBERTS
i think blackpool should have got the casino we go every year for a long weekend,it could do with a boost and the landlady where we stay rang me to vote for it to be there and not manchester,i am from the midlands
Wendy Lane
I have lived in Blackpool for around 16 years. when I first came here, it boasted 19 million visitors a season. today they consider it lucky to get 9 million and I would suggest the figures are erring on the side of more not less. Blackpool council has much to answer for. VERY MUCH TO ANSWER FOR.
Carly
Blackpool cant be compared to any other place, Blackpool is unique and soud stay that way. It doesnt need a super casino to stand out! I love Blackpool and hate it when people put me down about my likin over it!
Dan (lived in Blackpool all my life)
I'm confused by everyone portraying Blackpool as a violent drug related place. Having lived here all my life I've never been involved in this so called violence.
Helen, Blackpool
In reply to Jane George, Have you ever actually been to Blackpool, not everyone here was born into poverty - I certainly wasn't, I also had a good education and have a well paid job. Before you slag anywhere get your facts right.
Blackpool has a transient population which is the cause of most of its problems. People with drink and drug habits thinking that living by the seaside is better than the inner cities they live in. They cause a strain on already overstretched services.
The tourist industry has changed and not everywhere has moved with the times, Blackpool certainly did not, but now things are changing we have a hard working council trying to rectify the problem and they are doing a great job.
We did need the Casino more than Manchester but no doubt we will survive without it as in recent years we have seen lots of regeneration.
And finally there are lots more places where you can buy a house for less than 100k, drugs and drink addictions are not exclusive to Blackpool this is a national problem, the streets are not always dirty, we still have 12 million visitors a year and they do creats litter.
Paul
Worst possible result for Blackpool not only has it lost the Super Casino this time, it finds itself with little hope in future due to now having an established rival within 50 miles of it, and possibly also a general tourism competitor to take even more visitors away. The residents and council of Blackpool must wonder what the major political parties have against them, they refuse to have their conferences there because the place is rundown and then take away a once in a lifetime chance to help change its fortunes. It appears the Council and ultimately the residents of Blackpool have done more than their fair share in subsidising major business / landowners who put nothing but the bare minimum back into the town surely its now time this group reinvested some of their substantial profits they make back into the place.
pete (again)
but who is to blame for the current image to blackpool, the council for allowing it to slide into novelty toys and hats. in most towns u need a licenced shop to sell adult toys, in blackpool all u need a sea front shop. and the council allows this!!!.... change the image and it regenerates.....or change the council. blackpool has held its own as no1 resort for 100s of years, one decision aint gonna send it into the sea. a good ship needs a good cptain. blackpool needs a good council.anyway, im from manchester and blackpool is welcome to the super casino, the public didnt decide on it, our council did. i will go to it if its in blackpool, at least i keep my car wheels.
smith
How come no word from local MPs ? No TV appearances/interviews. Just like the Council they dont give a toss. We all know that BlackpoolCouncil are a bunch of freeloaders who enjoy expenses and jollies to other places ie Las Vegas. Town centre management couldnt run a bath let alone a town of nearly 200,000 locals. Hoever nows your chance to buy a 17 or more bedroom ex Hotel with bar for less then 60,000£ !
JANE GEORGE
WELL WHAT CAN YOU SAY, ONLY THAT WE NEED TO FIGHT THIS, NOBODY CAN DISPUTE WHAT BLACKPOOL IS TODAY: CHEAP, NASTY, CRIME CAPITAL, DRUGS,DIRTY STREETS, OUT OF DATE TIRED SHOP'S SELLING QUICK ME KISS HATS (THERE STILL THERE TODAY) BUT WHY HAS A TOWN BEEN LET SLIP AWAY INTO THE SEA, WHERE YOU CAN STILL BUY A HOUSE FOR LESS THAN £100K IT SAYS IT ALL WHO WOULD WANT TO LIVE THERE ANY. BUT!!!! THE PEOPLE OF BLACKPOOL KNOW NO DIFFERENT BEING BORN INTO POVERTY IS NOT THERE FAULT ALL BLACKPOOL WANTED WAS A CHANCE TO BETTER IT'S SELF NOW THERE MUST BE SOMEONE OUT THERE WHO CAN START TO FIGHT THIS WRONG THAT HAS BEEN GIVEN TOO BLACKPOOL. THE GOVERMENT CAN'T PICK AND CHOOSE PEOPLES LIVES GIVING THEN NO HOPE OF A FUTURE, PLEASE PLEASE HELP BLACKPOOL FIGHT THIS WRONG GIVE THEM A CHANCE TO MOVE FORWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pete
you need a good platform before you can put anything on it, manchester done ok,changed the image of east manchester.. but i still wouldnt leave my car in round there (lived there) since its still full of rough heads. blackpool can only blame itself though, gettin that designer in to revamp the pier? instead why dont they kick out the tacky shops, would improve the sea front no end. blackpool is famous for tack, change that image and the regeneration begins.
