The Engine Room in Southport is being converted into ‘Southport’s Civic House’.
The new venture is being inspired by the traditional British pub, which brings the community together.
A fundraising appeal has been set up to support the project.
Dr Eric Lybeck from The Engine Room said: “The English public house – once one of the most ordinary and extraordinary civic institutions in the country – has been quietly collapsing for years. Not just as a business model, but as a social form.
“The pub was never just a place to drink. It was where news travelled faster than newspapers, where birthdays blurred into wakes, where music happened before it was an industry, and where you could be both alone and among others without explanation.
“And now it is going, going, gone.
“We don’t think it is inevitable. We think it is institutional.
From Public House to Civic House
“The Engine Room began as a café, workspace, and community venue. Over time, something became clear: people weren’t just coming for coffee or events. They were coming because it felt like somewhere they were allowed to be.
“Not a customer first.
“Not a demographic.
Just present.
“So we are formalising that role.
“We are converting The Engine Room into Southport’s Civic House.
“Not a pub.
“Not an exclusive club.
“Not a cultural venue built around grants or bar targets.
“A Civic House.
“If this works, it won’t be because we recreated the past.
“It will be because we rebuilt the conditions for public life.
“If this matters to you, we invite you to invest.
“Donate here: Donate — The Arcade Project
The Engine Room is on the first floor of Wayfarers Arcade on Lord Street in Southport town centre.
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