Is the future Birkenhead? How Liverpool’s “Left Bank” could win £3mn

Dear readers — enjoying the heatwave? There’s nothing like it to remind you how fantastic Liverpool is — the docks lit up in the sun, the city buzzing and parks packed with sunbathers. Viva Liverpool!

The big story: Is the future Birkenhead? How Liverpool’s “Left Bank” could win £3mn 

Top line: Birkenhead’s initial Town of Culture bid makes the large town shortlist. With £60,000 to develop its full proposal, can it go all the way?

Context: Birkenhead has made a shortlist of 15 in its bid to become the UK’s first Town of Culture. It will now receive £60,000 to compete against three other large towns: Basildon, Grimsby and Rotherham. The winner of that category will then battle it out against the winners of the small and medium stables respectively, which are:

Small towns: Ilfracombe, Isle of Bute, Lerwick, Sandown, Strabane, and Stockton Town Centre Ward

Medium towns: Corby, Great Yarmouth, Leith, Pontypridd, and Port Talbot

The overall winner will receive a £3 million grant from the government and host a “season of culture” in 2028, perhaps similar to Liverpool’s 2008 City of Culture celebrations. 

But even the two runners up will be in line for a £250,000 boon to carry out part of their proposals.

A whopping 41 towns from the North West put themselves forward to be the UK’s first Town of Culture, including six from Merseyside: Bootle, Birkenhead, New Brighton, Widnes, Prescot and St Helens.

Back in April, The Post gave our verdict on all six. Here’s what we prophetically said about Birkenhead’s prospects:

“Birkenhead might have just the right blend of dilapidation and artistic achievement to tempt DCMS decision-makers keen to look progressive and open-minded.”

But we also cautioned that leaning too heavily on one feature might limit any town’s promise in this competition. In the first stage of the competition, Birkenhead strongly featured Future Yard — naturally, since the highly-praised music venue’s CIC and co-founder Craig Pennington led the bid as part of the Birkenhead Culture Partnership. 

A delighted Pennington has said that the shortlisting represents "a hugely transformational opportunity for our town"; while Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram has called it a “fantastic recognition” of the “huge amount of talent” that exists in Birkenhead.

But to beat the likes of Grimsby and Rotherham, the town’s cultural partnership will doubtless wish to emphasise the strengths Birkenhead has over its rivals. 

This could include cultural figures of the past and present with a strong connection to the town, like war poet Wilfred Owen, folk rock surrealists Half Man Half Biscuit or Hollywood star Taron Egerton. It may mean playing up Birkenhead’s more picturesque features, such as the historic Priory, the Grade I-listed parade of Hamilton Square, or Birkenhead Park — the recent beneficiary of a £2mn investment towards its own tentative UNESCO World Heritage site status bid.

But it will also need to put forward proposals that are fresh, crucial and unique. Why not underscore the idea to build a 3,000-seater basketball stadium in Birkenhead, which not only ties into the town’s sporting heritage but also looks towards the future? 

Bottom line: To make it this far when hundreds of UK towns didn’t is already a great achievement for Birkenhead. The Post has written before about the place’s left-behind status as well as the talent and potential there. To progress further, the bid committee will have to honour their town’s past while convincing the judges that the future is, indeed, Birkenhead. 

Photo of the week

We adore this photo of rollerskaters near the docks, taken last month. Abi is considering taking up the sport herself, and seeing images like this are just adding fuel to the fire…

Thanks to Reddit user YeOldBrowser for taking the snaps!

Your Post briefing

Much of Liverpool and the Wirral have been plagued with smoke, after a series of fires across the region and in North Wales broke out over the weekend. On Saturday evening, Greater Manchester Fire Service had to close down Dovestone Reservoir after a large fire was reported. While the cause of the fire hasn’t been confirmed, videos of what appear to be teenagers setting off fireworks have been circulating, with one captured on film causing a small fire. Strong winds blew much of that smoke over to Liverpool yesterday, covering the city in a haze. Further adding to our troubles was another wildfire breaking out on Sunday on Conwy Mountain, with the fire service warning residents to stay inside with their windows closed today while they attempt to control the blaze. 

The divisive nature of Birkenhead Market persists, with traders now split over whether they want to move to the new site proposed by Wirral Council. After much back and forth — and an internal review that found the council had misled market traders — the council settled on turning the former TJ Hughes site at the Pyramids Shopping Centre into a new home for Birkenhead Market. However, since then several traders have spoken out about the decision, with one telling the BBC she had been told there was “no room for her” to move. By the sounds of it though, the vast majority are welcoming the relocation; “"There's less and less people coming in here now. The new place should have more footfall," one trader told the BBC over the weekend.  "We need a change. I think the move will be great business-wise and will help the market grow,” another said.

And The Open has officially begun in Birkdale this week, with thousands of golf fans heading to the small village to watch. The Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport is hosting the 154th men's Open Championship until Sunday, marking the first time the village has held the competition since 2017. Residents there are expecting a significant economic boost thanks to The Open — Mark Darbon, chief executive of the golf governing body R&A, said the championship typically generates more than £200m in direct economic benefit through spending on accommodation, local goods and services, bars and restaurants. Have any thoughts on The Open in Birkdale? Email abi@livpost.co.uk. 

Post Picks

From this Friday until next, Liverpool Arab Arts Festival returns with a fantastic itinerary of music, food and performances. Some of our favorites:

🍲The Black-E is hosting a Sudanese kitchen experience this Saturday of the recipes and accompanying photographs of Sudan. Details here.

📽️Next Tuesday, there’s a special screening of My Father and Qaddafi at The Bluecoat. In the film, a daughter unravels the disappearance of her father, the peaceful opposition leader to Qaddafi, and pieces together her mother’s 19-year search to find him. Details here.

🎤And on Saturday, head over to the Tung Auditorium for a celebration of gospel music by the National Gospel Music Centre, based at Liverpool Lighthouse. Details here.

Laurence here. Thanks for reading today's edition of the Liverpool Post about Birkenhead's Town of Culture bid.

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