Bye Bye Stag Do-Filled Blackpool, Hello Lancashire’s Answer To St Tropez?

(Blackpool illuminations need further private investment, to save the town’s major attraction. Image: Rex)

Blackpool stag and hen dos could be a thing of the past, due to plans to make it classy.

Tourism chiefs intend to make the place more upmarket, rebranding it as a town known for “high spenders”. Currently it is better known for suspenders.

But leisure executives plan to scrap cheap places to stay and chuck out benefit scroungers and beggars, in a bid to make it like a northern St Tropez.

High-end retailers will be brought in to the Lancashire town, to attract wealthier visitors - as it is currently packed with low spending tourists.

Proposed changes include banning stag and hen parties from certain areas; making different zones to separate families and having fewer low-priced hotels.

They came to light, through the Destination Management Plan for 2015-17, compiled by council tourism group VisitBlackpool.

Leisure and tourism boss Graham Cain said: “We are determined to improve the standard of our facilities, tackle the benefit culture that blights the resort and resolve the over-supply of poor accommodation.”

He added that he wanted to “shift away from a low-budget stag and hen culture, that creates barriers and negative perceptions”.

New attractions, fine dining and shows closer to West End in style and quality are among the planned improvements.

The report sets out the importance of local businesses paying their fair share towards Blackpool illuminations, following a dip in strategic investment in what is one of the town’s largest pulls.

Although it won a £2m grant from the Coastal Communities Fund for the next two years, it still relies on support from the private sector.

But Dave Daley, who has run The Castle Hotel for the past 39 years, said: “People come here on stag and hen parties because they know they can get dressed up, have a drink and a laugh and not worry about being turned away.”