Dan Carr
This is just another example of the big cities getting all the funds. If Blackpool carries on the way it's going it will be a ghost town in a few years.
Mark
Last year i visited the UK for the first time and we made our way to blackpool, we had heard of the famous lights and being a tourist town. We came away very disapointed, dirty, dated,rundown & bad meals. We joined the casino that was on the forshore just to use the clean toilets. Only a handfull of people were in the casino and 2 gaming tables open. No good having a super casino and no one in it. I dont think we would ever go back to blackpool. Oz
John Davies
I have occasionally HAD to go to Blackpool. What horrendous experiences those trips proved to be. Winter and Summer. Both awful. Maybe Blackpool will disappear with global warming? To add a casino would just add one more big negative.
Naomi Sajeri
The people of Blackpool need to get over it. they have other sources of income. I am still recovering from the cost of a day's parking in Blackpool. Blackpool is too far out from the centre of things. Manchester is a far better choice for this.
Alan Cashier-Ladd
The adjectives being used on these pages to describe Blackpool could equally have been applied to Manchester 10 years ago. The city was a dump and going nowhere until it got 'lucky' and the centre was bombed giving it an opportunity to reinvent itself as the city you see today. Anyone looking at the Blackpool masterplan would be struck by the vast swathes of Blackpool that would be bulldozed and rebuilt - our chance to start again with a definite purpose and unified goal.
KDH
A super casino is not the panacea to all that ails a town. Soon after it is built we will all be discussing the social problems it has caused. There should have been more thought put into this, it changes Britain greatly and I for one do not believe for the better. These casinos are fine in context. People travel from all over the world to visit Vegas, no one needs to live near it. The UK does not have room for an issolated gambling town. People will live their lives in the shadow of this casino. It is not what this country with its mounting debts needs.
Robert
Why would anyone want a super casino anyway? I've seen them in Australia and they are brash, seedy, bauble-filled caverns inhabited by a strange mixture of losers ranging from desperate gamblers who can't stop to zombie-like idiots who think they're having fun. These are not the glamorous, bijou establishments filled the by elegant and well-heeled characters from a James Bond novel. Frankly I think Blackpool would have been a far more appropriate location for this so-called super casino than Manchester.
TD
Blackpool first became a victim of the champagne socialism when Labourer decided to move their party conference to Manchester. The Council tax payers of Blackpool subsisdise the tram way, the illuminations, the Grand Theatre and the Winter Garderns Conference Centre. The Council and residents are doing this because they want the tradition family seaside resort not the stag and hen parties. If this Labour Government still remembers its true values it needs to help a community deseperate return to values on which it was founded. A casino licence would bring in the private investment to build a sustainable economy.
John
I personally have no intention of going to any casino, although I have in the past visited the casinos' in Las Vegas and Monaco. The difference between these cities and Blackpool couldn't be more striking. The last time I visited this tacky and fithy seaside resort I said would be the last time. People seem to be only looking at this from a regeneration point of view but for any enterprise to be viable it needs to attract customers in the long term and Blackpool attracts the wrong sort and then only in the summer season. Manchester is becoming quite a smart place and there are a lot more people in both the city centre and its suburbs who are likely to go to the casino than Blackpool. It seems from Blackpools supporters their only interest in the casino is what Blackpool could get out of it and not what it could provide.
Chris H
Blackpool needed this so much more than Manchester. This decision is incomprehensible.
Phil, Blackpool Escapee
I'm fantastically happy! I laughed when I thought of all those people in the Tower expecting a free handout and a miracule cure to Blackpool's troubles and then finding out that they didn't get the Casino. Blackpool's decline is entirely down to self interest and greed. It was only interested in getting the Casino so the 'few' could get huge profits at the expense of the casual labour market which it's holiday business is so quick to abuse. Wake up Blackpool, IF there is any non-corrupt intelligent person left there... sort it out.
Janey
Having left last year for 'foreign shores', I will never forget the wonderful times my family had in Blackpool. It has it's problems yes, but was somewhere to escape to when things were not so great. I lived nearer to Manchester, but was hoping that Blackpool would get the casino as it is the obvious choice. What a shame, one of the few Northern resorts bypassed for a city that has had so much financial input that it really does't need it.
tony
i was born and raised in blackpool, and it has just turned into a slum, the only people to blame is the council itself, it has just let this nice town turn into a run down tip of a place,spending money on all the wrong things in the town, i could write an essay on the place but i have not got all night.
