Stand Up For Southport Blog by Andrew Brown
Southport town centre is facing a big year of 2025 when substantial change is vital – with a huge need for new residential, new offices and new quality hotel rooms key to its success.
People often say Southport town centre ‘needs shops’ – and we are fortunate to have seen some quality new retail arrive this year – but this beautiful mile long shopping boulevard cannot sustain itself on retail alone in this era like it could in the 1970s and 1980s.
We need greater footfall. Vibrancy. We need more people living in Southport town centre, in the same way that Liverpool and Manchester city centres have been revitalised by more residents living in the middle.
The new Lord Street Living project is a good new initiative, and it’s good to see new residential schemes happening in locations such as the former Southport Visiter office, The Garrick, Debenhams, Leo’s Bar, BHS and others.
We need lots, lots more. We must think bigger.
The more people we have living, staying and working in Southport town centre, the more successful it will become.
More quality hotel rooms are in urgent demand with the new Marine Lake Events Centre being built, Cove Resort on the way and more redevelopment coming to Southport Pleasureland.
The Open Golf Championship is returning soon too.
Hotel rooms and rental homes will be much in demand and we want as many international and national visitors as possible staying in Southport and boosting our own local economy as well as boosting the region as a whole.
Much often more overlooked is the importance of excellent office space in our town centre.
United Legal Assistance has transformed the former Southport Crown Post Office building, which sat vacant and in decay for many years. Dozens of employees have made it a bustling place to work.
Similarly, Techedia has completed a beautiful phase one conversion of the former school building on Corporation Street – more skilled jobs, more people working in the town centre, more footfall.
One thing missing from Southport for so long has been co-working and collaborative workspaces. Finally, we now have
* Werksy on West Street (with the new The Fool arts and dining space underneath)
* The Engine Room inside Wayfarers Arcade
* Southport Enterprise Arcade opening early in 2025.
We are blessed to have an abundance of heritage in Southport town centre – a stunning collection of beautiful and unique Victorian and inter-war buildings with huge character and huge potential. They’re an architect’s dream.
We have seen the successful revival of landmark buildings such as The Grand Southport, The Bold, The Atkinson.
Other major projects under way include The Garrick, plus the former Debenhams and BHS sites.
There are investor opportunities available at locations including the Victoria Buildings on the Promenade, the former Royal Bank of Scotland building on Lord Street and the former Wetherspoon site on the corner of Lord Street and Nevill Street.
I’m excited to see a glimmer of experiential change in Southport town centre with the Victorian Albany buildings being converted into a new climbing / bouldering centre and cafe. I’d love to see more conversions like this. There is scope for investors to come in and do this.
We are fortunate in our town that we have progressive organisations such as Sefton Council, Southport BID, Invest Sefton, Southport Heritage Townscape Initiative and others who are eager to support new investment coming in.
Stand Up For Southport, with over 70,000 local residents engaging with our online and social media channels, shows evidence of a local population that is proud of and engaged in our town and its future.
No successful regeneration scheme will work without the community being involved and right behind it.
Southport town centre is changing rapidly – and we need that revolution to continue in 2025.
We need much more new residential in Southport town centre; we need more quality office space; we need good quality hotel rooms, and more experiences for families to enjoy.
If we can secure all that, then more retail is sure to follow.
Who wouldn’t want to open the doors of their business in a vibrant, bustling town centre with so much footfall at all times of day and night?
Do you have a story for Stand Up For Southport? Please message Andrew Brown via Facebook here or email me at: mediaandrewbrownn@gmail.com
