New Brighton: How trendy independent scene brought forgotten seaside town back from the brink

National World - LocalTV

After witnessing the decline of New Brighton first hand, in 2018 Dan Davies got together with some friends who were tired of seeing the area they grew up in go down hill and decided to step in and intervene.

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00:00Witnessing the decline of New Brighton first-hand, in 2018 Dan Davies got

00:05together with some friends, tired of seeing the area they grew up in going

00:09downhill, decided to step in and intervene.

00:12There used to be 5 million day

00:13trippers a year coming just from Liverpool on the ferry, you know, we are

00:17in the top corner of the Royal Peninsula, right on the, you know, low end of

00:23Liverpool Bay, so you don't pass through New Brighton, you've got to travel to

00:27New Brighton, so it's got to be a compelling reason to sort of visit.

00:31His company Rock Point Leisure work alongside the local community in

00:34developing the Victoria Quarter, which is now bursting with independent bars and

00:38restaurants, music venues, record stores, vintage shops and even a vibrant street

00:43art trail.

00:45The idea that we had was let's buy, rent or lease every

00:48boarded up place, so included three banks that were, you know, we don't have any

00:52banks anymore, a pub, a restaurant, three-story solicitors firms where we are

00:56now, which we've turned into an art gallery and a number of shops and things

01:00and then find people who want to operate businesses, so do a bit of placemaking.

01:05After taking voluntary redundancy from her career in buying, Paula Rogan made

01:11the decision to take over the card shop on Victoria Road as the previous

01:15proprietors were retiring. As a customer of the shop herself, she decided to take

01:20the reins.

01:21It's a nice area, I like New Brighton, it's an up-and-coming

01:25area, didn't want to lose the card shop, it's an independent card shop, there's

01:32not many around.

01:33Sean Martin is a chairman of New Brighton Coastal Community Team.

01:36The team's made up of members from local businesses, churches and community groups

01:40and their aim is to make New Brighton a better place to work, live and visit.

01:45New Brighton is unique, nearly all the businesses in New Brighton are independent

01:49businesses. Myself and my wife, we started 11 years ago, we were looking for a little

01:54shop on the world, so we ended up over here and we opened up an antique shop

01:58called Liberty Antiques on Seabank Road, but all the shops then became open and

02:04all the shops are still open to this day, so it's a great little community as I

02:07say, throughout New Brighton.

02:09By focusing on the area's independent credentials as an

02:13alternative to the seafront offer, their manifesto positions the Victoria Road

02:17area as a destination within the town, where both residents and visitors can

02:22shop, eat and drink, as well as enjoy diverse live events and cultural

02:26happenings.

02:27What I wanted to do was just keep a discreet sort of smallish area where

02:32there's no big brands, it is independent and have a bit of a fight back to, you

02:38know, the online sort of shopping habits that people have gone into.

02:43We do our best to make New Brighton a better place to live in, to visit and to

02:48walk in.

02:49After years of decline, the town is now fighting back, turning itself into an

02:53innovative modern resort with a very bright future.

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