Sue - Lytham
Blackpool is no longer a family town. It has changed so much in the 23 years I have lived near. It is now over-run with drucken adult groups causing trouble. It has become dirty and feels unsafe even in the day. My family no longer go there. We would rather travel to Preston or even Chester to shop. Clean it up and make it more family friendly please. Get back the family's and elderly holiday-makers they are better behaved and cause less trouble and damage.
Angela
I'm so sad Blackpool didn't get the Super Casino. The town is going downhill so quickly even that was an attractive option in comparison to the stag and hen scuzzy visitors we have to put up with now. There seem to be less and less employment opportunities. I think the Super Casino would have been it's salvation in many ways. Manchester has so much more going for it but in another ten years Blackpool will be completely slummy, if some serious investment doesn't come this way. Its a nice place to live, but a horrible place to come for your holidays. During the season and at weekends we avoid the town centre - it has become so yuck. Certainly not a place you could bring a young family. Blackpool has lost it's identity as a tourist resort and at least the Super Casino would have given it a clear cut brand. I didn't particularly want a Super Casino, but realised that was probably the best option for the town.
Andi (Blackpool)
I was extremely disappointed to hear the news that Manchester won the bid when they didn't even want to. As a resident of Blackpool, I can say that the projected figure of £90 million or so that the casino would have generated annually is badly needed. The social problems in Blackpool are particularly grusome, and seriously need to be rectified. It is simply unfair to scoff at Blackpool's dismay, claiming that we are looking for a "free ride". The fact is that the drug-yob-asbo culture of Blackpool can't really get much worse. A massive injection of investment is the only way the situation is going to get any better. Blackpool can't do it on its own, we have neither the funding or the resources. All other youth schemes created over the years and attempts at engendering greater sophistication have failed. I fear the casino was the town's last hope at a serious recovery.
andy wallace
Blackpool is a dump, I was there last year for the ights with my son, it's dirty, seedy, the food quality is poor. There is no attraction that would get me to Blackpool again, Mnachester by contrast is a vibrant city with great bars, eateries and architecture, more for everyone and easily accessable. Right not to go to London, right not to go to Blackpool too.
Leon
Great news for Manchester :) Really good location that has been chosen as well not too near the city center either. Good investment ... anything new that is built in Manchester is respected and standards will remain high, but unfortunatley other places (London, Blackpool) it will need redeveloping in a few years time again!! Look at any redevelopment in Manchester that has been done in the last 10 years and it still looks as good as the day it was built... sadly that cannot be said for London or Blackpool!
Jojo
I have also been saddened by the state of Blackpool in recent years when I have been over from Italy. It is no longer safe even during the day. Fights, verbal abuse, drunks and drug users are everywhere. I am still proud of my home town and hope that a regeneration plan will be agreed which does not include gambling etc. and which brings peace and security back to a great town with some of the best people anywhere.
neil
its a con that manchester got it its a hard place to drive in and out of, its dirty, lancashire will always lose out sorry blackpool you should have won
Brent Sharp
Not surprised at all by the result. Manchester gets everything everytime. Terminal 3 at the airport, funding for the Arndale AND the Trafford Centre, All the money for the trams... that were incidentally synonymous for decades with Blackpool... why not give them the casino as well? Tories and Labour have shunned Blackpool for their conferences due to it being'under parr' and unsuitable for such an event.... says it all when they give a massive opportunity for regeneration to a city that is already doing fine without it. My belief is that our government wouldn't bat an eyelid if Blackpool sunk into the sands...
Howie
It should have gone to Blackpool. Not sure how anyone will get the Las Vegas feeling by visiting east Manchester.
Boosan Radley
Manchester has worked hard to change it's perception of being a sterotypical 'northern town' into a truly world class city. This super casino will go onto enhance it's reputation. What Manchester does today, the world does tomorrow.
dave
blackpools a run down little seaside town, why should it go there? people say its now goin to be downward spiral for blackpool, though we had already reached it.
Sara
This is the wrong decision. Blackpool was the only choice: economically, socially and was in real need of theh investment in the town.
David, Grimsby
We went to Blackpool a year ago for a day out...and I have to say it wasn't very enjoyable. Tickets for the tower were a rip off, beggars in shop doorways, and 'adult' entertainment side by side with 'family' attractions. As others have said, the super casino in my opinion wouldn't make me visit Blackpool again, but a decision to become a family orientated destination and much higher standards might!
