We do like to be beside the seaside!

Blackpool is bidding to host what would be the largest event held in the resort in the past two decades, it has been revealed.

And if the bid is successful it would be a “turning point” for the resort, Mandy Tythe-McCallum, tourist manager at Visit Blackpool, told at the Lancashire Business View networking event.

Details of the event are being kept under wraps but she told the audience at the Midland Hotel in Morecambe that winning the bid to host it would put Blackpool firmly back on the map.

The renaissance of Lancashire’s seaside towns was put in the spotlight at the launch of Lancashire Business View’s latest May/June edition.

Mandy spoke of the £50m being invested in new hotels in Blackpool along with the £25m Winter Gardens conference centre opening next spring.

She also spoke of the ongoing work to promote and improve Blackpool and added: “We need investment in the night-time economy.”

Looking further north, Alistair Eagles, president of Lancaster and District Chamber of Commerce and chief executive of Seatruck Ferries, revealed the impact bringing the Eden Project to Morecambe would have. He said it would “transform” the area.

The Eden Project is looking at the possibility of creating a “world class experience” in the resort. The original attraction in Cornwall welcomed more than a million visitors last year.

Alistair said: “There is a good feeling at the moment that this is a place very much the up and it is all about to happen.”

Lawrence Kenwright, founder of Merseyside-headquartered Signature Living, also spoke at the event about his £15m investment to create the Shankly Hotel in the centre of Preston.

And he revealed his group’s different approach to the hotel sector declaring: “There is nothing vanilla about what we provide, we create theatre.”

Lawrence said staying in one of his hotels was a ‘bucket list’ experience – with no one room in any of his venues the same -and the business used the power of social media to drive its brand and its bookings.

He also revealed he was still looking to bring his Alma de Cuba bar concept, one of Liverpool’s most popular nightspots, into Preston, if he could reach an agreement with the city council.

The networking event heard about risk management from a panel of experts made up of Keith Edwards, managing director of TES Radio, Patrick Cunningham, senior resilience consultant at UCLan and Lee Petts of 52M Consulting.

And details of this year’s North Lancs Expo 2018, being organised by Lancaster and District Chamber of Commerce and supported by Lancashire Business View, were also revealed to the audience by Vicky Lofthouse, CEO.

View our gallery from the evening below.