Corporation Street in Blackpool Town Centre

Corporation Street is at the heart of Blackpool Town Centre. This well-used street links several well known roads and landmarks, and it’s full of interesting finds!

Corporation Street in Blackpool Town Centre

Corporation Street is another of Blackpool’s oldest streets, dating back to the early 1800’s. In this page we’ll take a look at it as it is today, and some interesting secrets from its past.

Filmed in April 2025, the next video takes you along Corporation Street. Walk from the Town Hall, through Church Street to Victoria Street where it ends.

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Where is it?

Corporation Street runs North to South, fairly parallel with the coastline. From the top, it starts at the junction of Talbot Square, Talbot Road and Clifton Street, against the old Town Hall building. Corporation Street ends at Victoria Street – the pedestrianised road outside the Winter Gardens South entrance. See the red pin on the map below. Click on the map to explore –

What’s at Corporation Street?

Just to be awkward (and in keeping with the video) for this page we’re going to describe what’s there from South to North! It’s a longer road than you might think, and a busy, urban area, packed full of buildings and businesses.

Victoria Street

You might not think it, but Corporation Street actually begins at Victoria Street, the pedestrianised space outside the Houndshill Shopping Centre. It was closed to traffic in 2004, following pedestrianisation works at Church Street.

Set off walking in a northerly direction from here and Blackpool Grand Theatre is the first landmark on your right. This little street passes Matcham Court. With an ornate decorated entrance, it’s where pantechnicons arrive, loaded with stage equipment for visiting shows. The beautifully restored entrance to The Grand faces the door of Nando’s at the western side.

Costa

Heading straight forward along Corporation Street, one of Blackpool’s Costa Coffee shops is the next building you see. Between it and The Grand is Church Street. Also pedestrianised, it’s another one of the old, original streets of Blackpool, extending way inland. It passes the silver dome of The Regent and carries on all the way inland to join Whitegate Drive.

Back in the day, and to our older readers, where Costa is now was once known as ‘School-wear Corner’. This was after Rawcliffe’s Clothes – originally opened at 67 Bolton Street, South Shore in 1896 but moved here in 1904. Rawcliffe’s rebuilt the site of the former Jackson’s Iron Mongers in 1914. Look up to the roof-line and you’ll see this beautiful art-deco style decorative terracotta piece (above).

After Rawcliffe’s moved to Birley Street in 1986, Dixons Electricals took over the unit. Then Costa Coffee moved in, opening in 2016.

Bus Hub

Corporation Street is also where you’ll find Blackpool’s main bus stops because it’s part of the town centre Bus Hub. There’s a ‘Bus Gate’ here, which means that ordinary motorists will receive a ticket for driving in the area. Don’t go this way!

BHS Building

Today, the Corporation Street side of what was the BHS building is occupied by a large branch of Santander. For many years, the building which covers the block between Corporation St, West St, Market St and Church St was the site of St John’s New Market. This was a large open-air market, and a surface car park.

The new-build BHS opened on 9 May 1957. Covering 61,000 square feet it originally had a basement (with café, lighting/homewares and menswear) and the ground floor with food, ladies clothing, children’s and toys. Escalators and stairs took you to the basement, while up above the store is the West Street car park. Sadly BHS went into administration in 2016, with the Blackpool store closing on 28 August. But B&M weren’t long in spotting the opportunity to move in. They moved from their previous store in what’s now the Sand’s building at Bank Hey Street.

Scruffy Murphy’s

Stand back and look properly at Scruffy Murphy’s and you can see that it’s an old building. It’s architecturally interesting – with quirky details and original features.

Locally listed, it was originally built in 1840 as the Grapes Inn. Scruffy Murphy’s of today was rebuilt in the 1920’s in warm red brick. Inside is a snug and a separate smoke room, for a homely feel. Tetley’s operated this town centre pub for many years – it’s now Irish themed and run by Greene King.

