I was recently invited to a christening. The invitation was from my cousin, Catherine, and it was to be held in the beginning of July. I couldn’t wait. Not to meet the baby, I’m afraid, but because she lives in Liverpool, and I was looking forward to go there for a shopping spree!

But, sadly, I was told I wouldn’t stay with Catherine at all, but here sister, my other cousin – Karen, in Southport. I’d been to Southport when I was very little, with my Uncle and Aunty, and I only remembered a beach in my memory.

So, I thought the only shopping I’d be doing was in the corner shop, to buy some milk, well when I arrived I was happily surprised to see that the town was all I needed for a shopping spree…

I arrived in Southport via train, which gets me started rather well on Southport with transport.

**TRANSPORT**

Usually transport isn’t the best thing in some places. Whether it’s trains or buses, they’re usually irregular or just plain dirty and unhygienic. I was glad to see that Southport wasn’t that bad at all.

I travelled from North Wales there, so it was quite a trip, but I was glad to see it was pretty easy to get there, and not a bad price at roughly £25 for a train trip from Wales to Southport.

The train from Liverpool centre to Birkdale (roughly 1 mile from Southport, the train carries on to Southport, and is only about 30 seconds longer) wasn’t rather long taking around 40 minutes.

I travelled on the Mersey Rail, and it was pretty handy if, for whatever reason I did want to pop into the city, to see relatives or just to go to a different shopping destination!

**THINGS TO DO**

Southport has many, many things that are fun to do. There are many places you can go for fun, and many places to go to educate yourself.

First of all there’s pleasureland. Pleasureland is an adventure park very near the beach. It has arcades, a few little rides, but it also has Traumatizer, and the name couldn’t be accurate!

I myself didn’t go on it, but I saw people going on it, and they looked paler than a woman out of the 30’s! It’s the UK’s tallest ride, and many rollacoaster addicts come to Southport just to have a ride of the scary thing!

If rides aren’t your thing, and you’d rather just relax and take some time out, you can easily go to the cinema. The cinema is in the middle of the town, and is pretty big. You can take your pick of the variety of films on at the time, and they show at least four times a day, at sensible times!

Somewhere else to go is the zoo. Southport has a rather small zoo, but it’s full of different kinds of animals. It’s not really the best you could find, and it wont take you very long to go round there, but you it’s alright for a little bit of fun.

Southport is very popular for it’s Flower Show as well. Something you’ll notice when you travel through Southport town centre or onto Westcliffe Road heading out of town, you will notice that the flowers and gardens are kept immaculate.

The council do a brilliant job of looking after town, and one of the roundabouts near the beach has a large dolphin crafted out of grass. Also around the dolphin are lovely flowers. It is obvious the place is looked after well.

**PLACES TO EAT**

Everywhere you turn in Southport there is somewhere to eat. Whether you fancy an Indian, an Italian, a Chinese, A Ready Meal or a plain old family meal together you can go anywhere and find one.

I highly recommend a little Italian restaurant on the corner when you’re coming in from Southport on the East side. It has brilliant prizes and if you want to have some chips – for example, if you have kids with you who don’t like the food – they will provide them for you.

For a good meal for four, you would probably pay about £15, including drinks. When you think about it, it’s a wonderful price, and absolutely reasonable.

If you are going out for a meal at night, I recommend you head out of town to eat, rather than eating in the centre. There is a fantastic Carvery just outside Southport in a little place called Ainsdale.

It’s around 10-15 minutes from Southport city centre, and you probably won’t be able to find it, so I recommend you go to the travel centre in the town.

In the Carvery, you will be able to have a Sunday dinner – any day of the week – at a reasonable price. At first you are allowed to pick from meat – chicken, beef or turkey – and then help yourself to veg.

You can eat as much as veg as you want, and can go back for as much as you want. But, you can’t go back for more meat, but you probably won’t want to, because you’re totally full!

Even though the meal is a reasonable price, the drinks at the bar are extremely expensive, so if you’re planning to have a drink after your meal, head somewhere else!

**HOTELS AND B&B’s**

The main Hotel in Southport is the Prince of Wales Hotel slam bang in the centre of town. Even though it’s in the town, I don’t think it’s likely you’ll hear that much noise from outside, so don’t worry about that.

