Merlin Entertainments are embedded into the heart of community engagement and career development

Transcript

The Rt Hon Justine Greening:

I’m here in the Blackpool Tower Ballroom with Merlin Entertainment. They run what happens here at Blackpool Tower Ballroom, but it's done in conjunction with the local council. And today I've had a to meet all of those different stakeholders who come together to really make sure a) this amazing venue and the others that Merlin run locally do really really well but b) that they are producing some fantastic opportunities for local people and career paths. I think it's a model that can work much more broadly across the UK.

I think as we look ahead towards an election next year, and actually in 2024 we'll be launching the Merlin Impact Report, it's these models that work that from my perspective will be really important for any future government to learn from.

Matt Jowett:

At Merlin, we are a team of 30 ,000 people around the world and we like to try and put people first in everything we do. We realise that we have a responsibility to the communities where we're active and we need to give back to those communities.

We think that our superpower really is to be a force for good in those communities and we work really hard to do that. There's some great things that are happening here in Blackpool, things that we could do elsewhere throughout our UK business and elsewhere around our group as well. And working with the Purpose Coalition we'd like to explore maybe different ways, you know, through collaboration with them, as to how we can achieve that.

Kate Shane:

Merlin Entertainment are members of the Purpose Coalition and what that means to me locally is an opportunity to identify where we can help the local community, how we can help local people live out their dreams, reach their potential and basically make great lives for themselves and great futures for themselves in this magical town.