‘They’ve killed Blackpool’

00:00 04:53

Max Jeffery has narrated this article for you to listen to.

It’s mid-afternoon in the Royal Oak pub in Blackpool and Liv has arrived to sell a bag full of stuff she’s stolen from the supermarket. She’s got fabric conditioner, soap, Creme Eggs and a large bar of Dairy Milk. She pulls in a few pounds and then leaves to score some crack. ‘Everyone struggles,’ says a man watching her sell. Lots of people here don’t work. People earn money however they can.

In Blackpool, you see the worst of Britain’s welfare crisis. More than a quarter of the city’s working-age residents are on out-of-work benefits, the highest proportion in the UK and twice the national average. In parts of South Shore – right near the promenade, and home to a once-strong tourism industry – it’s closer to 60 per cent. There used to be circuses and casinos, and Peter Kay once filmed here. That’s all gone. Most locals feel as if there’s no hope of a better life. Universal credit reform was supposed to come with ‘universal support’; the ‘levelling-up’ agenda was supposed to sort out the area. But the promised help never arrived.

Next to the Royal Oak, there was once a bingo hall called the Apollo. It was plush and grand with Art Deco furnishings. It closed in 2009 – the same year the regional office of the Department for Work and Pensions was shuttered. There used to be a market near the pub, too. ‘You could buy anything you wanted,’ Geoff, 67, tells me. He fondly remembers buying cheap knock-off alcohol near Lytham Road. Now there are only takeaway shops, off-licences and hardware stores – and many of these are also closing down.