Michael Trainor, a once-local artist (he now lives in Scotland), explained that it’s mostly thanks to a combination of location and size. Sun can be elusive on the Irish Sea coast, even in summer, he noted.
“It was the original Victorian chutzpah to put it on a chilly bit of northwest coastline. Mad from start to finish.” What’s more, much of the housing here is nondescript and recently built, with little detailing to inspire (the Edwardian homes around Stanley Park are a noteworthy exception). The average house price in the United Kingdom to the year end in August was $387,000; Blackpool’s average selling price in July 2021 was about $170,000.
Mr. Trainor, 54, said that Blackpool’s attractions, including its landmark Eiffel Tower-inspired tower, were built as mass-market crowd-pleasers, mostly for the working classes of Manchester’s factories. Luring new creative talent is much harder as a result; the costs, and risks, are much higher.
Yet Mr. Trainor, who is the former head of LeftCoast, an arts organization in the city, doesn’t discount Blackpool’s chances. He first came to the city for a commission and helped champion its arts scene for several years. And it is getting some national attention: Britain’s Arts Council named it an area of priority in September.
One of Mr. Trainor’s most exciting projects is the Art B&B, a 19-room reimagining of a typical bed-and-breakfast, with each room uniquely conceived by an artist. Christopher Samuel, for example, designed one intended to make ambulatory guests understand the inconvenience he encounters at most hotels as a wheelchair user.
Art B&B’s profits are earmarked for reinvestment in the local creative scene, and Mr. Trainor proudly noted that income from the hotel this summer exceeded all expectations.
“Blackpool has the same issues that all the U.K. seaside towns have got,” he said, “but it’s by far the most visited, so becomes a concentrated version of everything that happens in them, good and bad.”
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