Residents of a UK town say it has become “dilapidated” after once brimming with locals and holidaymakers.
Locals from Southport remember a time when the town was a bustling and vibrant place to be, but now feel it has been “left to the dogs”. Jean Forshaw, a local resident, used to be a proud member of the Scarisbrick Hotel’s staff in Southport’s town centre and she cherished her job there.
“I worked in the cocktail bar,” recalled Jean, “it was absolutely brilliant, we had Americans coming in asking for Harvey Wallbangers. I didn’t know what they were to be honest.” However, her fond recollections are tainted by what Southport has become: “But look at it now, it is so dilapidated.”
Now aged 79, Jean gestured towards the hotel’s once majestic exterior, lamenting its current sorry state. The Britannia Hotels group scooped up the hotel out of administration in 2011, only to continue holding onto its regrettable title of the UK’s worst hotel chain for the eleventh consecutive year.
Local man Sean Byrne also cherishes golden memories of the Scarisbrick, reports the Liverpool Echo. “This place used to be a gold mine,” commented the 62-year-old ex-teacher. “It was a fantastic place to come for weddings, for meals out. It was the jewel in the crown of this town.”
“There has been a big deterioration in the upkeep of the town, look at the parks and the cemeteries – absolutely awful,” Sean continued.
“I know the local council struggles for funds, but I think you can trace the decline of the town back to when Southport ceased to be its own borough and became part of Sefton. They have a different remit and are managing all sorts of situations. I am not sure that maintaining a Victorian seaside resort is their forte.”
Dating back to 1792, Southport became a popular holiday hotspot upon William Sutton’s erection of a bathing house, on what is now Lord Street’s southern tip.
By the 19th century, Southport had become a sought-after destination, with the Leeds and Liverpool canal allowing large amounts of tourists to visit. The era witnessed Southport thrive as a Victorian vacation enclave.
Even the young Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, destined to become Napoleon III and kin to the legendary emperor, stayed in the heart of Southport sometime mid-19th century. Rumour has it, Southport’s tree-adorned promenades may well have sparked the vision for Paris’ renowned boulevards, not least the Champs-Elysees.
There are people both within and outside of Southport who feel the town has never truly felt part of Merseyside. This could be due to its political differences with its neighbouring conurbations. While Merseyside has become a Labour stronghold, the seaside town has never been held by the party.
“Southport is fascinating,” said Stuart Wilks-Heeg, a professor of politics at the University of Liverpool, who resides just down the coast in Crosby. “Southport has been a constituency since 1885. It has changed hands 11 times since then, but always between the Conservatives and the Liberals or Liberal Democrats.”
“This time it looks like Labour are probably going to win it. That would be the last Merseyside seat that Labour needs to have the full set in the region,” he added.
A YouGov poll predicts that the general election on July 4 will see Labour’s candidate Patrick Hurley win more than 50% of the vote in Southport, with Conservative Mr Moore – who has held the seat since 2017 – trailing significantly with less than 30%.
The Lib Dems – who held onto the constituency for twenty consecutive years before Mr Moore’s first victory, are projected to finish fourth, behind Reform UK.
Political pundit Professor Wilks-Heeg commented: “The Lib Dems have clung on here in local elections. But across the whole of Merseyside, we have just seen the Labour vote going up and up. Labour got complete control of Liverpool and then that pushed out to areas that naturally should never have been Labour. This is now pushing out to Southport.”
Southport is bracing for political upheaval, yet locals hope for a transformation beyond party politics. A stroll down once-prestigious Lord Street unveils the grim reality of dwindling retail appeal, with shopfronts screaming ‘closing down sales’ instead of welcoming customers.
The Wayfarers Arcade stands as a dim shadow of its former glory, an illustrious Victorian arcade turned spectral relic. Outside the doomed Beales department store, Moira Clayton shares her gloom. “Everybody is disappointed to see the big shops like Beales closing. It feels like there is nothing for people to come to Southport for anymore,” she said.
Recalling brighter times, she added: “I used to come here with my kids in a pram, it was fabulous. But the area has changed, it has gone downhill with all the shops closing.”
Ready for political change, Moira is leaning towards Labour at both local and national elections. “I used to vote for the Tories but I never will again,” she added. “What have they done for us? This place has gone to the dogs.”
Jean Forshaw is another local who’s had enough, though she’s not exactly thrilled about the alternatives. “My husband wouldn’t vote Conservative and we couldn’t vote Labour before because there was no Labour in Southport, so we voted Lib Dem,” she explained.
“I don’t like What Rishi Sunak is doing, he isn’t getting us anywhere. We need change, but what is the change? I haven’t got any trust in politicians”.
Sean echoed the sentiment for a shake-up: “I think it is time for a political change, not just locally, but nationally. What has been going on is just a disgrace.” Previously a Lib Dem supporter, he’s on the fence about supporting Labour for the upcoming election, admitting he’s got “a lot to think about” before July 4.
The shuttered storefronts along Lord Street are a stark symbol of a town losing its lustre, but perhaps nothing illustrates this more than the plight of Southport’s iconic Pier. This Grade II listed landmark, the nation’s second longest pier, has been off-limits since December 2022 due to what Sefton Council has cited as “serious health and safety fears.”
The repair costs for the town’s iconic structure could skyrocket to a staggering ÂŁ13 million, and there’s still no word on when it might reopen. Locals who depend on tourism are feeling the pinch of this latest setback.
“The loss of the pier is massive,” said Andrew Wynn, manager of the Sandgrounder fish and chip shop on Nevill Street. “It has hit us massively, especially around the winter months, it was always a big draw. People would come here especially for the pier, obviously they aren’t coming anymore.”
Andrew also pointed out the lack of attractions to keep visitors in town: “The truth is, there is just not enough to keep people in Southport all day,” he remarked. “I call it the three-hour town. That is how long people get when they pay for parking. You watch them come in, park up and then leave three hours later.”
Next door, John Bury from the Joke Shop isn’t finding much to smile about either. “Why would anyone come to Southport? ” he questioned. “All the decent shops are gone, Lord Street is largely empty, the arcades are empty. It used to be a far nicer place.”
He gestured towards the desolate streets visible from his shop window and added: “Look outside. It is a nice day in June, one might reasonably expect it to be busy.”
With the general election looming on July 4, it’s evident that the next MP for this renowned town will have their work cut out for them. The once-loved seaside jewel Southport is facing a crisis of confidence; business owners, residents and visitors doubting it can revive its past sparkle.
At the Sandgrounder chippy, owner Andrew Wynn’s optimism is waning: “I think political parties are out for what they can get,” he commented. “They can promise the world and then never match it – but I guess you have to have hope.”
He continued: “It feels like this place is just going to turn to dust and everyone will forget about us.”
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