Hilltop has always been a city business. Manchester, Stockport and Sheffield are where most of our guests work, visit and settle in. This year we’ve added somewhere different: the Fylde Coast.
The St Annes Beach Collection is our first set of serviced apartments by the sea. It’s a small building of recently refurbished flats in Lytham St Annes, a short walk from the beach and promenade in one direction and the town centre in the other. Here’s what the apartments offer, and why the area works so well for a longer stay.
The apartments
The building has three homes, each refurbished throughout:
- A one-bedroom flat, suited to a contractor or visiting professional on their own.
- A two-bedroom flat, for a couple, two colleagues sharing, or a small family.
- A three-bedroom maisonette with its own private garden, the pick for families and larger groups.
All three come with a fully equipped kitchen, spacious layouts and free WiFi, and there’s free on-street parking outside. Between them the three apartments sleep up to 13 guests, or 10 if everyone wants their own bed, or 6 with a bedroom each.
On a stay of a few weeks or more, that kitchen matters. You can cook what you like, keep your own food in the fridge, and have a proper table to eat at, rather than living out of a hotel room and a room-service menu.
Who it’s for
Lytham St Annes isn’t only a holiday town. The Fylde and central Lancashire are home to some large employers, and people come here to work as well as to visit.
Aerospace and engineering. BAE Systems’ Warton site sits near the villages of Warton and Freckleton, just east of Lytham, about six miles west of Preston. The company also has a large site at Samlesbury, between Preston and Blackburn, where parts of the Typhoon and F-35 are made. Contractors and engineers on project work often need somewhere for weeks or months, not a couple of nights.
Work in Blackpool and Preston. Blackpool is about a 20-minute drive from the apartments. Preston is reachable by road or rail (more on that below).
Family visits and longer seaside stays. If you’re visiting relatives on the coast, supporting someone through a hospital stay, or between homes, a flat with a kitchen and space to spread out is easier to live in than a guest room or a hotel.
Getting around
By rail. St Annes-on-the-Sea station is on the South Fylde Line, operated by Northern, which runs between Blackpool South and Preston. Stops along the way include Lytham, Ansdell and Fairhaven, and Kirkham and Wesham. At Preston you can join the West Coast Main Line for onward services.
By road. The M55 links Blackpool with the M6 at Preston. Junction 4, at the Blackpool end, gives access to Lytham St Annes via the A5230. That puts the wider motorway network within easy reach for anyone driving in for the week.
On foot. Day to day, you may not need the car at all. The beach, the promenade and the town centre’s shops, bars and restaurants are all a short walk from the apartments.
Life by the sea
This is the part that makes the Fylde Coast different from a city stay. After a long shift, you can be on the seafront in minutes.
St Annes Pier and promenade. St Annes Pier opened in 1885 and was one of the first public buildings in the town. Today it’s Grade II listed, with a Moorish-style pavilion and the Deckhouse Café. The seafront around it has a Victorian bandstand and the Promenade Gardens, with a pond, waterfall and grotto. Low tide uncovers a huge stretch of beach, and footpaths along the front lead towards Lytham in one direction and Blackpool in the other.
Lytham Green and the windmill. A few miles along the coast, Lytham Green runs between the houses and the sea. In the middle stands Lytham Windmill, built in 1805 on what was then Lytham Marsh and now the town’s best-known landmark. The windmill and the Old Lifeboat House next door open as free, volunteer-run museums in spring and summer, run by the Lytham Heritage Group.
Golf. Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club is about a 10-minute drive away, if you’ve packed your clubs.
It adds up to a slower pace than the city, which is often the point. A walk on the prom after work is a good way to switch off.
Space to settle in
We built Hilltop around the idea that a longer stay should feel like living somewhere, not waiting to leave. The St Annes Beach Collection brings that to the coast: refurbished homes with room to cook, work and unwind, and the sea on your doorstep.
You’ll find more about the building on our Lytham St Annes location page, and photos plus a video walkthrough on the St Annes Beach Collection apartment page.
Planning a project on the Fylde, or a longer stay by the sea? Contact our team with your dates and group size, and we’ll come back to you with availability. Enquire for dates and rates.