Neil
It just seems the ever continuing decline of all seaside resorts, Blackpool included, will not be arrested. This truely is a day for sadness for the British seaside resort. Not just for Blackpool. My one concern. How does a bid, after first assessment, come dead last, and a long way last too, yet come back to win? Ahh, the Labour Party conference is held in Manchester now, no longer Blackpool. As the Casino will be, this decision was simply fixed.
Bruce
hahahaha
Lucy Anne Barber
I am shocked at the stupid outcome Blackpool was the best choice, can only think someone on the committee has a special feeling for Manchester. So bad for the Fylde Coast.
Andrew
I was in Blackpool a couple of years ago. I just felt so unsafe walking about even in daylight. It would be dreadful after an evening out, especially if you had some winnings in your pocket.
MH
It would make no business sense to invest in an area that is rotten from decades of neglect.
Blackpool needs more than a casino too kickstart regeneration, try a fleet of bulldozers and some TNT.
Derek (Ex-vistor)
Blackpool is stuck in a time warp and is 30 years out of date. Its dirty and run-down and a rip-off. By contrast 5 miles up teh road is Lytham which is clean, friendly and has something about it. Its about time blackpool tool a long hard look at what it offers and to whom. Maybe then they will see why Manchester won the bid!
Seasider in exile
What a relief, my town already has enough social problems without this. To think we kept the Krays out of the resort in the 60s and we nearly invited a new generation of hoods into our town.
Andrew
Thank God for that. Blackpool is now paying for years of neglect, third rate accommodation, food etc. All cheap and nasty.
Dave W-S
I used to work in Blackpool, and oh my God why must people kid themselves about it being "the UK's premier resort"? It's a dive; a hideous pit of a town with grey skies, grey people, and nothing to offer outside of a decent theme park and the occasional good bag of chips. Lancashire and the North West outside of the major conurbations is exactly the same, especially along the coast. Rugged and naturally beautiful, but the towns are the best examples of degradation, poor investment and awful management that England has to offer. Morecambe and Blackpool are cases in point. Blackpool is in dire need of regeneration. Get a clue and regenerate it - don't just slap on the band aid of a super casino which can be better hosted and more spectacularly executed elsewhere anyway. Viva Manchester.
Derek
No sympathy for Blackpool, not after what they did to Southports excellent fair. I think this sort of souless gambling suits Manchester down to the ground. Im just amazed London didnt get it!
Mike Fry
Blackpool is a far better place to have a casino. It's a great holiday place whilst Manchester is a terrible place to reach because of traffic congestion. Another government cock up!!!!!!!
Roy ; Berkeley CA
The decision shows the choice to be confused, not being able to understand the uniqueness of Blackpool being supported to bring in International customers. Manchester is a rich university town and two big soocer clubs plus cricket. This will create a huge imbalance in the area. The decision will create therefore more hardship than the failed idea that poor areas are suddenly going to change their life style through this project. Workers will be coming from outside areas as one would by observation of history note. When a person discovers their own value they are not poor.
mark
It is time for Blackpool Council to step up to the mark and do something positive. Ban stag and hen weekends and start building a family resort where you will be proud to come on holiday. Storm City is what should be championed and not a super casino. Blackpool is a total hole at the moment and we are consistently reminded of drink and drug related violence on a daily basis. Clean the town up and do it quickly.
Iain - Manchester
Well I've got to say that i'm suprised it went to Manchester but when you think about it, is it that suprising? They could not award it to London as two jags had a vested interest in it.By giving it to Manchester they pave the way for appeals from London and Blackpool. Those appeals will be sucessful and the government will get 1/2 the originally planned supercasinos in the uk just from public sympathy. On a side note, i've been to Blackpool a couple of times and i've got to agree with the poster, it's marketing is terrible you have to get yourself away from the depressing british seaside resort that reminds us so much of sunburn, overheated cars and wasps.
Gina
What an incredibly short-sighted move by the Advisory Council. Blackpool is a ready-made resort, which obviously needs a complete overhaul to bring it in line with the 21st century. I'm against casinos as a matter of principle, but if it had to go somewhere it should have been where it needed regeneration the most. Manchester is already a thriving city.
paul jones
Hardly a shock, Blackpools tacky, run down, and third rate, the corect decision ws certainly made.
Terry
Disappointed. I live in the South East and I wanted it as far away from me as possible.
emma
i never thought that it would be manchester... the fact is its regenering the area.. i live in manchester and i was still backing blackpool as thats the place thats needs it most...
