Southport
Southport is a
seaside town on the north-west coast of
England, to the north of
Liverpool and the south of
Preston. It is part of the borough of
Sefton in the
ceremonial county of
Merseyside, and it also lies within the boundaries of the
traditional county of
Lancashire.
Southport has a population of around 93,000 people, with approximately 40% of the population over 55 years old and around 55% defined as
social class ABC1.
Southport has many tourist attractions including the longest overland
pier in Great Britain. A recent restoration project worth over £7m has helped bring the pier up to date with improved access, lighting and a pier train.
Southport, in its present form, was founded by
William Sutton (The Mad Duke) in
1792. However, there have been settlements in the area for much longer than that: the northern part of the town around St Cuthbert's Church (in the part of the parish of
North Meols now known as
Churchtown), was mentioned in the
Domesday book, and some areas of the town have names of Viking origin.
Southport grew quickly in the 19th Century as it gained a reputation for being a more refined seaside resort than its neighbour-up-the-coast
Blackpool. Southport is a busy and friendly resort.
Southport's suburbs are built around, and still named after, the old villages of the area. From north to south, the districts are:
Crossens,
Marshside,
Churchtown,
Blowick,
Birkdale,
Ainsdale, and
Woodvale; home to
RAF Woodvale. The town of
Formby is south of Southport, with
Hightown and
Liverpool further southward, along the A565.
Louis Napoleon briefly lived on Lord Street, the main thoroughfare of Southport, before becoming
Emperor of France in 1851. During his reign, he caused much of the medieval centre of Paris to be replaced with broad tree lined boulevards, covered walkways and arcades, just like Lord Street. On the strength of this coincidence, it has been suggested that the redevelopment may have been inspired by memories of Southport's town centre.
Southport was part of the traditional county of Lancashire, and was adminstered by
Lancashire County Council until
1905 when it became a
county borough. This lasted until
April 1st,
1974, when under local government reforms Southport became part of the
metropolitan county of Merseyside. Originally it had been excluded, but Southport Borough Council requested to be amalgamated with
Bootle; together, they now form the borough of Sefton, one of the five
metropolitan boroughs of Merseyside. As Merseyside has a
Lord-Lieutenant, Southport is also part of the ceremonial county of Merseyside.
Public services such as local transport and the emergency services are provided from Merseyside; others are provided from the Sefton borough council on a more local level.
Tourism still plays a large part of the economic make-up of Southport but its reputation of being a nice place to live brings in wealthy families commuting to
Liverpool,
Preston,
Manchester and further afield. Its location, reputation and range of expensive houses also brings in a variety of footballers from local teams.
As a seaside resort, its main attraction are the miles of sandy beach and recently restored seafront, a Victorian pier (the first pier built purely for pleasure in Britain),
Pleasureland amusement park, six golf courses and the wide boulevard, Lord Street, in the town centre. Its shopping, restaurants and bars are worth a visit. The town also has the
Southport Theatre and
Floral Hall.
Southport also hosts varied events including an annual air show [
1] and
flower show, an open air classical music concert concluded with a fireworks display, a jazz festival, and the turning on of the pleasant town centre Christmas lights. During the summer there is an Orangemen's March, which is one of the busiest days of the year. Southport hosts the annual musical fireworks championships, and
The Open Championship at the
Royal Birkdale Golf Club course. It is also home to the "Southport Weekender" [
2], an annual dance event.
Road
|
Newly-opened Marine Way Bridge, running from the town centre to the beach [3] |
Due to its position by the coast, Southport is a
linear settlement and as such can only be approached in a limited number of directions by road.
The main roads entering Southport are:
* the
A565 (from
Preston to the north-east),
* the
A570 (from
Ormskirk and
St Helens to the south-east),
* the A565 (from
Bootle and
Formby to the south).
There is no direct connection to the motorway from Southport; the nearest connections are:
from the south - junction 3 of the M58 (on the A570, twelve miles)
from the north - junction 1 of the M65 (on the A582/A59, nineteen miles)
An east-west bypass for the A570 at
Ormskirk is planned [
4] to relieve congestion on Southport's main access route to the motorway network.
Several areas within Southport town centre have recently undergone major road redevelopment; the largest scheme was the construction of the Marine Way bridge (opened May 2004), which connects the Lord Street shopping district with the new seafront developments. The 50m high structure is thought to have cost in the region of £5m. [
5]
Aviation
Southport is home to
RAF Woodvale, a small RAF station on the outskirts of the town. It is used by
RAF light aircraft as well as civilian aircraft. The station is also home to
Merseyside Police's two helicopters.
Southport is also home to Birkdale Sands, a sand runway located on one of Southport's beaches.
Rail
Present
Southport has a
railway station with a frequent service of electric trains to
Liverpool and a regular service to
Wigan,
Bolton,
Manchester and
Rochdale.
Past
The Liverpool line was originally built by the
Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway in
1848. It was followed on
9 April 1855 by the
Manchester and Southport Railway with a line to Manchester via
Wigan.