Lloyds Bank

Next door to Scruffy Murphy’s is Lloyds Bank. Another locally listed building, it features typical bank-style architecture, and opened on 9 April 1938.

Crown Inn

Still on the same side of the street, the Rose and Crown is at the junction with Birley Street. Originally The Crown Inn built in 1845, the third floor had a private cinema seating 100 people!

You can see that the current building is a much newer style, and was rebuilt in 1963. Promises Bar opened in 1987 with a disco upstairs, which became the Cotton Club in 1988. 1988 was a busy year for this building. First The Crown Inn was renamed Rose and Crown, and in the same year renamed The Beat. Now it’s The Rose and Crown again!

A&B Christies Jewellers

Back over the other side of the road, opposite The Rose and Crown is A&B Christies Jewellers. They’d previously opened in May 1987 in the Houndshill Shopping Centre. That store closed when the Houndshill was extended. Christies moved to their current site in March 1996.

West Street Car Park

Just to the right of A&B Christies is the entrance to West Street multi-storey car park. It’s a very convenient spot for all the main town centre area, and a really handy Blackpool car park. However, it’s a mid-twentieth century building with some tight turns, so perhaps not suitable for nervous drivers!

Council Offices

Opposite the entrance to West Street Car Park and A&B Christies is the new Council Offices building. Blackpool Council’s new section of town hall is a relatively modern addition with it’s front door at Corporation Street. The original Victorian stone Town Hall is accessed from Talbot Square.

Now called Progress House and originally the site of St John’s New Market, this extension dates to 1977. Look upwards above the first floor windows and you’ll see an ornate stone frieze around the building. Each of the tablets depicts methods of transport through the ages.

NatWest Bank

The Manchester and County Bank was built at the corner of Birley Street and Corporation Street in 1881. Designed by architects Cooper and Tullis it was known as ‘architecturally the best building in town’. By the mid 1930’s they had branches all over.

Unfortunately the ‘best building in town’ was demolished to be replaced in 1979 with today’s modern NatWest Bank building.

Corner Clifton & Corporation Streets

The National and Provincial Bank opened on 23 November 1929 on this corner, opposite Blackpool Town Hall. Unfortunately it was another original building to be demolished and replaced with a faceless, red-brick structure. Originally the Tourist Information Centre operated from there until it closed in 2017 to move to Festival House at the promenade. Healthworks (and various other agencies) have occupied it since.

Corporation Street Back in the Day

Keep your eyes open when you walk through these old streets of Blackpool. Look up and around to see lots of original decorative features.

Back in the mid 1700’s, most of the land around this end of Blackpool was a large orchard, when the Trustees of the William Gaulter Charity bought land here.

They paid £500 – a whopping amount of money at the time, when an average labourer got just six shillings a week. They were big investors of the day, people willing to take a risk with their own money. Just like todays investors risk their own money on projects in Blackpool today. One of the Trustees was Thomas Birley of Kirkham, presumably one of the cloth magnates of the time. In 1773 the William Gaulter Charity became the Lytham Schools Charity.

Originally, Corporation Street was Lytham Street, acquiring it’s current name in March 1928. An Act of Parliament renamed it, along with another 78 streets. St John’s New Market opened here on 25 March 1895. Originally it was just a library, but soon had a market on the ground floor with the library above. Years later it was to become the site of Progress House.

Other streets to explore…

There’s all kinds of interesting things to explore in Blackpool town centre. Visit shops, businesses, attractions, cafes and pubs of today. Keep an eye out for traces of the past as you walk around…

• Birley Street – comes off at right angles, the one with the big steel arches
• Explore Church Street – from the sea past The Grand, M&S and the Winter Gardens
• And Market Street – part of the Bus Hub system
• Take a look at Talbot Square – opposite North Pier at the North end of Corporation Street
• Victoria Street – at the South end of Corporation Street
• West Street – connecting to Corporation Street

And there’s much, much more to explore! MANY THANKS to Nick Moore and his fascinating History of Blackpool for historical information used in this page.