Guest Blog by IR Thompson
To Whom it May Concern AKA Those Who Can Make Things Happen,
I have lived in Southport for around fifteen years now, and it has become home in the truest sense: familiar, dependable, and, at its best, quietly charming.
Recently, after spending time in the French seaside towns of Le Touquet and Deauville, I was struck not by how different they are from Southport, but by how similar. The same wide skies, the same long beaches, the same sense of space and possibility. And yet, they feel somehow more certain of themselves and more assured in what they offer and who they are for.
It made me realise that Southport is not lacking in substance. It is, perhaps, only lacking in clarity.
If you stand on Lord Street on a calm morning and you can still see the original intention. A place designed for ease, for strolling, for taking one’s time. A place that once understood the quiet power of good taste. That DNA has not disappeared; it is simply waiting to be properly expressed again.
In Le Touquet, they made a decision. They leaned into their strengths and built around them with consistency. Cafés that invite you to sit, shops that reward curiosity, hotels that assume you will return. Everything aligned to a single, coherent idea.
Southport, by contrast, has tried to be too many things at once. In doing so, it has diluted what could otherwise be a very clear and very appealing identity, because the truth is simple: no one says, “let’s go to Southport to visit a pound shop.” They come, or could come, for something else entirely.
The town already hosts a number of festivals that hint at what is possible. Food, music, culture to name but a few, and these are not small things, they are foundations. With the right emphasis and consistency, they could become defining features rather than pleasant additions.
The same is true of sport. Southport sits at the heart of England’s Golf Coast, an asset of genuine international quality. Add to that the potential for increasing the awareness of our triathlon and sailing on the Marine Lake. Add coastal running events, cycling, and other activities that suit the landscape perfectly and you begin to see a town that offers not just passive enjoyment, but purposeful leisure. The sort that brings people back, year after year.
The seafront, too often spoken of apologetically, could instead be reframed. Not as a compromise, but as a landscape. Boardwalks through the dunes, places to sit and watch the horizon, spaces that embrace the character of the coast rather than fighting it. Ainsdale Beach has this, waiting to be developed further.
And underpinning it all, there is an opportunity to return to Southport’s roots as a place of wellbeing. Spa culture, fresh air, rest, recovery and the simple but increasingly rare pleasure of leaving somewhere feeling better than when you arrived.
The beauty of all of this is that none of this requires reinvention. It requires decision. A decision to prioritise quality over quantity. To support businesses that enhance the town’s character rather than erode it. To present Southport not as a catch-all destination, but as a considered one.
And this is where those with the ability to shape such decisions come in.
Sefton Council has, within its reach, the opportunity to prioritise Southport not as a cost, but as an investment. A stronger, clearer Southport does not only benefit itself but it also it lifts the wider borough with it. More visitors, better spending, a stronger reputation. These things ripple outward. But they begin with focus. Southport does not need to become Le Touquet, nor imitate Deauville. It simply needs to recognise that it shares their foundations and then act accordingly, with confidence.
It has always had the potential. Now it needs the will.
Would you like to write a guest blog about Southport for Stand Up For Southport? Please message Andrew Brown or email: [email protected]
