Blackpool, nostalgia and the supercasino

2007-10-04 14:56:38

Blackpool, which is has been in the news over the past few days because of the Tory conference, has been the focus of media musings about the future of the supercasino.

Had the conference been in Manchester, then no doubt journalists would have said this great northern city is the obvious choice for Britain's first Las Vegas-style gambling establishment.

But because neither the Tories nor Labour plan to hold a conference in Blackpool for the foreseeable future, a kind of nostalgia has welled up for the seaside resort.

For example, Keith Waterhouse, writing in the Daily Mail, said that Blackpool's crumbling fortunes are "all the more reason why that committee of the great, the good and the gormless responsible for handing out the super-casino concession should have awarded it to Blackpool".

Then he went on to describe Manchester as the most "unobvious" candidate for reasons unexplained.

But while Blackpool may have lost out to Manchester on the supercasino, it still has the G Casino, which has the country's biggest poker room.

Formerly known as the Grosvenor Casino, it has been completely refitted at a cost of £3.5 million and now includes a restaurant and a stage for live entertainment.