Anna
Having recently moved to Manchester, I'm really pleased with the decision to house the UK's first supercasino here. This will be a huge boost to the area to a run down area of an otherwise great city. I can't believe the reaction from Blackpool, I understand Blackpool is in need of regeneration, but so are many of our seaside resorts that have suffered a decline in visitors in recent years.
Personally, I would rather have seen a casino like this go to somewhere such as Manchester, Leeds, London, Cardiff, Glasgow or Edinburgh, cities with so much more to offer besides the casino, than to somewhere like Blackpool or SkegVegas with no other redeeming features.
Sandgrounder
Pure Karma
Adele, nr Manchester
I think that Blackpool should have got it's wish by having the Super Casino, it has more attractions and was in need of updating to bring in more tourists. I do not think that Manchester should have a super casino, it will not fit into this city it should have gone somewhere that attracts tourists, I think it will just make people miserable and lose lots of people, lots of money!
Ade
I lived in Blackpool for a year and it desperately needed the casino hasn't Manchester got enough regeneration Blackpool has had none its going down fast my parents closed there shop 2 years ago because of the decline
chris
Of course Blackpool has lost out, what once was a tasteful Victorian seaside town has degenerated into a cheap, tacky mess. The only people to blame are the councillors who let it get that way.
TQ
I last went to Blackpool 14 years ago when my wife was heavily pregnant. It was cold , wet October night so we went in for family fish&chips at an cafe near the tower. While we sat down eating, my wife needed the toilet. She was directed by the owner to the public toilets on the other side of street! We haven't been back since.
Richard, Birmingham
This is a great result and just shows that the Advisory Panel were acting independently and without political influence. Manchester put forwards the best case, plain and simple. Congratulations also to all the towns and cities that have been awarded large and small casino licences.
Ian Light
Two years ago I was inspired by BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, and I now dance Salsa and Tango 6 Nights a Week. I'm in Blackpool this weekend for the UK Salsafest at the Winter Gardens. Personally I don't support the idea of a Super Casino in Britain, but if it had to go anywhere I'm very surprised it wasn't Blackpool. But maybe Blackpool was too up market for it.
Lazarus
Blackpool can rise again I'm sure - you need to reinvent yourselves, loose the trashy image and run the drunken northern yobbos out of town.
Tamanna
I'm from Manchester. I say take away this scourge of communities from our city, to a place that actually wants it! I'm going to stage a sit on the building site to prevent them erecting any more reasons for crime and vice in my already beleagered home town.
steve
Of course it went to the North West - the gullable credit consumer capital of Europe.
rb
Plan A fails,so what's Plan B Blackpool? Turn off the lights on your way out?
Bite the bullet and sort out the town's problems yourselves.
Mike
Living in London, I would like to offer my congratulations to Manchester. I feel sorry for Blackpool but I am sure the Advisory Council had perfectly good reasons for rejecting the seaside town. From a personal point of view I feel Manchester has more to offer in terms of the complete package.
Andy
Blackpool is a slum town I spent a day there in the summer and I never want to go back. other Cities like manchester have worked hard to build up their image and work hard at it. Blackpool should do the same rather than look for a free ride to be redeveloped.
Ruth, Blackpool ex-pat
I was very disapointed with the decision. Blackpool had the best case as an area that would massively benefit from the regeneration this would bring. I fail to see how large cities like Manchester need something like this when they already have lots going for them. I just hope that Blackpool Council continues with its regeneration plans, along the lines of the excellent work they have done with the promenade. I totally agree that Blackpool should be focusing on becoming a family resort again and doing all it can to discourage the hen/stag night and pound-shop culture it has fallen to over the last few years.
Ian Greenwood
I too am sad that Blackpool has not won. As an exiled Mancunian every childhood holiday was spent in Blackpool. I return now and again for conferences and always feel a sense of nostalgia and fondnes for the place. However this is an opportunity to make point I have felt for many years. With all the commercial success that Blackpool has had over the years, why have the council and local businesses allowed the town to degenerate in the way that it has? Beyond the 'front', the back streets are seedy and dingy.This must be one factor in Blackpool's decline. The council and business must share some responsibiity for this. Rgenerion depends upon putting something back. Look at Scarborough or Brighton, what a difference. Howwver if one looks beyond this setback, it is a source of national shame and economic madness that London and the South East receives the levles of investment they do. What a pity that the 'media' through childish interventions, does not allow a reasoned debate on Regional government.Just look on mainland Europe to see what benefits this can bring
Martin
I am not interested in gambling personally, but I have travelled a lot and visited casinos in many places and in my view they really only work well en-masse in a resort situation. I am bewildered by the decison to site this casino in Manchester, how are they going to get 5 or 6 other super casinos on that site? Las Vegas and Macau work so well because with several casinos you get the shows, the star performers, the restaurants etc. All I can assume is that the government has lost its nerve on this and choosing Manchester was just a neat way of killing the concept. Blackpool was the only entrant that had the space and the ability to create a Las Vegas style resort which would attract both gamblers and non gamblers - Manchester will just attract gamblers, and the only winners will be the casino operators.
