AI automation in Blackpool.
Blackpool had 3,780 businesses in 2026, and 88.1% of them employ fewer than ten people.Source [1] Of about 63,000 employee jobs in 2024, accommodation and food made up 14.3%, nearly double the British share of 7.8%. Health and social work made up 27.0%, against 14.2% nationally.Source [1]
We cover all 43 towns and villages in the district. Most of what we build is delivered remotely, so the practical question is not how far you are from us. It is whether we understand the way your trade actually works. We will come out if it helps.
Written by Sami (Sam) Swain. Local facts checked 9 October 2026.
What is happening in Blackpool
Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone and Silicon Sands
- The Enterprise Zone covers 144 hectares across the Blackpool and Fylde boundary. It began on 1 April 2016 with a 25 year life.Source [2]
- Blackpool Council said in March 2026 that 2,700 jobs had been created across the zone. A new access road, Vickers Way, was due to open in spring 2026, and a £5 million substation will supply 32MVA of green electricity to Silicon Sands.Source [3]
- In July 2026 Blackpool Council said it intended to award the contract for the first Silicon Sands data centre to HOCHTIEF Data Centre Partner UK, subject to final approvals. The centre has outline planning permission, with 20,000 sq ft of office and research space and a 6MW supply offer from SP Electricity North West.Source [4]
- The first data centre is planned on the site of the old airport fire station and engineering yard.Source [5]
- Blackpool Council has bid for AI Growth Zone status. The bid was still under consideration in November 2025, and the zones named by October 2026 did not include Blackpool.Source [5]Source [6]
- The zone also holds Lancashire Energy HQ, a £9.8 million training facility for the energy sector.Source [7]
Support for businesses
- The Blackpool Growth Business Academy gives fully funded advice, mentoring and guidance to Blackpool businesses. It has helped almost 600 firms since autumn 2023 and now runs until March 2027.Source [8]
- Since April 2026 Blackpool Council has offered an online enquiry form, tailored workshops, the Blackpool Unlimited website and workspace at The Robinson and Blackpool Enterprise Centre.Source [9]
Local business news
- Blackpool payments firm Tap & Go secured investment from Cashflows in August 2026.Source [10]
- In August 2026 Boost reported that Blackpool was one of nine places on the longlist for UK City of Culture 2029. The winner receives £10 million.Source [10]
Getting around
- The Enterprise Zone is five minutes from the M55.Source [7]
Industries that matter in Blackpool
These sectors employ a bigger share of people here than they do across Great Britain, so they are where automation usually earns its keep first.
Hospitality and tourism
Accommodation and food is 14.3% of employee jobs against 7.8% in Great Britain.Source [1]
AI for hospitalityCare providers
Health and social work is 27.0% of employee jobs against 14.2% in Great Britain.Source [1]
AI for careHelp across Lancashire
- Boost is Lancashire's business growth hub. Its Business Support Helpdesk on 0800 488 0057 is open to every Lancashire business and to anyone planning to start one. Growth Lancashire runs the helpdesk on Boost's behalf.Source [11]
- Made Smarter North West helps small and medium manufacturing and engineering firms adopt digital technology. Firms with 249 staff or fewer and a turnover under £36 million, or a balance sheet under £18 million, can apply. It offers up to 50% match funding to a maximum of £20,000 for equipment and specialist advice, a leadership programme and funded digital internships worth up to £4,035. Boost is one of its delivery partners.Source [12]Source [13] Read our Made Smarter North West guide
- By October 2026 the government had named five AI Growth Zones, in Oxfordshire, the North East, North Wales, South Wales and Lanarkshire. None is in Lancashire.Source [6]Source [14]
Grants and funded training that are open now are on our funding page.
Main towns in Blackpool
Blackpool
Town, population 141,000, FY1
Tourism supports around 25,000 full-time equivalent jobs, one in five of the workforce. Other sectors include aerospace, advanced engineering and food manufacturing.
Bispham
Suburb, population 20,001, FY2
Red Bank Road and 'the village' form a main out-of-centre shopping area. Northern terminus of the Illuminations cliff tableaux.
Layton
Suburb, population 6,845, FY3
One of Blackpool's main concentrations of shops and businesses outside the town centre. Layton Cemetery is the largest in the area.
Squires Gate
Suburb, population 6,437, FY4
Blackpool Airport sits here, along with Blackpool FC's training ground and three non-league football clubs.
Anchorsholme
Suburb, population 6,195, FY5
Coastal protection scheme completed 2017. Anchorsholme Park reopened 2020 after major stormwater works.
