Southport - Memories of a Seaside Town

[@MsRitabar]

I am Italian, I was in Southport in 1968 -'-70. I studied English at Tech College. It was an adventure!!! How many evenings we spent at AL CABALA and once a week we used to go to dance to KING's WAY. Beautiful memories!!

[@michaelhawkins4005]

Thank you for uploading, really enjoyed it! Childhood spent there in the seventies and eighties, worked there for 20 years visiting almost every commercial premise in the town. Such wonderful memories and now just left with heartache to see what it has become!

[@brianyoung5532]

Many thanks for your nice video which brought back memories

[@IBIZABIKE]

I have been here for 3 years , came from Manchester to retire , I truly love the town

[@Embracing01]

Nice tidy town, but I wouldnt like to live there, far too many snobs in their fancy big houses. Certainly isnt a place for working class people. You can smell the money.

[@IBIZABIKE]

@@Embracing01 ha ha ,all I could smell in Manchester was Skunk 😂

[@Embracing01]

@MrTwister444 Well if their own country wasn't a war zone and hell hole then they wouldn't need to come to the UK, but largely because of that situation they have no choice. We would do the same if we were in that situation.

[@djackson6500]

Amazing and brings back many memories which feel like they were part of life centuries ago but really…. Not that long

[@grahamallen1970]

john spencer driving the loco on the lmr....what a nice chap i drove for 3 seasons at the age of 16 loved it....went on to do 34 years on the railways

[@snh3663]

I remember visiting Southport in the early eighties as a teenager with my friend sharing the coach from Morecambe with a group of pensioners, it rained all day but I throughly enjoyed visiting this elegant town we visited a lovely cafe which I don't think is there now wish I could remember it's name.

[@bigcheese6872]

this brought me back to when i was a kid an remember me mum taking me in the woolworths, i think was on lord st... i would give anything to go back to them days.

[@bobsapp3133]

was on chapel street before it got pedestrianised :) the pick n mix there was exceptional

[@barblessable]

I'm 70 ,aahh nostalgia ,lovely if you forget the polio, scarlet fever ,T.B. ,outside loos ,freeing cold houses no central heating ,tin bath etc .

[@lynnball4135]

Woolworths extended from Chapel Street to Lord Street, there were entrances from both streets. It seemed huge when we were kids

[@bigchris80]

I was 15. Wow. How times have changed!!!

[@melanie6260]

Brings back wonderful memories

[@TRAMJUNCTION7147HG]

I spent my childhood in Southport during the 1950s and it brought back many memories. I still visit occasionally and somehow it's not the same now as it was then. But life was a lot slower in those days.

[@Yorky222]

An excellent film Michael. Thanks.

[@ginagina9720]

Myself and my hubby had our honeymoon in Southport and had a 2 night break In the scarsbrick hotel, we had a lovely time and made the most of our honeymoon but we was very disappointed in our room but we went out and had lovely meals in some nice restaurants and we even went to the pleasureland just for a walk out but I’ve always found Southport a quiet seaside town

[@CrisTheRed]

The world has become depressing because of technology i would rather live in days gone bye

[@nez9751]

It’s a great seaside town. I live around 10 miles away, we regularly take the dogs for Sunday walks on the beach. Some nice hidden restaurants and shops around lord street. They have had some great food festivals held in the nearby park too. Some of it is a bit old and in need of attention though. But I love that old British seaside town atmosphere. From the beach you can see Blackpool juts down the road, both great northern seaside towns. A bit gritty so not for everyone, but I love it.

[@davewinst1]

Swan chippy was were we used to go for tea, the one with the fish tank inside, still open and fantastic to this day

[@MrOhdead]

I was born there when it was lancashire, was indeed changed.

[@Embracing01]

Was looking through some old Liverpool Echo newspaper scans (good place to go if you have a memory like a goldfish which most people seem to have lol) and one from Oct 1993 there's an article about a planning proposal between Sefton Council and a Northamptonshire company to build on the site of the former bathing pool (which according to the article was still there at the time) to build a swimming pool, ice rink and sports hall. Obviously that never happened as all we got was the same old copy and paste multiplex and bowing alley and McDonalds. I don't remember the old bathing pool still being there in 1993. I know that the Ocean Plaza complex was built around the late 90s/early 2000s.

