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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