Press Cutting – Fun Park Shopper Bonanza (1990)

Blackpool Gazette

TUESDAY JANUARY 9, 1990

Blackpool Pleasure Beach is heading steadily towards its new £6 million shopping frontier.

Running right on schedule is the new Ocean Boulevard retail development scheme - creating 35 new shops in a previously commercially undeveloped part of the promenade.

Company officials have no doubt that the May 20 handover date will be met and the project designed and built by Balfour Beatty will prove a prime addition to the Pleasure Beach amenities and a valuable new attraction for Blackpool.

Mr David Cam, Director and Company Secretary with special responsibility for the Ocean Boulevard initiative, is delighted at the response to the project from the retail sector.

"It's been brilliant" he said. "We have already have more prospective tenants on the list than we have units - and more applicants are coming in all the time".

Units of single and two-storey construction range from 1500 to 7000 square feet. They will fringe the 400m of the seaward side of the Pleasure Beach and will provide a major new arm for the South Shore shopping scene.

Exteriors of the retail units will be in a variety of Edwardian styles. Mr. Cam said "We are determined that Ocean Boulevard will be an area of retail excellence. It will not price itself out of the marketplace. To put itself in the Gucci league with sky high prices will be daft. On the other hand it is not going to be in the Kiss Me Quick hats category, we want the Boulevard to be able to provide a range of quality goods and services a reasonable and affordable prices".

Mr. Cam said that there had been a tremendous response from companies local and national who were eager to trade on the Boulevard. They range from food firms to Nottingham lace sellers, record shops to hand craft outlets.