Life in the UK seaside town with 7 of England's 10 most deprived neighbourhoods

Residents in the UK seaside town of Blackpool have hailed it "warm and vibrant" after damning new data revealed it boasts seven of England's 10 most deprived neighbourhoods. A fresh report from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) named Jaywick, near Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, the most deprived part of England for the fourth consecutive time since 2010.

But remarkably, the Lancashire resort of Blackpool lays the unwanted claim of having a staggering seven other neighbourhoods in that top 10 'worst' list. The other two areas in the top 10 are in Hastings and one in Rotherham. The MHCLG's 'Index of Multiple Deprivation' examines living conditions, but it does not mean that everyone in a highly deprived neighbourhood will be struggling, nor will all those in a less deprived area be well-off.

The minister for local government and homelessness, Alison McGovern, said the figures were an indictment of previous policies and the government was "tackling the root causes of deprivation head on". Now the Daily Express is sharing some images of Blackpool's deprived areas that attracted such concern, as locals spoke to media in defiant defence of their historic seaside town, which is currently undergoing a huge regeneration scheme.

Tourist figures agree with locals that Blackpool has the green shoots of a new boom - with figures for 2023 showing it attracted 21.5m tourists - a 6% increase compared from 2022's 20.3m. Recently, we told how Blackpool has transformed its fortunes with soaring visitor numbers - and a massive £90 million regeneration boost.

In March, Blackpool Council unveiled the first phase of the welcome £90m Government funding plan to demolish about 400 properties no longer fit for purpose and replace them with up to 280 bigger new homes.

Of the 10 Local Authority Districts (LAD) with the highest proportion of deprived neighbourhoods, Blackpool Council was the worst followed by Burnley in third place and Blackburn with Darwen in sixth. This is based on the proportion of neighbourhoods in a local authority area that are in the most deprived 10% of neighbourhoods in the country.

Grace McCarrick has settled in the resort with her fiance, having commuting from Manchester every weekend for the past two and a half years in order to work as a singer in the local bars.

She told the BBC: "We were ready to move to Manchester, but we kept saying, 'oh, before we leave Blackpool, we need to go to Funny Girls and we need to go to the circus at the top of the Tower' - and we just had all of these things that we wanted to do.

"But there was nothing that we were excited to go back to Manchester for, and we thought, why are we leaving?"

Eva Ripoll Breau, who is originally from Spain, manages a clergy retirement home and has lived in the area since 1988 and says she now calls the Fylde Coast "home".

Visitors to the resort can expect "to be energised by nature - with the sea on one side and the hills on the other, the vibrancy and warmth of our people, and the thriving pace of all that happens," she says.

"Don't get me wrong, it's not always a bed of roses," the 53-year-old admits, "but there is genuine goodness in the area. Don't tell me you wouldn't like it here."

While ex-teacher Kev Schools, 62, previously worked with children in care, and now runs an events production company in the resort.

He said: "Blackpool gets singled out a lot for being deprived and I'm fed up of it. I love it here. There are so many unique things about Blackpool. There's the obvious stuff - the Promenade is something else, it's got seven miles of beaches, you've got three piers, a pleasure beach, the illuminations.

"Stanley Park is one of the most stunning, beautiful parks I've ever been in, it's got an Art Deco cafe, athletics tracks, a bandstand. It's great for families but you never see it on TV - the cameras never go behind the Prom."

He also added: "A lot of northern towns evolved round the factories and the mills - with a lot of men going out to work every day, and women tending to stay at home. That didn't happen in Blackpool. It evolved as a tourist town, full of guest houses, and they were run by women - and it still is.

"There's nothing like getting on the M55, heading into Blackpool and seeing the Tower," he said. "It's my home and I ain't going nowhere."

* The seven areas of Blackpool which are more deprived than 99% of the UK are:

Blackpool 010E - bounded by to North Pier and Blackpool North Station

Blackpool 010A - between Central Pier and Blackpool College

Blackpool 013A - south from Wellington Road to St Bede's Avenue

Blackpool 011A - bounded by Palatine Road and Ashton Road

Blackpool 008D - including Cocker Street, Cecil Street and Ashburton Road

Blackpool 006B - including Claremont Road, Cheltenham Road and Carshalton Road

Blackpool 008B - including Elizabeth Street, Gorton Street and Victory Road