[@Jonathan-dy7gq]

Lovely Chris Miller and Carroll Hanson. What beautiful girls.

[@ashbyball8331]

When this film came out orginally, it included a large amount of footage from "Southport", the publicity film which was made by St. James' Film Society for Southport Corporation, and released in 1958. Angus Tilston only had access to a badly deteriorated copy of the colour film, and included footage from it in monochrome. Southport MovieMakers, successors to St. James' Film Society, claim copyright on "Southport". Since issuing his original film, Angus Tilston has apparently included a large amount of new footage.

[@jesscourt9068]

Great memories of life there. KGV school, 2 minutes to the beach, and caddying at Royal Birkdale. Probably all ruined by progress.

[@MolecularShadowFox]

Shame half the shops on Lord Street are empty now

[@Embracing01]

Anyone know when the Venetian bridge that goes over the Marine lake had its colour painted to green and blue?. I have a home video taken on the bridge in the summer of 1992 and the bridge was a dark red colour, albeit the paint was starting the peel by then. Ive seen photos from the mid 80s and it was a red colour then, but photos from the 70s it seems to have been a bright yellow. My girlriend has a photo taken beside the lake sometime in the early-mid 90s, and the posts in the background are a combination of blue, green and white, and the paint looks very freshly painted. I'm guessing they changed the colour from red to green/blue about 1993/4?. I know they changed the colour again in 2014 when they started renovation work on the bridge, and now its a beige/cream colour. Anyone know?.

[@JayneHarrington]

Wow, people weren’t kidding when they said Southport was posh.

[@1993MN]

It's sad seeing what it once was to what it is now .

[@Embracing01]

As we say in Lancashire, "there's nowt there to do". Gone is the Steamport museum that was near to the station (full of old buses and trains), now its another bland retail park with Asda and Costa. Gone is the zoo (maybe for good reasons I suppose, but at least it didnt cost you £50 for a family ticket), gone is the outdoor bathing pool (about 50 years ago that was, I doubt anyone will remember it). I remember there being a reptile centre once in the 90s. Even the fair isnt the same. I used to love the logflume, River Caves and that space ride where it lifts up in the air (cant remember the name), and those cable lifts. In terms of seaside towns Southport is quite a boring place. Ive had more fun in New Brighton taking the kids to the kids fair they have there. These days seaside towns are just about getting people to spend more in shops rather than to have a relaxing day on the beach of fair or pier. Parking costs are extortionate. I remember in the late 90s/early 2000s my dad used to park on the car park close to the beac (further up from Morrisons) and the ticket blokd used to be very polite, and would only cost us about £1.50 for a 2 hour stay. Now its like 6 quid.

[@thrusta100]

Aw, shit! Came here to see Southport , GC Australia!

[@ArnoldClarke]

Love an airship.

[@samibacha2585]

AND THE SPOONS IS GOOD

[@hookywookywithmalarkyman704]

Parking meters galore are a huge part of southports death knoll .

[@michaelwilliamson3892]

I am sure it's my mother sat on the seat in the foreground from 25" to 30". When was it shot?

[@weezynewbogg1310]

I believe this was 1995

[@mrmensa1096]

Do you have any old film or photos from Banks please? Ian White

[@ImagesOfBurscough]

Mr Mensa I have no film of Banks, but I have a great old aerial photo that’s available to buy on eBay..... rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F332812714968

[@neildyer4433]

Now a tainted town tainted with death

[@jimhampson]

its not lancshire but merseyside

[@marco-58]

Changed from Lancashire to Merseyside on 1 April 1972, i think. Much to the annoyance of Locals.

[@MrWardnine]

Shame its a shit hole now

[@mjm0787]

Wow! So much cleaner, more vibrant and opulent back then than the sorry state it has now descended into. Refreshing to see no shifty, scrounging immigrants dragging the place down too.

[@malingram3451]

Southport is in Merseyside.

[@jennybertenshaw7694]

Politically shenagins ie moving boundaries does NOT mean Southport changed from being in LANCASHIRE