Southport Tavern celebrates first birthday after extensive changes

Southport Tavern in Southport town centre is celebrating its first birthday after a transformational year which has seen the popular venue undergoing some extensive changes.

General Manager Steve Richards has carried out a series of improvements, creating a vibrant community pub with a non-stop series of events to entertain people of all ages.

Southport Tavern is a freehouse, granting Steve the freedom to offer the very best products and deals to his customers rather than being tied into a big PubCo.

He has brought back draught real ales to the pub, working with Southport Brewery to offer their most popular ales.

The pub faces the side entrance to Southport Train Station. Steve has recently installed screens featuring all the train times, between Southport to Liverpool and Southport to Manchester, allowing rail passengers to wait in the warmth with a drink in their hand rather than standing on a cold station platform.

Photo by Bertie Cunningham Southport BID

The pub has been repainted with beautiful pictures of Southport from years gone by replacing some of the sporting themed pictures on the walls.

New products have been brought in, such as Prosecco, with a greater choice of gins and wines.

Steve previously built up a top quality reputation as the landlord at The Spitfire pub in Ainsdale and has loved every minute of his new challenge in Southport town centre.

He said:

“We are really pleased to be celebrating our first birthday!

“It has been a very busy year. We have made so many positive changes to this place.

“I would like to invite anyone who’s not been for a while to come in and see the difference.

“Southport Tavern is a very safe community pub these days. It is very different to how it was when it was known as The Albert.

“We work very closely with Southport PubWatch, linking with other pubs in the town to ensure a safe and pleasant experience for our customers.

“PubWatch is helping us to build a reputation for being a safe and reputable venue where families know they can come in and enjoy spending time in a good quality environment.

“If someone is banned from one PubWatch venue, they are banned from them all, which is a great policy to have. It keeps all our pubs safe from trouble.

“We haven’t stopped making changes. We are aiming to open our kitchen in a few weeks’ time, and are looking forward to offering food. We will reveal more about that in due course.

“In the new year we’re looking to refurbish the courtyard area, to give us an outdoor seating area.

“The pub looks very different to how it did a year ago. We have just finished painting the exterior, which has a nice cream colour now, replacing the old green.

“We have so many events for people to enjoy. Our bingo events and our quizzes are extremely popular, both get a real following.

“The feedback we have had from people has been brilliant. We have been getting some fantastic reviews through TripAdvisor which has been lovely to see. It shows we are doing something right.

“We are now serving real ales, rotating beers from Southport Brewery. It’s an excellent local brewery, and we are always keen to support and work with other local businesses where we can.

“Real ale on draught wasn’t something that was sold in here before we came in.

“We have nine big screens on the walls throughout the venue. We use them to screen the latest train times, so people never need to miss a train again!

“We can also use them to promote all the events we have coming up.

“We screen live sport, including live Premier League football, EFL football and more. We can screen different matches on different screens if customers ask us to.

“We have karaoke every Friday and Sunday evening.

“We host bingo on Wednesdays and Sundays from 5pm onwards. We get lots of people coming in – tables get very booked up particularly on Sundays.

“Southport Tavern is becoming very popular for functions and events. We have welcomed a lot of birthday pirates, Christenings, and others.

“Our quiz nights take place every Wednesday from 8pm. We are linking up with other pubs across the North West so the cash prizes that people can win are much higher.

“We have live music on a regular basis on Saturday nights, we love being part of Southport’s live music scene.”

There are more changes to come, more for visitors to look forward to.

Steve said:

“It’s been tiring! But this year has also been good fun.

“The longer you spend in a place like this, the more special it feels.

“We have enjoyed taking Southport Tavern to the next level.

“It is night and day to what it was like 12 months ago.

“Now it has a lovely atmosphere; it’s friendly; it’s safe; it’s vibrant; there’s always lots going on and lots for people to enjoy. It’s a proper local community pub.

“We’d love to see people come in and enjoy a visit and see what they think. You won’t be disappointed.”Southport Tavern is at 63 London Street, Southport town centre. It is open from midday every day until 10.30pm on Sundays, until 11pm Monday to Thursday and 11.30pm on Fridays and Saturdays.