Stand Up For Southport Blog by Andrew Brown
One of the best bits of news that Southport heard this year was our town’s top landmark – Southport Pier – will be restored and reopened.
It cannot be understated just how important this attraction is for our town.
As local residents, we have missed being able to walk along it!
Crucially, millions of visitors from across the UK have missed being able to stroll on the pier too since it closed in December 2022.
While Southport has many more great attractions and reasons for people to come, the closure of the Pier has had a significant impact on so many local businesses.
We cannot wait to see restoration work begin. Although, as the second longest pier in the UK, behind Southend Pier, its length of 1,108 m (3,635 ft) long means there is lots of work to be done!
I was honoured to be invited into the famous red couch on BBC Breakfast in Salford recently to talk about Southport Pier and its importance not just locally, but nationally.
I said that it was opened in 1860 and is very much a national attraction as much as a local one.
This is unique national heritage that we should cherish.
There was no chance of such a significant sum needed to pay for its repairs – estimated at anywhere between £13 million and £20 million – being found locally, especially at a time when local councils are facing steepling bills to meet the growing demands for services including adults’ and children’s social care.
The funding had to be provided nationally, and it was a Godsend to hear Chancellor Rachel Reeves name Southport Pier in her Spending Review in June as one of the projects which would benefit from a new Growth Mission Fund.
More details of that are expected to be released later this year, but as a town we are all ready to go.
Thanks to extensive preparation work by Sefton Council, plans for the Southport Pier restoration have been drawn up by RAL Architects and have secured planning permission and Listed Building Consent.
There is a supply chain already pencilled in, and construction workers can be on-site within eight weeks of contracts being signed.
The work is estimated to take 14-16 months to complete and contractors can work across any winter period.
Sefton Council Leader Cllr Marion Atkinson said: “As a Council we have said we are ready to go as soon as funding is secured and we look forward to finding out more detail about the Growth Mission Fund in due course.”
All being well, we may see Southport Pier open in time for Summer 2027 – let’s watch this space.
The support for Southport Pier follows a substantial campaign, with Southport MP Patrick Hurley, Sefton Council, local businesses, Southport Pier Trust and others pressing their case convincingly to the Government.
The unity of purpose and the strength of feeling shown by Southport has been vital.
In a poll on Stand Up For Southport earlier this year, with over 1,700 responses, over 97% of respondents said they wanted the pier reopened.
A public meeting held at Silcock’s Pier Family Restaurant and organised by Silcock Leisure Group, which saw experts including Dr Anya Chapman from the National Piers Society, saw every seat taken and many standing in a packed room as they showed their resolve to make things happen.
We have been able to show that young people really want the Pier to reopen.
14-year-old ‘Sarah’, who was the eldest girl wounded in the Southport tragedy last year, has spoken to the powers-that-be on her visits to Downing Street about how much children in Southport would love to see the pier back open again.
On their visit to Southport earlier this year, a taskforce of experts led by Lord Hall and supported by figures including Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram and Claire McColgan, Director of Culture and Major Events at Liverpool City Council, heard convincing arguments from local business leaders about how vital Southport Pier is to our town.
They seemed impressed with the passion shown and the difference a restored pier could make.
Funding for piers has become a national issue. There are piers around the UK coastline desperate for support and facing serious challenges.
On BBC Breakfast, I spoke following a news feature about the challenges facing Skegness Pier. Good luck to them in their campaign.
Also featured was Llandudono Pier – this year voted Pier Of The Year 2025 by the National Piers Society.
Last weekend our family went to Llandudno Pier to take a look – it’s pretty impressive.
Located on Llandudno’s north shore Victorian promenade, Llandudno Pier stretches out 2,295 feet (700m) into the Irish Sea, making it Wales’s longest Pier, and the fifth longest in the UK.
Boasting beautiful views of Llandudno Bay, the Great Orme, and beyond, it’s no wonder it attracts so many people.
We were there on Bank Holiday Sunday, and saw a huge number of families enjoying the pier.
It meant that other attractions around it were buzzing too. There were people on the nearby observation wheel; lots on the beach; people were packed on tables in nearby restaurants, cafes and bars.
That’s the buzz we’ll see here when Southport Pier reopens.
Another point I made on BBC Breakfast was that Southport is very much open for business, and there are lots of reasons for people to come and visit. It’s an important message to keep saying.
It’s why we all need to Stand Up For Southport, rather than knocking it down.
I mentioned big events such as the Southport Air Show and Southport Flower Show, as well as the other superb attractions that we have here. We need visitors to come. When they do, they won’t be disappointed.
As work takes place to create the £73 million Marine Lake Events Centre and the Light Fantastic in the Marine Lake, it was vital that they didn’t open to huge fanfare next to a pier with a closed sign on it.
Southport is very much on the up again.
Thanks to the families of the three girls who died in Southport last summer, £10 million is on the way to transform the Southport Town Hall gardens into an exciting new events space which will draw families into the town centre.
The scheme is progressing to improve the Market Quarter area, with Connolly’s Irish pub now reopen.
Work continues to revamp the former BHS building on Chapel Street and the former Southport Visiter office on Tulketh Street.
Plans are progressing for the £75 million Cove Resort, while planning permission has been granted to create the UK’s first spa-theatre-hotel at The Garrick building on Lord Street and the new Wetherspoon Hotel nearby.
The Open golf tournament is coming to Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport next year.
Southport MP Patrick Hurley has said that reopening Southport Pier will help “restore pride” in the seafront and boost the local economy. He’s right.
He said: “This is about more than just rebuilding a pier, it’s about restoring pride, boosting the local economy, and welcoming visitors back to Southport’s seafront.”
Pier pressure has paid off and it points to a brighter future for Southport.
Do you have a story for Stand Up For Southport? Do you need advertising, PR or media support? Please message Andrew Brown or email: mediaandrewbrown@gmail.com
