“EFFECTIVE altruists” are a community of people who dedicate their lives to helping others, using evidence and reason to do so as effectively as possible. The movement began in academia—Peter Singer, an Australian philosopher, is often described as its intellectual father—and has a small but growing following. One problem devotees face is that everyday life, such as cooking, washing up and holding down a job, can get in the way of doing good. As Greg Colbourn, a 3D-printing entrepreneur turned effective altruist, asked in a recent post on an online forum, “Do you long to be free from material needs and be able to focus on the real work you want to do?”

He went on to propose an unusual solution. Using profits from successful cryptocurrency investments, he had bought a 17-room hotel in Blackpool, in the north of England, for £130,000 ($170,000). The forum post invited effective altruists to live there free of charge for up to two years, to work on improving the world. The inspiration, he wrote, was the Chelsea Hotel in New York, which “produced billions of dollars’ worth of art, despite many guests not paying rent.”

The result—the EA Hotel, a large, dilapidated building on the end of a down-at-heel terrace—is more Fawlty Towers than Manhattan glamour spot. It opened its doors four months ago. Some of the first guests have spent their time thinking about issues such as the dangers presented by artificial intelligence, and how to get health-care systems to consider subjective well-being.

The main attraction of Blackpool was its low cost, which maximises what Mr Colbourn describes as his speculative investment in the potential of the guests. Not only was the hotel for sale at a bargain-basement price, but living costs are low, too. Should guests be tempted away from their free vegan meals, a stall around the corner offers burgers for £1. Unlike cheap places in other parts of the world, Blackpool has the advantage of being in an Anglophone country with stable(ish) institutions. Having a group of effective altruists based there, Mr Colbourn also notes, could be a hedge against the risk of losing too many members of the community in a catastrophic event, given their concentration in the south-east of England.

If residents tire of their selfless work, Blackpool’s central pier—home to a “true Romany palmist” and scores of arcade games—is a short stroll away. Visitors are welcome at the hotel (partly to deter “cult-like tendencies”), though prices for non-altruists are set above market rates. None of the residents was keen to talk to The Economist. So far, the new arrivals do not seem to have caused much of a stir in Blackpool. But one hotelier complains that a recent party kept up his guests. “They’re noisy fuckers,” he grumbles of the do-gooders. Keeping the volume down would at least be one easy way for altruists to improve the lives of locals.