Lord Street is about a mile long. It runs from the town centre northward and is lined on the west side by Victorian glass canopies that keep the rain off the pavement and the shops behind them. It is genuinely one of the better shopping streets in the north of England and most people who come to Southport either do not walk all of it, or walk it without looking up. Both are mistakes.
The Canopies
The glass canopies on the western side of Lord Street are what makes it different to any other high street. They are Victorian ironwork and glass, continuous for most of the length of the boulevard, and they create a covered walkway along the shopfronts. Walk the western pavement on a July afternoon and you are shaded, dry if it rains, and looking at one of the better pieces of Victorian civic engineering in the region.
The canopies were apparently admired by Napoleon III during his exile in England and influenced the covered arcades in Paris. Whether that is true I cannot say, but the canopies are real and they are worth taking time over.
Wayfarers Arcade
Halfway along Lord Street, Wayfarers Arcade is a covered Victorian shopping arcade that runs off the main boulevard. Most visitors walk past it. It is worth going in even if you are not buying anything. The ironwork and the light inside are better than the shopfronts suggest from the outside. There are independent retailers in there that are not the usual chains.
What Is on Lord Street
The mix is independent shops and national chains, with the independents concentrated at the northern and southern ends. The Bold Hotel is on Lord Street and worth knowing about for a drink or dinner. Bistrot Verite, one of the better restaurants in Southport, is just off it. The Atkinson cultural centre is at the southern end: gallery, theatre, and a cafe that is worth using as a rest stop.
In July, the boulevard has tables outside several of the cafes and the light in the morning is good along the eastern side. It is the kind of street that rewards walking at 9am before it gets busy as much as at midday.
Lord Street During Open Week
During The Open, Lord Street is the busiest it gets all year. Restaurants along and near it are full in the evenings. The Bold is worth booking for dinner well in advance. The general atmosphere is good: international visitors, golf conversations, the town operating at a level above its normal summer pace.
If you are visiting during Open week purely as a non-golf visitor, a morning walk along Lord Street before the golf crowds arrive is a good way to see it at its best: the canopies, the boulevard, and the light, without fighting through the evening crowds.
Things to do in Southport:
Things to Do in Southport →Terry
Chief Editor, SouthportGuide.co.uk. Lives in Churchtown with his wife,
four kids, and Frank the bulldog.
