Stand Up For Southport Blog by Andrew Brown
It was exciting to hear about the many opportunities for Southport to develop at the Scaling Southport event on Thursday (30th October 2025).
This special event was organised by True North and was hosted by Robert White, CEO of Brabners Solicitors at Southport Bijou Cinema.
Robert White hosted two special guests – Patrick Hurley, MP for Southport and Claire McColgan CBE, Director of Culture and Major Events for Liverpool City Region.
They shared their views on stage before break-out sessions took place with three key themes; Talent, Infrastructure and Community.
Claire McColgan CBE has been a central figure in the spectacular transformation of Liverpool; she spoke on stage about how it has been transformed from a city with a poor reputation in the 1980s to one of the most exciting in Europe, with the main launchpad being the enormous success of their Capital Of Culture year in 2008.
Huge regeneration swiftly came in behind a vibrant and diverse year of impressive community events, so much so that positive change is still happening.
There are similar possibilities in Southport, which already has a wealth of artistic and creative talent plus an exciting array of annual events including Southport Flower Show, Southport Air Show, Southport Comedy Festival, the British Musical Fireworks Championship and others.
We are also about to see huge investment in the construction of the new Marine Lake Events Centre, the Light Fantastic, the restoration of Southport Pier, and the transformation of the Town Hall Gardens.
The cherry on the cake is The Open golf championship returning to Southport in 2026, when Southport’s own Tommy Fleetwood will be among the favourites.
The eyes of the world will be on Southport – this is our chance to shine and we must take it.
Two years ago, music legend Marc Almond declared how Southport can become ‘the Brighton of the North’, and it’s an excellent insight.
Culture can and should be the main driver for the regeneration of Southport.
We can also benefit from championing Southport as a place of wellness and sustainability, a call being led by The Hearth CIC.
A forward thinking move would be to develop green tourism in Southport with the natural assets we have here including our beautiful parks, coastline, nature reserves, rare sand dunes, the Marine Lake, the many fine golf courses, the fresh sea air.
We are also developing the Cove Resort, which will champion blue health and wellness, while the Marine Lake Events Centre will become the most sustainable events centre in the UK.
That brings us onto the challenges facing Southport, some of which are glaringly obvious, with transport surely the main one.
Even an adequate and reliable rail service between Southport and Manchester would have a huge impact with reconnections to Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly and Deansgate.
Faster trains and better rolling stock would be better still.
The campaign for the reinstatement of rail services between Southport, Preston and Ormskirk continues. A good value investment in sustainable forms of travel would reap enormous benefits.
Patrick Hurley MP vowed to continue to fight hard for both.
There were lots of local and regional business and community leaders at the Scaling Southport event.
There is a desire to lead and support positive change.
This is a time when Southport must be ambitious and work collectively towards a much brighter future for us all.
We have all the pieces in the jigsaw in place to make it happen.
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