New Hotel Plans for Blackpool’s Old Post Office

A transformation is finally on the cards for Blackpool’s Old Post Office on Abingdon Street. Development plans for a new hotel will breathe new life into the old building. Above photo: Dawn Mander

Plans still on the Table in 2022…

The old Post Office at Abingdon Street has been empty for 15 years. The good news is that developer Ashall Projects is still intending to convert it into a luxury hotel.

One bid for government funding towards the work has already failed. But another application for £8m from the Levelling Up fund went to government in August 2022. Although the second bid failed at the first attempt, it was eventually granted in the Spring 2023 Budget.

The Old Post Office has been owned by businessman Joe Thompson since 2015. In late 2023 it was revealed that Blackpool Council is in negotiations to buy the building from Mr Thompson.

The plan includes:

• construction of a four and five storey link extension with roof top terraces between the former Post Office and sorting office,
• a three storey rear extension to the former Post Office
• and internal and external alterations to both buildings.
• terraced areas in the courtyard after demolition of the existing fourth floor roof extension to the former sorting office.
• other redundant structures in the courtyard to be demolished
• detailed demolition schedules are included in this submission.

2021 Plans for Blackpool’s Old Post Office

According to the Place North West website, a Cheshire company called Ashall Projects has submitted an application to convert Blackpool’s old post office into a 144 bedroom hotel.

They’re working with Blackpool Council and Hotel Indigo to deliver the £24.8m project. Hotel Indigo is the Luxury and Lifestyle brand from the IHG Group which includes Holiday Inn. And of course there’s a brand new Holiday Inn being built nearby at Talbot Road.

Many original features will be retained, including the marble floors. The Post Office and the 8 red telephone boxes are all Grade II listed. We went to record the sorry state the building is currently in, before any work begins –

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Ashall Projects has completed a number of similar projects, including the conversion of the former Royal Insurance building in Liverpool. The 116 bedroom ‘Aloft Hotel’ transformed the old building which had been derelict for 20 years. It was so bad that it was on the National Buildings at Risk register.

Approval for Indigo Hotel Plans

On Tuesday 16 November 2021, the planning committee at Blackpool Council voted unanimously to approve the application to convert this long-disused building into a new boutique hotel.

This plan meant the existing fourth floor roof extension to the former sorting office could be demolished. Along with removal of various other internal walls and structures to the courtyard and roof.

A three storey link extension will be added, along with a fourth floor roof extension and balconies to the former sorting office. At the back of the former Post Office new extensions will be added. One is single storey, the other three storey. As you would expect there will be internal and external changes made to both buildings.

On foot you’ll enter from Abingdon Street. There,the front of the building and it’s eight red phone boxes will be preserved. Access for vehicles is from Edward Street.

History of Blackpool Post Office

Blackpool Post Office at Abingdon Street opened to the public on 2 June 1905, moving from the corner of Coronation Street/Church Street. It replaced the Union Baptist Chapel and Sunday School.

Thanks go once again to Visit Fylde Coast Contributor Juliette Gregson for this archive photo of the building in its early days.

Blackpool Post Office When it Closed

The Post Office was in use at Abingdon Street until it closed on 12 September 2007.

The counter service moved to WH Smith on Bank Hey Street until that also closed. Blackpool now has a new post office counter in Bickerstaffe House – the building next to North Station.

The sorting office moved to the new £7m Royal Mail Delivery Centre off Faraday Way in Bispham in 2015.

Thanks to Visit Fylde Coast Contributor Juliette Gregson, who provided these photos. They show the inside of the counter and the sorting office at Abingdon Street Post Office, taken literally just before it closed. Plus a couple of photos of the familiar stonework on the outside of the building.

Clive Cook also got in touch, with an anecdote about his time there. Clive says “I started work there as a 16 year old telegram boy on 4 July 1977 then went on to be a van driver. There were 82 sub post offices then, all over the Fylde, I bet there are less than 20 now?

“Those days were brilliant. Enjoyable and I looked forward to going to work, for the crack and wind ups. There was even a canteen on the top floor, all the postmen used it for a brilliant full English, every morning. Never to be repeated.”

Photos Inside the Post Office Hall

Photos of places you wouldn’t normally see…

And Visit Fylde Coast Contributor Dawn Mander provided these photos of the courtyard area where demolition work had begun in Spring 2018.

Failed Plans for Blackpool’s Old Post Office

Sadly, after being empty for so long, the building has suffered some vandalism, including an arson attack on Boxing Day 2018. The Indigo Hotel plans are the fourth set of plans for the building.

‘Red Box Quarter’ Designs for Blackpool Post Office

This design for the building was revealed in January 2018. It showed how Blackpool’s former main Post Office could be transformed into a contemporary shopping and leisure hub.

Proposals for the Red Box Quarter at the Grade II listed building on Abingdon Street were also formally approved by planners. The name came, of course, from the well loved row of red phone boxes at the entrance.

These retail plans included the removal of the former Post Office counter and its re-use to form a central kiosk within the main hall on the ground floor.

Plans included a restaurant at plaza level, a rooftop bar on the Edward Street elevation and a mini designer outlet. This fly through video uses CGI to show you around the development proposals. But this scheme for a 50 bedroom hotel was shelved.

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Hotel Plans…

The November 2019 plans for a 102-bedroom hotel were the third proposal for the site. Previous schemes included a smaller, 50 bedroom hotel and the Red Box Quarter shopping outlet (above).

Plans for the 102-bedroom version were approved in November 2019, also including shops, a bar and restaurant, plus a roof terrace. The service yard at the rear of the building to be converted into a 46-space car park. The Edward Street buildings, once home to the sorting office, would be converted into the 102-bedroom hotel.

It’s an attractive building, fronted in ornate white Portland stone. At the front are eight, Grade II listed, cast-iron telephone boxes. The original post office counter and mosaic floor were also to be retained in this scheme. This work would have included building 2 three-storey extensions. One with an enclosed staircase, and the other a roof terrace overlooking Abingdon Street.

Got anything to add?

If you know anything more about the history of Blackpool Post Office, please feel free to add your knowledge in the comments below. If you’ve got any old photos to add you can email them to jane@theRabbitPatch.co.uk