Spotlight on Merseyside’s other places

Nov 24 2009 by Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

DON’T be fooled into thinking that tourism starts and stops in Liverpool city centre. The waterfront and galleries are massive attractions, but other areas also have teams dedicated to selling the best of the rest.

Sefton, Wirral and St Helens all have their own tourism teams promoting the merits of their particular boroughs. Sefton is home to the Grand National and hosts the Open Golf Championship at Royal Birkdale – in fact, one of the chief selling points is the Golf Coast with its rich array of courses.

Its premier resort, Southport, has been rebranded as a “Classic Resort” in an attempt to reflect both its heritage as well as the development of new facilities.

The town is famous for shopping, boasting not only the beautiful Lord Street but also the pedestrianised Chapel Street quarter and several shopping arcades.

Other attractions include the Pier, Splash World and New Pleasureland.

Hotels range from traditional B&Bs to the boutique Vincent Hotel, which brought a breath of fresh air to the town when it opened last year.

A council spokesperson said: “Southport is England’s premier classic resort, presenting an excellent resort experience tuned into the expectations of the 21st- century UK visitor looking for a weekend away by the sea.

“Visitors can enjoy the range of family-friendly activities and attractions on the seafront, while others spend time browsing the well-preserved Lord Street shopping area packed with interesting and unusual independent shops and cafes.

“They can also hire a bike and take a ride out along the seafront to explore the Sefton coast. Southport has also become one of the UK’s most successful conference resort destinations with excellent conference facilities, new boutique and 3-4 star hotels.”

Sefton also promotes its 22-mile “Natural Coast”. As well as nature reserves, sandhills and dunes, it boasts one of Merseyside’s most popular sights – the “iron men” of Antony Gormley’s Another Place.

In nearby Ainsdale, plans for the complete re-development of Pontin’s holiday park are under discussion with the council, prior to the submission of a detailed planning application.

The potential investment for this development will be in excess of £100m and will create an additional 250 park jobs and 600 construction jobs.

The plans include a hotel and conference facility, retail units, bars, restaurants and cafes as well as a Lido leisure facility and sports/health club. It is also envisaged that the facilities will be available to non-guests.

Ian Smith, chief executive of Pontin’s owner, Ocean Parcs, said: “Initial refurbishment has been taking place across all our parks. We are very excited about 2010 and beyond, when, subject to planning approvals, our investment and job creation will increase substantially above that announced in February this year – at our Southport park alone, we intend to invest over £100m and create over 850 jobs.”