The couple are also embracing their roles as Blackpool landladies – an important one they feel shouldn’t be overlooked or forgotten.
“The landlady has always been a strong woman, a matriarchal image, and we really like that and it ties in with our identity as gay women,” says Aishley. “The double whammy landlady is part of that package at the Ferny. That offer of having someone to look after you is important.
“At a hotel you have a receptionist but there’s no personal touch, they’re not there for small talk or to engage with you about your visit. We like to chat to people about Blackpool, recommend places to go and find out where they’re going and what they’re up to.”
But the couple also welcome the building of new, big hotels in the town.
“A few years ago we were quite annoyed because we thought, what's the point of putting up new hotels when there are existing ones that should be renovated? Then we learnt about rogue landlords and some of that can’t be controlled,” says Aishley.
“Investment of any kind is good,” adds Samantha. “There’s a particular clientele who will want to go to that kind of hotel because they know what they’re getting. But what we offer is personal, without that corporate feel, modern and Blackpool through and through.”
A spokesperson for VisitBlackpool told The Blackpool Lead: “Together with our resort partners, we invest millions of pounds each year in events and destination marketing for the benefit of all those businesses operating in the tourism economy.
“Over the past three years, we have extended the tourism season by two months through the introduction of an extended Illuminations season and the launch of the hugely-successful Christmas By The Sea festival, which has brought millions of visitors to Blackpool during the autumn and winter months and created a significant trading opportunity for accommodation providers.
“At the same time, we are investing in an extensive programme of conferences and exhibitions which bring hundreds of thousands of staying visitors to the resort, helping create one of the few year-round seaside tourism economies in the UK.”
Over on the North Promenade, council bosses hope new measures could help safeguard historic buildings and attract new investment. Lessons, it seems, have been learnt from the fate of the Ambassador Hotel.
In its North Promenade Conservation Area Appraisal published in December 2018, the council wrote: “Modern windows and sun lounges aside, the condition of most of the hotels is good apart from the Ambassador Hotel adjacent to the former Hilton Hotel. The hotel is in very poor repair and detracts from the amenity value of the conservation area. However, it retains many original features and could be restored so that it makes a strong positive contribution to the character and appearance of the conservation area.”
But plans to restore the building and convert it into luxury apartments ran into disastrous problems and an emergency demolition took place in 2020. Hacketts Hotel, also in the conservation area, met the same fate following a fire last year. A new Conservation Area management report also lists the Sherwood Hotel and the former Queensgate Hotel as being “in various stages of dilapidation”.
The report follows a public consultation on the area and the formal approval of a management plan for the Conservation Area that runs from Cocker Street in the south to Carlin Gate in the north and encompasses Gynn Square. Action was deemed necessary after Historic England visited the town last year and placed North Promenade on its heritage ‘at risk’ register due to the neglect of some of its best known landmarks.
They include the Imperial, the Cliffs and the Savoy, which are among the oldest and grandest of Blackpool’s hotels. Once the height of luxury accommodation, the Savoy is now operated by Brittania, which was last year voted UK's worst hotel chain for 11th consecutive year.