Pete, Birmingham
I'm sorry, but Blackpool is a cheap and nasty seaside town, which attracts what have been referred to recently as "White Trash". Given a choice of a trip to a thriving buzzing City (Manchester) or an out of date seaside town, with the Chavs, I know which one I'd choose!
Chris Fields
Ridiculous! Week in week out we hear stories of our once great seaside towns going into decline. Rows of happy holiday makers being replaced by rows of hostels homing recovering addicts! I'm not a resident of a seaside town but really this decision needs looking at and hopefully turning around. Manchester has numerous improvement schemes and the daily investment of businesses. Lets make our seaside resorts great again!
David Whitworth
Its seems that the track record of Manchester delivering great facilities in the past has won their bid. Their experience in executing their ideas is invaluable and has come to haunt Blackpool. Manchester had the focus of their residents firmly in mind with their comunnity firmly behind embracing the bid for the Casino. In the end maybe Blackpool came across too desperate to house the Super Casino and Manchester simply kept their head down and ticked all the right boxes.
Gordon
Blackpool should stop acting like a victim and realise that although cheap foreign holidays have taken their toll, they are also reaping their own lack of standards.
Blackpool has become a byword for a tacky beach resort only suitable for hen/stag parties. Clean up your act and stop looking for a "get out of jail free" card.
Stacy
I'm only 20 and am shocked by how much Blackpool has changed since I was young. It used to be a fantastic family attraction (nearly every summer weekend I would pester my parents to take me!), and now when I visit yearly for the Pleasure Beach and the (increasingly disappointing) Illuminations, all I see are drunks, Chavs and people on bargain-bin stag and hen dos falling from arcade to strip club and back again. Forget casinos and alcohol, Blackpool needs to clean up its act and its streets and bring back some of that seaside fun I remember!
EvoRacer
Serves Blackpool right. You closed Southport's Pleasureland down to steal our tourists. Now you know how it feels to have the rug pulled out from under you.
Carol
Blackpool will never become a family resort again whilst cheap hoildays abroad are up for grabs. It desperately needed this input of cash, the resort's millions of revenue in the boom years was milked by the big corporations and not reinvested in the town but just ended up in the coffers of the big corporations from elsewhere.That was near criminal the town was hoping and wishing that some reinvestement in the form of the Casino would be the biggest boost in the towns regeneration. I for one am gutted and the fact that it has gone to Manchester who has had a massive injection of money since the bomb some years ago is just an added kick in the teeth.
Tony Hall
Can't say I am surprised as imo opinion Blackpool has gone rapidly downhill in the last few years. My last visit a couple of years back, there I was on a Saturday afternoon taking a walk along the prom. In the time it took me to get from the Pleasure Beach to the Tower I saw three fights, two people throwing up in the gutter, a young bloke weeing in the street, got threatened and even saw a young couple having sex on the steps down to the beach! Says it all really!
Richard Hough
Manchester is a major conurbation with international links, booming in the 21st century and fast becoming a world class city. Blackpool is a small seaside town whoose glory has faded. To have expected to win is arrogant, to have banked on it was foolish and to whine about it afer the event is pathetic.
SIMON THORLEY
i think long term this will take visitors away from blackpool and we will see blackpool just like another morcambe no jobs full of imigrants and drug users and not a very nice place to visit. MANCHESTER HAS ALREADY HAD PLENTY OF NEW INVESTMENT TO CREATE JOBS. THE CITY BLACKPOOL NEEDED THIS TO KEEP UP WITH THE TIMES AND BRING NEW INVESTMENT INTO THE TOWN THAT ONLY HAS TOURISM AS ITS MAJOR INCOME AND JOBS ALSO THIS WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN JUST A SUMMER SEASON TOWN IT WOULD HAVE BROUGHT VISITORS IN FOR A FULL 12 MONTHS OF THE YEAR.
Alan
I'm gutted! I thought it would go to Blackpool or London, but Manchester has been landed with it, wouldn't want to wish the casino on any city. It's complete madness to build a casino with all the problems it brings totally outwaying the superficial benefits. Surely we can find better ways to regenerate our cities then building something that will cause more problems than solve. How do government make these decisions?!
