St Anne's

St Annes is a Victorian seaside town with a long stretch of golden sands and sand dunes. Built originally as part of the Clifton estate, owners of the nearby Lytham Hall purposely created the town to cater for the increasing popularity of sea-bathing – believed to be good for physical health.

The first building in the town was a church, the foundations were laid in 1873 by then Lord of the Manor, Colonel John Talbot Clifton. He dedicated it to Saint Anne in honour of his wife’s aunt, Lady Anne Bentinck. In 1885 St Anne’s Pier was added to the landscape, allowing people to take in the amazing views and fresh sea air.

1925 saw the opening of St Anne’s train station, making the town easier to access and seeing it grow.

Just 3 miles down the coast from Blackpool, St Annes seems a million miles away from its neighbour’s bright lights – often referred to as the garden by the sea, for its peace and green space, there is a much more refined way of life in the town.

The town hosts an array of independent businesses and if visiting builds up a hunger, there is a vast selection of places to eat and drink, with something to suit everybody’s taste and budget. Among and above the shop fronts many services make the town their home, including accountants, solicitors, printers and estate agents if you fancy making the town your new home.

The train and bus services make it easy to access the town centre and the surrounding areas. You will find a colourful welcome at the train station thanks to the ‘friends’ and ‘In Bloom’ groups. They are just a couple of the many volunteer groups championing the town.

St Annes has always had a welcoming, friendly atmosphere, with many visitors loving it so much that they return to make it their home – ‘sandblowners’ as the locals say.

Previously the majority of the residents had arrived in the town to retire, but as more family homes have been built and employment options have increased, they take up a lesser portion of the population.

In addition to the independent retail, hospitality and professional businesses in the town we also have some larger employers, including Beaverbrooks (regularly listed in the Times as one the best companies to work for) and SE First, with large business parks within easy reach including BAe Systems.

St Annes thrives on events, which are scattered throughout the year. These include annual, long-standing events such as St Annes Carnival, Music & Arts weekend, International Kite Festival, RNLI Open Day and Christmas Light Switch On.

These sit alongside newer events such as the Spring Food & Drink Festival and Christmas Market, plus the occasional pop-ups including Sounds in the Square, Motor Bike Mondays, Brass in the Park, Beach Sports weekends and Sand Yachting. During the week and all through the year community, specialist interest and volunteer groups meet up to pursue their passions and friendships. There’s never a shortage of things to do.

The support for businesses in the town is ever-present in St Annes, with various groups offering help in addition to both the Town and Borough Councils. Whether you’re looking for a bit of advice, a business specialist or just someone to have a brew and a chat with, support is always there.

The town booms during Spring and Summer and these seasons are being extended through events and benefits from the differing Scottish holidays. This doesn’t mean that in Autumn and Winter the town is quiet. Visitors still arrive by train and coach or come for the weekend. Local businesses and organisations are provided with welcomed income during the week and the local population generally has a good level of disposable income to spend.

There is also a big focus on keeping things local, where businesses will use other local businesses rather than going further afield or online – circulating the money within the town.

The business parks on the outskirts offer cheaper facilities for businesses not looking for a shop front, and with the residential skillsets, there’s a good pool of employees of all levels of experience in the area with local academia to facilitate training.

In 2021 Fylde Council engaged a specialist consultancy group to assess the town, with a view to make changes to the structure and flow of footfall. This St Anne’s Masterplan will enable the community to enhance their existing projects, creating an event space to extend the season further.

Increasing footfall will provide even more opportunities for local businesses. Visitors and resident alike will benefit from these changes and the work from our amazing community groups.

We will continue to work on being an inclusive community and enable people to thrive doing what they love, business and pleasure.