Birkdale

Birkdale car park — it's the free one in Birkdale Village, right behind the shops on Liverpool Road. It gets pretty busy, especially Saturdays and when there's an event on at the Village. It's dead handy if you're popping into the shops – like for a coffee at Villagio Cucina or grabbing something from the butchers. Saves you driving round the block for ages.

It's a decent sized car park, probably fits about 50 cars. I’ve seen it rammed, but I’ve always managed to squeeze in somehow. Google says it’s got a 4.1 rating from 33 reviews, which isn’t bad for a car park, is it? I reckon most of those are just happy not to be paying!

It's officially customer-only parking, but I've never seen anyone checking. Just don't take the mickey and leave it there all day if you're off to Liverpool or something. You'll probably get away with it, but it's not very Southport, is it?

Worth knowing: give yourself a bit of extra time to find a space on a busy Saturday. You might have to circle a couple of times.