The Adelphi Blackpool Transformed Into Trend Shawarma

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Image provided by Blackburn & Darwen Council

The original Adelphi Hotel on Church Street, Blackpool, was built in 1835 by Esau Carter on the site of an earlier Adelphi public house. Carter, who had worked as an assistant to postmaster George Coke, has a claim to have been Blackpool’s first postman and combined his postal work with the running of the hotel. At a time when Blackpool was still developing from a small coastal settlement into a fashionable resort, the Adelphi became part of the infrastructure serving the growing number of visitors arriving in the town.

The scale of the establishment was considerable for Blackpool of the period. When Carter’s estate was advertised for sale in 1855, the Adelphi was described as having six sitting rooms, accommodation for 25 beds, coach houses and stabling for 14 horses. The associated property also included the Post Office, which was used as the Athenaeum News Room, together with a warehouse, stable, yard and outbuildings. The hotel became known as the Adelphi and Post Office Hotel, reflecting the close association between Carter’s hospitality and postal businesses.

The Adelphi later became part of the estate of Blackpool brewers Catterall & Swarbrick. The old building was rebuilt in 1923, creating the distinctive white-tiled premises that survived into the modern era, with the new Adelphi Hotel opening on 23 December 1924. Sections of the original tiled exterior remain visible along Adelphi Street, while a blue plaque on Church Street records the history of the hotel and Esau Carter’s association with Blackpool’s early postal service.

Nearly two centuries after Carter established his hotel, the premises continued their long association with hospitality. In 2025 they became home to Trend Shawarma and Grill, a Turkish restaurant which traded for less than a year before closing permanently in April 2026.

Another transformation followed almost immediately. In July 2026 signs appeared for Asia Alley Fusion Buffet, a new Asian fusion restaurant occupying the former Adelphi premises at 73–75 Church Street. A small number of invited diners attended a soft launch in early July while work on the fixtures and fittings continued, ahead of the restaurant’s planned official opening in August.

The arrival of Asia Alley continued a remarkable tradition of hospitality on this corner of Church Street stretching back to 1835. The building has changed considerably during that time, from Esau Carter’s hotel, post office and coaching establishment to the rebuilt twentieth-century Adelphi and, more recently, a succession of restaurants. Yet substantial elements of the former hotel remain visible above and around the modern shopfronts, preserving an architectural link with one of the oldest hospitality sites in central Blackpool.