The hotel owners who want to make your stay in Blackpool ‘DeLovely’
Seaside town Blackpool in northern England has acted as a magnet for beach-lovers for well over 150 years.
Mark
The seaside town of Blackpool in Lancashire, Northern England, has attracted vacationers for well over 150 years. It became arguably the most popular seaside resort for mill workers and other blue-collar beach seekers following the opening of its train station in the mid-1800s.
Its popularity boomed in the early 20th century, following the arrival of some of its main tourist attractions: the iconic Blackpool Tower (inspired by the Eiffel Tower), the Pleasure Beach theme park, and the Winter Gardens.
The town’s popularity waned in the late 1900s, when people became more tempted by cheap package holidays and plane tickets to Spain and other parts of Europe.
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That said, the town continues to attract millions of visitors each year, even if it’s now a little rough around the edges. It’s become the default destination for weekend bachelorette parties on a budget. It’s also very popular with gay fun-seekers. The town offers almost a dozen LGBTQ bars, with drag particularly popular. There’s a similar number of gay-owned or oriented guesthouses and hotels.
Many of these are clustered around the neighborhood near Blackpool North rail station, where you’ll find street signs decorated with rainbow flags. Here you’ll find rooms starting from as little as $45 a night, with the obligatory cooked English breakfast included for free!
DeLovely Hotel
One of these hotels is Delovely, run by Charlie and Mark. It’s close to the North Pier, the oldest and longest of Blackpool’s three piers.
Charlie grew up in Essex and attended university in York and London. He found working in small independent cafés more fulfilling than the subjects of his degrees, so he pursued a career in hospitality instead.
After moving to Worthing on the south coast, he met Mark online and sparks flew.
Mark worked for the NHS for almost 20 years in Brighton and Worthing, both in hospitals and the community. After Charlie’s mom passed away, the couple moved to Liverpool. Mark continued his healthcare work in the community, and Charlie worked in retail while they renovated their house overlooking Newsham Park.
In 2020, they had what they call “an epiphany” and decided to pursue a dream to run their own hotel. They had visited Blackpool several times and loved what the town had to offer LGBTQ+ people.
Delovely is their first venture as hotel owners.
“We purchased the hotel between lockdowns in December 2020,” Charlie tells GayCities. “When the lockdown lifted in May 2021, we had a really successful year and purchased our second property in 2022, which we ran as DeLovely Two for almost 18 months. We decided to lease the property out in 2023 and focus on our initial hotel, which we expanded in 2024, taking over the hotel next door and knocking through.”
‘Four In A Bed’
For Mark and Charlie, the choice of Blackpool was an easy one.
“We’d been on holidays to Blackpool several times, and more frequently after we moved to Liverpool, and we were closer. We really enjoyed our stays and loved that the bars around Lord Street and Dickson Road offered a genuinely warm welcome to the LGBTQ+ community. We decided it was something we really wanted to be a part of.”
“Like most of the properties here, it [DeLovely] was built as a lodging house in the late 1800s when seaside tourism boomed and people from the factories in Manchester and other parts of Lancashire started to holiday by the sea. It was previously called York House Hotel, but the previous owners renamed the hotel as part of a major rebrand, and they even won Channel 4’s [reality TV show] ‘Four In A Bed’ back in 2012/2013.”
The British TV show features hotel and guesthouse owners visiting and critiquing other independent establishments.
Challenges
What sort of challenges did the couple face in taking the place over?
“Because of Blackpool’s popularity dipping in the late 80s/90s, most hotels here weren’t necessarily looked after by the owners. The previous owners did a lot of work to bring the hotel up to modern standards, but there have still been struggles with fundamental issues like electrics and gas, which have had to be put right,” says Charlie.
“One of the main challenges is the old saying, ‘You can’t please everyone.’ We always try our best to offer a warm welcome and a hospitable environment, and we’ve been lucky to gain hundreds of 5* Tripadvisor reviews since we took over DeLovely. It can be difficult to find good staff in Blackpool because a lot of employment is seasonal (especially in the larger hotels on the sea front), but we count ourselves incredibly lucky with the team we have at the moment.”
“A friendly welcome”
As residents of the town, what are the Blackpool attractions Charlie and Mark recommend people visit?
“Where do you start? There’s so much to do if you visit! The Pleasure Beach is open at this time of year (April) and has some fantastic rides, and you have to go to the top of Blackpool Tower on a nice day to admire the views over Lytham towards Southport in one direction, and the Lake District in the other.”
Why do they think a visitor from the US might consider adding the town to a UK itinerary?
“Blackpool offers the quintessential traditional English seaside experience — budget-friendly fun for adults, kids, couples, families; there’s something for everyone. You’re guaranteed a friendly welcome in the many independent guest houses.
“If you visit for the LGBTQ+ scene, there are loads of independent bars around Lord Street and Dickson Road. You’ll find nice, quiet bars, something to eat, karaoke, men-only areas, regular trans events, and meet-ups.
“Outside of Manchester and London, this must be one of the best and most varied LGBTQ+ areas in the UK.”
Can you recommend a couple of good restaurants for visitors to Blackpool?
“Definitely! There are a few we swear by. The Mandarin offers amazing Chinese and Asian Fusion food. There’s a great Italian slightly away from town called Ciao Ciao, and Abingdon Street Indoor Market has a mixture of food stalls offering street food from several corners of the world.
“Our favourite coffee stop is Hive on Church Street. Their homemade cakes and bakes are consistently great, and the staff are so friendly!
When to visit?
Lastly, when is the best time to visit?
“There are things happening in Blackpool all year round; shows at the Winter Gardens and Opera House, Northern Soul events two or three times a year, not forgetting the famous ‘Pigeon Weekend’ in January!
“We open all year round. We only close when we go on holiday ourselves. It used to be a seasonal town, but it’s evolved to a point where trade is strong all year. It can be a bit cold between November and March, though!”
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