Lifeboat Inn reopens in Blackpool

Blackpool Gazette

One of Blackpool's oldest pubs has re-opened following a £200,000 investment which included rebuilding the front of the venue which was at risk of collapse.

Transcript

00:00okay so yeah so could you introduce yourself in your position at the lifeboat pub

00:06so my name is Jason and I'm the co-lisee of the lifeboat

00:12could you get what's your what's your surname sorry? Jason Humphreys

00:17so how long did you get involved with the lifeboat pub initially?

00:25we have another pub in the town and basically we are part of the same brewery so when we found out there's an

00:35opportunity to take the lifeboat on in a similar style of pub we thought well it's a great opportunity so we applied and here we are

00:43yeah so this is the reopening of the lifeboat pub can you tell me why the

00:49what the reason was for it closing down in the first place? so what we can see behind me

00:53here the whole wall had to be replaced from the foundations all the way to the

00:58top with a load of re-roofing. Basically structurally one of the windows had

01:04actually collapsed, the lint had actually broken and it basically started to rip the wall apart

01:10unfortunately the building construction is old commons mortar so it basically passed its date and it was in the risk of collapse

01:19so the work had to be done to rebuild it otherwise it would continue to straighten

01:25how expensive was that to repair how much money do you have to know in total?

01:30I don't know the final figure but it's not far short of around about 300,000 pounds

01:34to repair? just to repair, no refurbishment just to physically repair the wall

01:41and it took how long did it take?

01:47all told it's not far short of six months

01:49six months worth

01:51obviously because it's a locally listed building it had to be done in conjunction with Blackpool Heritage

01:56to make sure it was rebuilt in a way that was acceptable including the windows behind me being refurbished rather than replaced

02:06so how much work was that for you to make sure everything was sorted over those six months?

02:10fortunately nothing truly as the brewery took full control of it before we actually took possession of the building ourselves

02:18which obviously was the best way to do it

02:22what's the brewery?

02:24it's a start pubs and bars which are part of mining in the UK

02:28so after that much money and it taking that long how does it feel for the pub to finally be open today?

02:34it's been a long time coming

02:36initially we were prepared to take over in December of last year

02:42so it's been that long since we knew we were taking the pub on to get to today

02:53how's it gone so far today?

02:55when did you open today?

02:57we started from 12 o'clock today

02:59so far so good

03:01we have a busy pub, lots of people enjoying being back in

03:04and hopefully it will continue for the rest of the year

03:08what makes this pub different from other ones on the street or other ones in Blackpool?

03:13apart from the fact it's probably one of the most original pubs on this particular street

03:20the building you see behind me would have actually been the promenade and the sea before

03:25so it was sea front property originally

03:29we don't know an exact age of the building but probably circa 150 years old plus

03:34so it's been a long time so it's built up a lot of trade over a lot of years

03:39there's a lot of people that just love being in the place and giving a traditional style pub rather than something too modern

03:47what was the reaction on social media when the pub reopened?

03:52mad, to be fair, mad

03:56has a lot of followers and a lot of associated pubs and press

04:02and it's been brilliant

04:04good wishes, can't wait to come back

04:08general consensus

04:10so we've got karaoke on at the moment, is there anything else the pub's going to be offering?

04:16not in general, what it's been known as for the last 10-12 years is doing karaoke

04:226 days a week

04:24it's stretched to 7 days but the 7th day is just a night time karaoke

04:29so that's what it's been known as, that's what people come for

04:34do you have any future plans for the business or is it just getting it off the ground at the moment?

04:41there's more works to be done during next year in conjunction with the brewery

04:47toilet refurbishment, the private quarters above do some refurbishment as well

04:54and we'll do some further works internally as well

04:57just to keep it fresh and clean

04:59and looking at how people want it to look when they come in

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