RM
As someone from Blackpool this is the worst possible news!
To a number of the other areas that bid - the news of a super casino was an added bonus to their already developed areas - something exciting to look forward to on a Saturday night.
To Blackpool this was everything. Regeneration; new jobs, buildings, homes, hope!
I fear Blackpool does not have a back-up plan for this decision, what will become of us now!
Ian
think the decision is scandalous. I thought the decision was supposed to be based on how much regeneration it would bring to the area. Manchester has had untold millions spent on it over the last 10 years. Blackpool was by far the best bidder and I believe the town should appeal.
David
As a resident living just outside Blackpool I agree with those who describe the town as a frightening, sleazy place to visit, particularly for children. Blackpool Council only have themselves to blame for lack of investment in the things that the people of the town want, and it isn't hen and stag parties, and it certainly isn't gambling and the problems that it will bring. Blackpool has a rich history of entertainment and family holidays, yet the town venues are run down, the shopping centre is appalling and only recently has there been any investment on the promenade and football ground area. Wake up Blackpool - we want a town we can be proud of, not somewhere we are afraid to let our teenagers go to. I've seen Down Town Vegas - I don't want it here. At least Manchester won't have to import the associated drug problem and gun crime that the US have. They alraedy have it on their doorstep.
Karen
Very very disappointed as I feel that out of all the contenders Blackpool is most in need of regeneration and the chance to have a complete make-over. It seems sad to give this boost to a city that has already seen massice regeneration and recoups the benefit already. I would like to read the report detailing why the decision was made as it does not make any sense to me at all. Very sad.
Linda Wallis
Having been a frequent visitor to Blackpool over the last 6 years, I'm disappointed that Manchester has been awarded the Super Casino. Blackpool has loads to offer to everyone, not just the hen & stag nights! As a Londoner, but lover of Blackpool, I was hoping that transport links to the south would be vastly improved and help us Southerners discover what a fun place Blackpool is! How sad for the the team who put in so much hard work!
Steve Jenkinson
This is incredible news!? Incredible in that Manchester already has so much going for it and Blackpool which was a top tourist resort many many years ago had pinned their hopes on this investment to regenerate what has sadly become Hen and stag capital of the UK. I believe the days of family holdiays are long gone and much of the inncoence that was was Blackpool has now gone. I live outside Blackpool and work in Blackpool. Lets just hope that Blackpool FC make it through to the FA cup 5th round!
Lynne
Blackpool has enough casinos. A super casino here would bring more gambling additions, more drug problems, more crime and more homeless and more prostitution. Blackpol already has too much of all these and is going downhill fast so I am not sorry we have not won the bid. Blackpool needs to go back it's roots of a family place to be. Good luck to Manchester, a brilliant city who did a fantastic job with the Commonwealth games. A super casino in Manchester will work as the catchment area is possibly one of the best and a city will do far better than Blackpool ever could.
Paul
Manchester has more crime than Blackpool. As crime and gambling go hand in hand, it follows that Manchester should get it.
Eric
Blackpool had its day and chance, and it lost it.
Time for someone else to take up the running.
As lets be honest if blackpool wants to be a centre for family holidays it is better to stay away from something as family unfriendly as a super casino
Alan Cashier Ladd
The report includes a paragraph on Blackpool and I quote 'We have more than a little scepticism about the impossibility of a plan B for Blackpool (that is an alternative option for the future of Blackpool)'. Oh really, well we are all ears, please enlighten us as having spent a day in Blackpool they are obviously experts on the subject.
Liz Stokes
I'm devastated, not just for Blackpool, but for the rest of the North-West. It is an irrational and perverse decision. The regeneration case for Blackpool was compelling, with overwhelming support. Manchester is booming, vibrant and regenerating at speed in any case. They didn't need the casino in the same way Blackpool does. This just confirms my suspicion that the North of England beyond Manchester is invisible to Government.
brian higginson
This decision is the worst for the region as a whole. Contrary to some belief most people of the north west do not see Manchester as a place to go for an evening out. Mancunians might and those from the likes of Bury and Oldham. What makes this worse is that the North West as a whole only gets this one new casino. Look at the map and its all weighted towards the east coast. This is a snub to the people of Merseyside and West Lancashire. They have kicked Blackpool to the Kerb.
Ruth
Blackpool must be devastated. The Casino Plan promised so much - and not just gambling. It would have enabled Blackpool to re-brand itself into a foremost centre of entertainment. Plus Blackpool needs jobs - it has some of the most deprived wards in the country.
