Rebuilding “Fleece Hotel” Market Street Blackpool

The three-storey Golden Fleece was built by Richard Braithwaite in the 1840s and became known as the Fleece Inn by the 1860s. By the early 1870s the Fleece was owned by Daniel Thwaites and in 1889 it advertised that it had recently undergone considerable alteration with new furnishing throughout. It was demolished in 1938. A new building, designed by Halstead Best for Thwaites at a cost of £10,000 opened on 27 May 1939. It had a pale blue faience to the lower part of the building with black granite dressings and canopy around the building. On the corner was a 'modern' glass sign depicting 'Jason and the Fleece'. The main entrance to the saloon bar, with its circular bar and striking dome, was at the corner of Market Street and West Street but it also had an entrance off Market Street to the Smoke Room and another entrance off West Street to the saloon bar. There was also a Jacobean-styled snug bar. The Fleece underwent a complete refit in 1986, when the landlord was Cedric Norton (from Blackburn) and his Blackpool-born wife Anne. It was rebranded by Thwaites c. 2000 and is now Brannigans.

Reference            Builder 4 November 1938 Page 907
Royal Academy    1939 No. 1134  “Fleece Hotel, Blackpool”