Blackpool Tower Ballroom has been given over £760,000 to carry out major restoration work, and Blackpool Grand Theatre is to receive over £480,000 to stave off the threat of permanent closure it faced in the summer.
The ballroom, made famous by major dance competitions and as a venue for the BBC’s original Come Dancing series, is a Grade One listed building. Since opening in 1894 it has generally been recognised as the home of British ballroom dance, which continues today as it appears annually in a Strictly Come Dancing ballroom special.
The grant of £764,000 from the Culture Recovery Fund is one of a number of one-off sums in the latest government awards. The money will pay for comprehensive restoration work on the ballroom’s ornate ceiling.
So far the government's £1.57 billion fund has awarded over £150 million to heritage sites, around a quarter of it for work to be undertaken during the pandemic.