Villages and smaller places we also cover
These are covered on the same terms. They are listed here rather than given a page each, because a page that only restates the district page helps nobody.
Bloomfield
Boundary
Brunswick
Claremont
Claremont Park was laid out as a seafront estate with promenades built so the gentry could view the sea apart from the working classes.
Clifton
South Blackpool ward around Common Edge and Clifton Road. Not the Clifton village in Fylde borough.
Common Edge
Grange Park
Great Marton
The principal historic settlement of the old Marton parish.
Greenlands
East Blackpool ward of post-war council housing between Grange Park and Marton
Harrowside
Formerly Milkers Gate Lane, developed with residential and commercial property during 20th century expansion.
Hawes Side
Highfield
Highfield Road is one of South Shore's traditional retail streets, in decline since the late 20th century.
Hoohill
Ingthorpe
Northernmost Blackpool ward abutting Anchorsholme and the Wyre boundary. Uses Thornton-Cleveleys postal addresses.
Kincraig
Kincraig Lake Ecological Reserve.
Little Bispham
Historically a separate hamlet, merged administratively with Bispham before Blackpool absorbed it in 1918.
Little Marton
Little Marton Mill (1838) is the only remaining windmill in Blackpool.
Marton
Former civil parish (4,476 residents in 1931) abolished into Blackpool in 1934. Includes Marton Mere nature reserve.
Marton Fold
One of the four historic components of Marton village.
Marton Moss
Peat-over-clay mossland roughly 6 miles by 1.5 miles, drained and reclaimed for agriculture.
Mereside
Moor Park
Moor Park and its swimming pool serve north Blackpool.
Norbreck
Clifftop district with a Viking-origin place name, formerly a hamlet separate from Bispham.
North Shore
Home to North Pier, the start of the Illuminations, and the Claremont Park hotel district including the Imperial Hotel.
Park
Ward named for Stanley Park, covering the Blackpool Victoria Hospital approach and Whinney Heys area
Queenstown
Revoe
Inner-town neighbourhood around Central Drive, target of Blackpool's Big Local regeneration programme. Home to Revoe Learning Academy.
South Shore
Blackpool Pleasure Beach (opened 1896), South Pier and Sandcastle Waterpark anchor the resort economy.
Stanley
Official Blackpool ward name for the area east of Stanley Park.
Stanley Park
Blackpool Zoo occupies the former Stanley Park Aerodrome site and cares for over 1,000 animals across 32 acres.
Starr Gate
Southern terminus of the Blackpool Tramway.
Stony Hill
Talbot
Tyldesley
Central Blackpool ward covering dense pre-war terraced housing serving the town-centre visitor economy
Victoria
Warbreck
Half of the historic township of Layton with Warbreck, renamed Blackpool in 1894.
Waterloo
South Shore residential ward named after Waterloo Road, a main retail spine inland of the Pleasure Beach
Whinney Heys
Blackpool Victoria Hospital on Whinney Heys Road is the main hospital for Blackpool and the Fylde Coast.
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Sources
We opened and read every source below on 9 October 2026. If one has changed since, the source is right and this page is out of date, so please tell us.
- 1. ONS via Nomis, Labour market profile, Blackpool (BRES 2024 employee jobs, UK Business Counts 2026).
- 2. Fylde Council, Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone masterplan.
- 3. Blackpool Council, Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone continues to drive investment and create new jobs, 9 March 2026.
- 4. Lancashire Combined County Authority, Plans for first energy efficient data centre as part of Silicon Sands moving forward, 28 July 2026.
- 5. Lancashire Business View, Blackpool Council moves forward with plans for first data centre as part of Silicon Sands, 4 November 2025.
- 6. GOV.UK, DSIT, AI Growth Zones collection.
- 7. Invest in Lancashire, Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone.
- 8. Lancashire Business View, Blackpool businesses to benefit from continued fully funded growth support until 2027, 10 June 2026.
- 9. Lancashire Business View, Blackpool Council sets out new direction for business support from April 2026, 16 April 2026.
- 10. Boost, Lancashire County Council, Lancashire Growth Hub Pulse, August 2026, August 2026.
- 11. Boost, Lancashire County Council, Business Support Helpdesk.
- 12. Made Smarter, Made Smarter Adoption, North West.
- 13. Made Smarter, Made Smarter Adoption, in my region.
- 14. GOV.UK, Lanarkshire named latest AI Growth Zone, 29 January 2026.