What do visitors expect when they come to Southport?
Ask anyone from elsewhere in the UK and I’m guessing the answer won’t be ‘the world’s biggest mural of Sir Tom Moore’.
And probably not ‘a four-storey painting of our iconic Red Rum racehorse’.
Audrey Hepburn peering over her glasses, in Breakfast at Tiffany’s pose, wouldn’t make many lists either. Or gonzo journalism founder Hunter S Thompson, or work by internationally renowned street artist Ben Eine, whose work hangs in the White House. You can find his subtle ‘S’ outside The Sandgrounder Chippy.
Art has the ability to surprise, to inspire, and to amaze.
Most importantly this new art craze sweeping Southport also has the power to attract – and it is fantastic to see our resort embracing it as a new way to challenge visitors’ perceptions of our town and see it in a new light.
Southport has been in need of a shake-up for far too long. We all look back to our halcyon Victorian days, and there is much from that era to cherish and build on. Lord Street is stunning, the Marine Lake an amazing asset that we are just now beginning to realise. Our fairground heritage too is something that the Victorians loved and which can be utilised to grow visitor numbers in a new and exciting way.
We need to continue innovating, we need to continue to surprise and find new ways to bring people into town and guarantee them a wonderful, unique experience when they’re here.
Art is one of the ways we can do that.
The latest inspired creations were commissioned by Anthony James Estate Agents Directors Directors Mark Cunningham, Lyn Cunningham and Jacqui Holt, to create something truly eye-catching on their building on Hoghton Street in Southport town centre.
On one side is the world’s biggest mural of Captain Sir Tom Moore, the 100-year-old who raised more than £30million for the NHS during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As artist Robert Newbiggin said: “It is quite a sight! It is very different walking down the road, looking up, and seeing a giant Captain Sir Tom Moore looking down at me. He is colossal!”
On the other side is an incredible montage of some of the NHS heroes who have saved so many lives fighting Coronavirus this year.
Have you been into town to take a look yet? It’s well worth a visit. And when you’re there, Anthony James Estate Agents owners are urging you to take pictures, to take selfies, and to post those images onto social media. They want it to become a new talking point.
That’s one of the main missions of Stand Up For Southport. We want to see people flood social media with beautiful pictures and videos of Southport, including those that may make potential visitors stop and look twice.
The independent traders on Wesley Street in Southport town centre were perhaps among the first to start this trend. Their bright, multi-coloured buildings help to reinforce this area of independent shops as ‘the village in the town’ and a destination for shoppers looking for something unique and quirky.
Andrew Mikhail, owner of the Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group, has employed the services of Paul Curtis Artwork to design a new Red Rum mural on their Bold Hotel building to add to the power of the Northern Quarter renaissance at the Northern end of Lord Street.
Southport Business Improvement District (Southport BID) is currently investing a six figure sum to create new decorative lighting along Lord Street, while also providing beautiful Christmas decorations and thousands of flowers in the town centre each year.
Southport attracted more than 9.1million visitors last year, but they want to see more than just a row of shops when they come. They want an experience, something to stimulate the senses.
The UpFest North Festival, organised by Tony Wynne, Keith Lack and Neil Morris several years ago left a legacy in Southport with new works of art along Princes Street, Market Street, Nevill Street and Wright Street – all off the main routes, so a good way of drawing visitors around new parts of town.
Audrey Hepburn, Outside David H Myers on London Street, is an exceptional new piece of work.
Sefton Borough of Culture 2020 had such exciting plans to showcase Southport to hundreds of thousands of new visitors this year, again using public art.
The Nightingale’s Song lit up The Atkinson and other civic buildings in Sefton, while the amazing Clapping Hands art installation by textile artist Ian Berry created a wow factor on Southport Town Hall.
We have been left by a wonderful Sefton Borough of Culture legacy in the shape of the four storey Red Rum mural by Paul Curtis Artwork on the end of a row of buildings on the corner of Scarisbrick Avenue and the Promenade.
Will the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority allow Sefton to extend our Borough of Culture year into 2021 to make up for the opportunities Southport missed? It should.
Southport Town Deal’s £50million submission of projects to Government also recognises the immense value of top quality art to growing a town, by including plans for an immersive light and sound show for the Marine Lake in Southport as well as infrastructure support for the proposed transformation of Southport Pleasureland – watch this space on that one.
So, despite the pandemic, we’ve seen some really exciting new landmarks in Southport over the past few months with the likes of the Sefton Borough of Culture Red Rum mural, the Bold Hotel Red Rum mural, Audrey Hepburn, The Nightingale’s Song, Clapping Hands, Captain Sir Tom Moore and the NHS tribute.
Some of this has come through public funding, but some has come through local business people such as David Myers, Andrew Mikhail, Mark Cunningham, Lyn Cunningham and Jacqui Holt wanting to invest and create new talking points for Southport which will attract new visitors and help change people’s perceptions over just what our resort is all about and what you can expect when you come here to visit.
They have thrown down the gauntlet for others to follow in 2021.
Do you have any stories for Stand Up For Southport? Please message Andrew Brown via Facebook here or email me at: mediaandrewbrown@gmail.com
