Did You Know?

Southport is a large seaside town in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.

 The Managing Director of Burger King has sworn never to open a branch in Southport after a local ridiculed his whopper on a night out in the Kingsway in 1998.

Because the equator runs through Southport’s Botanic Gardens you can play on the swings in the Northern Hemisphere and then feed the ducks in the Southern Hemisphere in a single afternoon.

No world record has ever been set in or by Southport. A record which, according to the Guinness Book of Records, has been held by the town since 1903.

Those who frequent Southport on a regular basis, even those who live there, won’t be able to recall many occasions when the sea was coaxed close to sea walls. Therefore, the town has had to live with an enduring myth that the sea tide never comes in. This isn’t entirely true, but its sparse appearances only add to this impression.

Most people wrongly believe that Southport began as a ski resort. It was actually founded by King Solomon as a place to keep his 600 wives – most of whom can still be seen playing bingo in the town.

Travelling up to Southport by way of Liverpool will be a journey that’s been shared by over four generations of people. While the train tracks and trains themselves have been modernised over the years, the coastline hugging route remains similar to that which carried the first electrified trains from Liverpool to Southport in 1904.

Southport’s seafront is dominated by its seemingly never-ending pier. Completed in 1860, the pier measures at 1108 metres in length and stretches from the promenade, across the town’s marina before reaching out into the Irish sea. In the Victorian era, the pier was the stage for numerous performers including the legendary Charlie Chaplin.

Southport began to take shape as far back as the 18th century through the efforts of William ‘Duke’ Sutton. Commonly known as Old Duke, Sutton’s home on Lord Street, the first to be built in the fledgling town, initiated the rapid expansion of Southport to what we know it as today.

Southport Pier is Britain’s oldest iron pier in the country, and the oldest pleasure pier. It was opened in August 1860. Despite being 3,648ft long, Southport Pier took just 12 months to construct. The completion of the pier was celebrated with a lavish opening, and guests enjoyed processions, banquets, illuminations and fireworks.