A newspaper article from the Blackpool Gazette
& Herald, 1956
Blackpool Man's Plan for new Central Station
envisages -
SHOPPING ARCADES, OFFICES, FLATS, CAR PARK.
WHAT , ultimately, will be the
answer to the Central Station area development deadlock ?
The British Transport Commission
has Said that the 1938 plan of setting the station back to Chapel street would
now be far too costly. Although there have been frequent meetings between
top-level railway officials and corporation representatives since the war, the
talks have largely been unproductive.
Presently both sides are working on
a new scheme providing tor a new station on substantially the same site as the
existing one, but designed more on the lines of a "through" station than a
“terminal”. This would mean that access to the platforms would be by
overbridge or subway from the centre.:. instead of from the north end at ground
level.
While the experts talk round their
drawing boards others speculate. including Mr. Harold Tunstall. Aged 35, of
Victory road, a member of the Tower Company's publicity staff. He has produced
the plan pictured here, and he thinks it answers "some, if not all of the
problems connected with this valuable area in the centre of a growing
Blackpool.
CONCRETE LID
Mr. Tunstall has made it a tall
building throughout because “we must learn to build up gracefully, rather than
untidily as is now the fashion.” He goes an: "Imagine a concrete lid across the
present station and platforms from Central Drive to Bonny Street. This would be
our ground floor and modem shopping arcades.
"Under the large central dome at
ground level would be a big central booking hall." The station entrances would
lead east to Central drive and west to the Promenade. The north and south wings
of the building Mr. Tunstall makes identical—ground floor shopping arcades,
second floor offices and the rest flats.
CAR PARK
Between the north 'flat" wing and
the central booking hall he sees a glass-roofed conference hall, surrounded by
railway administrative offices. Between the south "flat" wing and the booking
hall he puts an eight or nine floor car park.
Indoor Golden Mile
The roof, says Mr. Tunstall, could
be used for helicopter landings, with air administrative offices at the base of
the dome. The walls of the dome, he believes, could be permanent TV or radio
studios. Between the "paws" of the two wings a new Golden Mile would be housed
indoors, and it would be screened from the front with a windowed
wall.
Comments Mr. Tunstall: "My only
interest in the subject is my desire to see Blackpool grow on the right
lines."
A Corporation official sold: "Mr.
Tunstall's scheme makes a good talking point for the man In the Street. "It
might also encourage the Town Council to adopt a broader conception of the sort
of development that is needed in the centre of Blackpool"
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