Of all the places that was bidding for a super casino, nowhere had more of its future staked on it than Blackpool.
Blackpool is a resort town. The problem is that the resort that Blackpool "was", each year becomes less and less the resort people "want". That is a shame. I love Blackpool. I went in October and went as a child many times.
A super casino would ahve given Blackpool a chance to become a resort that some people actually want to go to. It would have meant a massive investment, new jobs, better hotels, a richer clientelle and would have seen people's perception of Blackpool change.
Why Manchester then ? An area with booming house prices, the BBC are already moving there, a new City Centre (rebuilt after the IRA bomb), and a City already on the up. It doesn't seem fair, unless you are a Labour MP in Gorton or Oldham where you fear for your majority. Perhaps this is the real reason for Manchester being chosen ?
As for Greenwich, it has the Olympics and several thousand new jobs to come because of that. So I was never in the Greenwich camp.
But on a personal note, and from my own knowledge of the area, I was really sorry that Blackpool didn't get the Super Casino. It is a real slap in the face for the town.
1 comment:
I was hoping I'd be the first with an article on the Super-Casino, but you beat me to it! (Sorry for the shameless plugging!)
I see what you mean about Blackpool having more staked on the casino than the other bidders, and I sympathise, but my Mancunian pride pulls me in the other direction. I was involved, in a small way, with the Commonwealth Games, which were very professionally run, and I hope the competence of the Games was what allowed the city to be awarded such a big project as the Super-Casino.
I'm not convinced this has been done for political reasons, as the Casino Panel is supposed to be independent, but maybe I'm naive. To be honest, I'd be very happy to give up the Super-Casino if it meant we could get rid of the awful awful Gerald Kaufman!
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