I didn’t stay in the Prince Of Wales Hotel, as I was with relatives, but I was told it was an extremely nice hotel. Not too posh, and not, not posh enough, but just right!

You can book a single room there for £59 for one night. That includes bed and breakfast and nothing else. Double/Twin is £65, and that inlcudes bed and breakfast as well.

On Saturdays, these will be much more expensive. A single at £90 and a double/twin at £100.

This is very expensive, but it's very luxurious, and it's right slap bang in the middle of the town centre.

If this is too much money for you, on top of other things, there’s a wide range of B&B’s to choose from. There are a load of one’s about 200 yards from the beach and about 50 yards away from the town centre.

There are about 10 of them, each without about 3 rooms. I walked past, and most looked clean, and had about 2-3 stars. Some better than others, it’s about £10-15 a night, which is rather good, but I’d recommend the hotel to have better service and a bit of luxury!

**SHOPPING**

This is why I went, really! I am an absolute shopaholic, and I really am dangerous with a large sum of money. So just to be careful I took about £200 to spend, thinking there wouldn’t be many shops.

I was absolutely wrong, and I think I’d call Southport one of the best places to shop in the country. I don’t say this because of the range of shops it has there, but because how the atmosphere is like there.

In London/Manchester/Liverpool it will be full of the perfect shops, but also you’ll have ages to queue and very little helpful shopkeepers being nice to you. Southport on the other hand has a range of shops big enough, not very large queues, and helpful shopkeepers!

Some of the shop’s are – River Island, Topshop/Man, Next, Burtons, Dorothy Perkins, T.K.Max, Toni and Guy (hairdressers) etc. All the high street shops! You will find a few designer label shops, but none of the Gucci range, etc.

If you’re after designer labels you should go to T.K.Max where you can buy last season’s range cheaper. I got a pair of RiP jeans for a mere £5; it had an r.r.p of £55! Also, original, not copies, Gucci sunglasses for £9.

It has the biggest bargains there, and if you’re one for labels it’s the perfect place to go, and you will enjoy yourself! The male range isn’t as good as the women’s, but if you look hard enough you’ll find a bargain!

I think I liked Southport so much because it had all the shops, but it was a reserved place at the same time, and if someone bumped into you they’d apologise instead of walking on.

It’s probably the best place to shop, and it really has a range of shops that you can choose from that you’ll love, and if you don’t enjoy shopping, you will after going here!

**THE BEACH**

Even though I love shopping, I like to pop to the beach from time to time as well. So, when I’d done my shopping, I said on Tuesday to my cousin Karen that I was going to go to the beach for a sunbathe and a swim.

“What?” she said in here American/Liverpudlian accent, having spent 6 years in America! “You can’t do that unless you’re planning a hike out to the sea!”
Little did I know that the beach wasn’t one you could swim in!

It has a large area of soft sand, and it’s a lovely one to walk along, but not one you can swim in, which is a real shame because it’s got lovely scenery, and on a nice day the sea looks very welcoming!

Even though you can’t swim on the beach, you can walk along and admire the view of Blackpool tower (yes, you can see it from there!) and also the views of the sea and little islands far away.

It’s got a pier you can go on, and it’s a lovely opportunity, but I’d rather be shopping than spending a day there. Even though it was nice, I had much higher expectations for it.

**FINAL THOUGHTS**

Southport is a lovely place to visit on a weekend, a weekday or nighttime. It does have some nightlife, but if you want real fun, I advice you go to a city, rather than coming to Southport.

Southport is a lovely place for an elderly couple to relax, a family to relax, or anyone to relax really! And if you like it that much, you can easily go and live there! There are some lovely apartments in Westcliffe Road –the very posh part of Southport, where I stayed! – Going for £500,000!

Even though it sounds a really expensive deal for an apartment, you’ll have a lovely place to live, with lovely scenery (sea view in some) and it’s about 200 yards from the town centre!

Or, if you want to go a bit classier you can buy an apartment on the sea front fro between £800,00 and 2,1 million! Again expensive, but you’ll have the likes of famous footballers for your neighbours!

If you haven’t visited Southport in your life, you’re missing out. I’ve just arrived back, and I’m already planning my next trip. You must visit there, and it has something for EVERYONE!

Written By: Matt Roberts.