Formerly, Southport was also served by two further railway lines:
* From
1882 the
West Lancashire Railway operated from
Southport Derby Road station to
Preston Fishergate. This line was shut in 1964, however. Nowadays, the towns of Southport and Preston are linked only by the (largely dual-carriageway) A565 and A59 roads.
* In
1884, another line from Southport to Liverpool was opened: the
Cheshire Lines Committee's
North Liverpool Extension Line from
Liverpool Central to
Southport Lord Street. The West Lancashire Railway sponsored the
Liverpool, Southport and Preston Junction Railway to provide a connection to the CLC line, joining it at Altcar and Hillhouse [
6]. These lines ultimately proved uncompetitive, however, and the Southport services were withdrawn in 1952.
In July 1897 both the West Lancashire and the Liverpool, Southport and Preston Junction Railways were absorbed into the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&Y). The L&Y had a large terminus at Southport Chapel Street and could see no sense in operating two termini at very close proximity. On 1.5.1901 the L&Y completed a remodeling of the approach lines to Central to allow trains to divert onto the Manchester to Southport line and into Southport Chapel Street Station. Southport Central was closed to passengers and it became a goods depot eventually amalgamating with Chapel Street depot. It survived intact well into the 1970's.
Politically, Southport is a stronghold of the
Liberal Democrats with the
Conservative Party also strong in some areas.
John Pugh is
Southport's current
Member of Parliament [
7]
Southport Out Of Sefton
In the past decade, a recurring local political issue has been the cross-party movement campaigning for Southport to opt out of
Sefton and form its own
unitary authority, perhaps adjoined to the neighbouring
West Lancashire authority. Support for this has been seen amongst
Liberal Democrat (UK) [
8] councillors and within the Southport
Conservative Party (UK) [
9], [
10].
In 1993, a cross-party initiative submitted a 23,000 name petition to the
Boundary Commission (United Kingdom) asking for a review of the local administrative boundaries [
11], but the request was turned down [
12] (the
Electoral Commission (United Kingdom) must request such a review).
In
2002, a local independent party calling themselves the
Southport Party was established, with a main policy of "Southport out of Sefton" [
13], [
14]. Three council seats were won in the 2002 local elections, but the following year there were no gains and a drop in the number of votes for the party.
To date, there have been no official moves to change Sefton's boundaries, but the Boundary Commission indicated in 2004 that a future review is possible:
"whether or not structural change takes place in accordance with our recommendations, the boundaries between or within Sefton and West Lancashire could be reviewed at a later stage to address these long-standing boundary concerns."[
15]
Southport is somewhat lesser known for its sporting prowess, but being surrounded by other North-West cities this is understandable. The eastern side of town towards Blowick and Kew is home to the "Sandgrounders" -
Southport FC, a club with a long football league history and common
FA Cup giantkillers, they play at Haig Avenue and currently find themselves in the Nationwide Conference league. There is also a league for local amateur football teams. Southport is also home to a rugby union club, Southport RUFC [
16], who play at the Recreational Ground on Waterloo Road, Hillside.
The junior section of Southport RUFC are known as the Southport Sharks [
17], have sides that range from 7 years old upwards. They also play on the same grounds, and train every sunday 10am-12pm.
|
Watersports on Marine Lake |
However, the town is probably best known for
golf; the
Royal Birkdale Golf Club situated in the dunes to the south of the town is one of the venues on
The Open Championship rotation and has hosted two Ryder Cups. Nearby
Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club is also a two time Ryder Cup venue. Many smaller links courses also surround the town.
Southport's location by the coast also lends itself to some more specialised sporting activities - Ainsdale Beach south of the town is popular for kite sports, including kite-surfing. The Marine Lake [
18] lies nestled between the town centre and the sea and is used for a variety of watersports including waterskiing, sailing and rowing.
The flat and scenic route alongside the beach is very popular with cyclists, and is the start of the
Trans Pennine Trail, a
cycle route running across the north of the country to
Selby in
North Yorkshire.
*
Derek Acorah, medium.
*
Marc Almond, lead singer of
Soft Cell.
*
Michael Arlen, author and playwright.
*
Robin Askwith, actor.
*
Jim Beglin, footballer,
Liverpool FC.
*
Dora Bryan, actress.
*
Kenny Dalglish, footballer.
*
Alan Hansen, footballer.
*
Sophie Howard, page 3 Glamour Model.
*
Steve Jones, photographer.
*
Lee Mack, comedian & presenter of
They Think It's All Over*
Albert Pierrepoint, executioner, retired to Southport.
*
Arthur Richardson, VC.
*
Miranda Richardson, actress.
*
Adrian Scott Stokes, painter.
*
A.J.P. Taylor, historian (born in
Birkdale)
*
Marcus Wareing, chef.
*
Ronnie Whelan, footballer.
*
Edmund Taylor Whittaker, mathematician.
*
Gomez (band), musical group
*
Southport Tourism's Official Site*
Southport's Unique Shopping Experience*
Southport FC*
Pleasureland Amusement Park Southport*
Southport Flower Show*
Details of schools in Southport*
Southport Champion (local newspaper)*
Southport Champion Charity Carnival*
"Napoleon III was inspired to build the grands boulevards of Paris after a jolly holiday in Southport, research suggests."