Mrs Tyler - London
Certainly the end for Blackpool. What a crying shame this was their last opportunity for regeneration. Manchester has loads of regeneration going on and infact has one of the highest number of construction cranes in the country does it really need more! Many Blackpool people including many families would have certainly benefited enourmously from the regeneration. What a shabby political desicion!
Andy L
Ah well Manchester won. I suppose they haven't had any massive re-investment programmes going on over recent years - except for the Commonwealth Games of course!!! Farcical decision not to give it to Blackpool. What they have done will only make matters worse for the town and take even more much need income away.
Burge
How can Stephen Crow say "it is an area in need of regeneration at least as much as any of the others we observed"! How much regeneration has Manchester had over the last few years. It's about time that some of the money was spread across the county.
Kate
I'm so very sorry that Blackpool has not won the Super Casino bid. The town deserved this economic boost and will be worst off for not having won it. I am glad that the winning site is located in the North West at Manchester. I feel that a lot of regeneration has already occurred in and around Manchester, and very little has been spent in Blackpool. I would have visited the casino had it have been in Blackpool as you would have got the full Vegas style experience which you will not get in Manchester!!!
carlie
I want more family attractions
Chris Brennand
how ironic, that a city with such high congestion that the council are proposing that they implement a congestion charge, should be the sucessful candidates!*? Well done manchester, even more money in the coffers at the expense of the motorist.
Andrew
I simply think that the government has no confidence in Blackpool, and that the town really has not got a lot going for it, the writing has been on the wall for the town for a long time it has gone down so much with little investment.
People are voting with their feet and just not going to Blackpool anymore. Let's face it holiday makers are much more inclined to go abroad especially families, I think Blackpool is quite a intimidating place to visit and does not cater for family holidays, we were there in Oct and it was all Stag and Hen parties, and that was in the middle of the day! not a nice atmosphere to take children into.
JOAN - BLACKBURN
I THINK THE CASINO WOULD BE FANTASTIC, NOT JUST FOR THE GAMBLING BUT FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT SIDE OF THINGS. I JUST HOPE THEY DON'T GET GREEDY WHEN IT COMES TO CHARGING HIGH FOR FOOD, BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE THE DOWNFALL. AS PEOPLE KNOW FOOD IN VEGAS IS REALLY CHEAP BUT NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF QUALITY
Mark Walker
Blackpool, needs and deserves the super-casino. It was the town that initiated the whole idea of super casino's. It was their idea, their inception and the town drastically needs to diversify to ensure year round trade instead of having a shorter, less productive season year on year
lorna atherton
no blackpool has enough idiots visitng without any more coming
Nigel
Does Blackpool need a casino? Are there not enough attractions already which would benifit from investment rather than a brand new venture to make the rest of the town look tired and shabby ? We love visiting Blackpool but we leave when evening starts and the gangs of drunken people start to get very loud.
Andrew
Blackpool is just an isolated relic and basically Victorian, everyone has taken out of Blackpool and nothing has been put back in, it has taken them 30 years to realise that the promenade needs doing, a Casino would not do the town any good whatsoever the town is finished as a seaside resort and is a menacing place to visit. Anyone with any common sense goes abroad to a family 'safe' resort.
I hope that London gets the Casino it may at last show the town that it needs to look after families and not endless Stag and Hen nights.
Nik
It’s all that been talked about in Blackpool for years and is very popular here. However I think this is misplaced. I personally had not given it a great deal of thought until watching the Dispatches documentary on CH4 last week and now realise that this huge change in gambling laws in the UK was top down decision government, and not a reaction to demand. The belief that allowing a super casino to be built will turn degradation into paradise is so misplaced it’s almost laughable. I believe the decision has been made already and it’s London (a deal to get the Olympics). However I don’t think Blackpool will ‘lose out’ as the government will allow many more to be built – only difference is that they won’t be called super casinos!
Christian, Blackpool, Lancashire
I live in Blackpool and I do not want the super casino in my backyard. It is a crime and gambling addiction time bomb waiting to go off. What annoys me the most is that I as a resident of the town have not even had a proper opportunity to have a say on the issue. I think there should be a public vote in every 'bid' town.
Loraine, Blackpool
WE are looking forward to the decision on Tuesday, we are very much in need of the regeneration that the investment in a 'super casino' will bring. We already have a number of small very efficient Casino's in the Area and also plenty of Arcades full of Machines. The big 'super casino' will be an added attraction that will attract the visitor from all over the U.K. and Internationally. With our lovely beaches and the new Sea defences that are also being built along the Prom, Blackpool should then be attracting the continental visitor. All the best things should not be south of Watford and any planning along those lines would should show what 'buffoons' are running the show!
