You probably wouldn't immediately believe it when you see Southport today, but in days gone by, this Merseyside city was a popular seaside resort. It is still a seaside city, of course, but it's glory days have passed. That might also be due to the fact, that the sea is further out nowadays then it used to be.

Southport is the only place I know of that has an inland promenade! The sea went further and further away, which resulted in the construction of a ridiculously long (and quite dull) pier. This also resulted in Southport having a marine, salt-water lake between the beach and the promenade. I have been told by a Sandgrounder, that the sea only comes in and actually covers the grassy beach once per month or so.

If you go to Southport's southernmpst suburb Ainsdale, however, you have a proper beach and sand dunes stretching for miles! Ainsdale beach is one in only a handful in the UK, where you can kite-surf legally and safe. The only thing this long sandy beach is missing is an Aussie style surfer-backpackers (which might be housed in the derelict seafront hotel?).

If you walk through Southport town centre, mainly along Lord Street and the side streets leading to the promenade, you can see that the town was quite rich a century ago. Many Victorian-style houses still line the streets. As it seems to be common for British seaside resorts (including Blackpool, which is only 6 miles away if you could cross the water), Southport is teeming with amusement arcades around the promenade and at the start of the pier.