The good, the bad, the ugly: the Merseyside spots vying for Town of Culture 2028

Dear readers — last month, towns across the country entered their bids to become the UK’s Town of Culture 2028. The title earns the winning town a £3 million cash prize, and another two runner-ups a cool quarter of a million each. To win, the rules are simple: draft an application that describes what your town is like, showcase why your town specifically is full of creative potential, and provide a clear plan of how you’ll make your vision come true.

In Merseyside, five towns threw their hats into the ring: Bootle, Birkenhead, New Brighton, Widnes and Prescot. But which out of the bunch stands a fighting chance of taking home that cash?

In today’s piece, Abi, David and Laurence will be ranking each of the towns in the running. From the cringe-inducing aesthetics of Wotsit Street in Birkenhead, to the coastal heritage of New Brighton, we hope we’ve shone a light on what each place has to offer — and what it’s lacking.

As always, though, we’re keen to hear your take. Disagree with our ratings? Think we’ve missed something key to a town’s success? We want to hear from you. Get stuck in in the comments section and we’ll publish some of your comments in our Monday edition.

But first, your regularly scheduled Post briefing — with an update on Abi’s investigation into the eviction of the Baltic Triangle’s creatives last month.

Your Post briefing

An update on our investigation into the Northern Lights: Earlier this month, Abi published a story revealing how creatives in the Baltic Triangle’s ‘Northern Lights’ studio space were facing eviction. Initially, the artists that inhabited the Northern Lights warehouse did so under a lease agreement with Baltic Creative CIC, however in mid-2025 this arrangement came to an end and the lease was relinquished to private developer, Dusanj Real Estates. In February, artists received word from Dusanj Real Estates that they would have to leave the space by the end of March. This did not include the gallery The Royal Standard, which occupied the left side of the building. They were told they were able to complete their lease, which ends in June 2026. However, artists have now got back in touch with The Post and informed us that Dusanj Real Estates have changed their tune — issuing a notice for eviction for all Royal Standard tenants this week, giving artists just 24 hours to get their things. “Most of us are self-employed and now unable to work,” one of the artists told The Post yesterday, adding that some creatives have exhibitions ongoing in the Royal Standard that are “now inaccessible.” “The majority of us have nowhere to immediately take our belongings,” the artist added. We approached Dusanj Real Estates to ask about this eviction, and why they were not allowing the Royal Standard to fulfil their June lease. They told us that they are “aware of the concerns raised, but as this is now a legal matter, we’re unable to make any public comment at this stage.” 

And an update on our Writing on the Wall investigation. Readers may remember Abi’s story about how the directors of Writing on the Wall (WoW), organisers of Liverpool’s largest literature festival, initiated disciplinary proceedings against staff after reading their private WhatsApps. Many of the city’s artistic community then signed an open letter in support of the four women employees, including screenwriter Jimmy McGovern and film director Chris Bernard. The Post has now received a statement confirming that, following the conclusion of the internal process, the four women have now been dismissed from their roles at WoW on the grounds of a “breakdown of trust and confidence”. The “WoW 4,” as their supporters now refer to them, are disputing this outcome, demanding reinstatement and calling for “an independent investigation into the management of the organisation.”

New Brighton

Words by David Lloyd

Margate’s Turner Contemporary and Dreamland, Weston-super-Mare’s Dismaland and Folkestone's’ Triennial all point to a well-established playbook – fading seaside town given a cultural reboot and a new purpose. Can it happen here? Is the world ready for a new New Brighton? A post-Martin Parr playground for creative and cultural catalysts — a place where candy floss and conceptual art can coexist? 

Well, maybe. But they’d better act fast because New Brighton’s recent renaissance, while not dead in the water, is definitely fraying at the edges.

The town’s bid is being coordinated by the New Brighton Partnership, a community organisation marshalling the force of nature that is Jayne Casey, who was previously a key player in the regeneration of Liverpool's Baltic Triangle creative quarter. Casey now runs the town’s brilliant District House art gallery and bar, but she has her work cut out. The Victoria Road quarter has stumbled, lately, into something more beery and blokey than cool and curated, with the addition of Riptide Bar where the Oakland Gallery was. The town can’t afford to lose cultural spaces — especially not for pool halls. There’s precious little of them as it is. And you can’t have all your art just splashed on the walls. 

The bid leans heavily on New Brighton's distinctive coastal heritage. So, naturally, the town’s bid is strongest when it showcases the vibrant community hub of the West Cheshire Sailing School, the beach yoga sessions and the Marine Lake and acrobatic kite surfers. There is no doubt strong communities are coalescing here, around Sup, Sea Shanty and Focal Studios. Fort Perch Rock regularly hosts summer gigs, but I sense its potential is criminally underused. The Dips — those huge sunken grass levees — could and should be used more than they are. Huge summer festivals would be amazing here. There is a tension in New Brighton that stalls any such ambition, though. Too many locals with loud voices want to sit, Canute-like, and push back the tide of progress. No to seaside markets, they say, no to late night gigs on Victoria Road, they moan. Any successful reinvention of a seaside town has to reconcile itself to the fact that reinvention, by definition, means something has to change. That nostalgia isn’t a strategy. New Brighton was purpose-built for fun and creativity. That the town’s bid is saying, essentially, it’s still in our bones gives me, at least, a frisson of something approaching hope.

Verdict: Could this be our frontrunner?

Birkenhead

Words by Laurence Thompson

Do you agree with David Lloyd's take on New Brighton? Up next is Birkenhead, and we've got plenty to say about that town...

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