Tag: Entrepreneurs

Mr. Hincksman’s Chapel / Bath Street Methodist Church

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Mr. Hincksman’s Chapel, later known as Bath Street Methodist Church, was a Wesleyan chapel built in Lytham in 1846, funded largely by Thomas Crouch Hincksman, a Preston cotton spinner. The origins of Methodism in Lytham started from a cottage in Bath Street, which was a licensed preaching house. In 1846 a chapel which could accommodate 200 worshippers was built in Bath Street by T.C. Hincksman but by 1868 this was not large enough to hold all the summer visitors and it was replaced in 1868 by much large premises on Park Street. It was subsequently used as the first Lytham… Read more »

The Railway Hotel & the Hansom Cab

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The Railway Hotel in Lytham is a well-known historic pub that has stood for over 175 years, witnessing the transformation of the town from a quiet coastal settlement into a bustling seaside resort. Purpose-built in 1847, it was constructed adjacent to Lytham’s first railway station—known as Lytham Station (Station Road)—which had opened the previous year, on 16 February 1846. The original station was designed in a grand classical style, built from Longridge stone, featuring a striking façade and an octagonal booking office topped with a domed roof. The Railway Hotel was intended to serve travellers arriving by train, offering refreshments… Read more »

Lytham Market Hall

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In 1848, the Lytham Improvement Commissioners, the local government of the day, commissioned the building of Lytham Market Hall at a cost of over £1,000, designed by Charles Reed of Liverpool, to replace the open-air market. It was originally designed as a single-story structure with an Italianate style. A clock tower, donated by Lady Eleanor Cecily Clifton, was added to the building in 1868. A further tower was added on the west side in 1877. In 1883 a drinking fountain was placed  in the Market Square in memory of her husband, John Talbot Clifton, who died in 1882. In the… Read more »

Richard Ansdell Builds House in Lytham St Annes

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Richard Ansdell RA (11 May 1815 – 20 April 1885) was a British painter of animals and genre scenes. For part of his career he kept a “summer house” at Lytham St Annes, in the borough of Fylde, where a district, Ansdell, is named after him. He is the only English artist to have been honoured in this way. Many of his works are under the guardianship of Fylde Borough Council, having been donated to the former Lytham St Annes Corporation in the 1930s. A selection of these paintings is periodically exhibited at the Fylde Gallery above Booths supermarket in Lytham… Read more »

Karl Crompton Wins £10.8m From Lottery

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Karl Crompton, born in Blackpool in 2002, was once dubbed Britain’s most eligible bachelor after bagging £11 million in the National Lottery when he was just 23. But after 27 years that included a divorce from his childhood sweetheart, the man once known as ‘Rollover Romeo’ has been spotted looking grizzled and grey at the age of fifty. He was one of the earliest jackpot winners when he scooped up his millions back in 1996. The then-trainee at high street electrical goods store Comet had been earning around £100 a week shortly before he was thrust into the spotlight to… Read more »

The Windmill at Marsh Mill Village in Thornton

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Marsh Mill Village, located in Thornton, near Blackpool, is a historic site centered around Marsh Mill, an 18th-century windmill. It was built in 1794 by Ralph Slater for Bold Hesketh and was a corn mill used to grind grain until the 1920s. Wyre Council leased the mill from Melrose Development Services for 25 years before the lease ended. Melrose Development Services then bought the mill from the council for £1.4 million. The surrounding area has been developed into Marsh Mill Village, a courtyard complex that includes retail units, offices, and the Tavern at the Mill pub. There is also a fine… Read more »

Blackpool’s Ray Allen Brings KFC to Britain

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Born in Blackpool in 1927, Ray Allen originally aspired to study medicine, as he enjoyed physics and chemistry at secondary school. However, he changed his mind after failing the compulsory language component of the university entrance exam. His future plans were further delayed when he was called up to serve in the Second World War, joining the Royal Navy at the age of 18. Owing to his scientific background, he was trained as a radar technician and stationed at the naval base at Lossiemouth in Scotland, rising to the rank of Petty Officer within a few months. After leaving the… Read more »

Blackpool Born Pioneer Develops Contact Lens in St Annes

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Frank Dickinson (1906-1978) was an Optometrist and contact lens pioneer, researcher and writer, who developed the micro-corneal lens and was born in Blackpool in 1906. In 1921, he was articled to his aunt, Maud Farnworth, who had an optical practice in Lytham St Annes. He obtained a diploma of the British Optical Association from the College of Technology in Manchester at the age of nineteen, though he was not able to use this professional qualification until he reached twenty-one. In 1930 he set up his own optical practice, moving premises two years’ later to 35 The Square in St Annes… Read more »

Beaverbrooks Base Their Operations in St Annes

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Beaverbrooks, a family-owned jeweller, has a strong presence in Blackpool and the Fylde Coast. It was established in 1919 by three brothers, the Adlestone brothers, Isaac, Harry and Maurice, moved to Belfast to sell fine jewelry and gifts. While the main headquarters are in St Annes, near Blackpool, they have a store in Church Street, Blackpool. Beaverbrooks’ history in the North West of England began with the brothers targeting the area and basing their operations in St Annes in 1946. They’re celebrating 105 years of family heritage. Today, they now have 85 stores nationwide and over 1,200 colleagues. And, Isaac’s… Read more »

Town Centre Building Becomes Temple of Arts Studio

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One of the oldest surviving buildings in the town centre. Built in 1847 it became John Eastman’s Temple of Arts photographic studio in 1853, said to have been the first in Blackpool. The outer wall was originally adorned by three carved figures – ‘The Three Graces’, Faith, Love and charity. Created by the artist Samuel Wood they were subsequently hidden for many years until uncovered in 1976. Sadly they were damaged during building renovation in 1988 and were replaced by a plastic replica.