Southport Flower Show venue Victoria Park will host even ‘bigger and better’ events after securing approval to increase capacity by 50%. Andrew Brown reports
Plans to attract even bigger and better events to Victoria Park in Southport are under way after backing was given to increase the park’s official capacity by 50%.
Sefton Council has granted permission to increase the number of visitors allowed to attend an event in one of the North West’s premier event spaces at any one time from 9,999 to 14,999.
For the past 101 years, Victoria Park has hosted the famous Southport Flower Show – the biggest independent flower show in the UK and the fourth largest paid event in the Liverpool city region.
In recent years the space has also grown its busy events programme to include the 17-day Southport Comedy Festival; the British Musical Fireworks Championship; the Southport Food and Drink Festival and Southport Oktoberfest.
Victoria Park and Southport Flower Show are operated by a local charity which maintains the 34-acre park for local people to enjoy at no cost to the public purse. Money raised from events is re-invested into maintenance, operating costs and infrastructure.
This year’s Southport Flower Show will be held at Victoria Park on Thursday, August 14 to Sunday, August 17, as a celebration of floral beauty, fresh flavours, and family fun.
Southport Flower Show and Victoria Park General manager Alan Adams said: “Being able to increase our capacity from 9,999 to 14,999 creates huge potential for us – and also for Southport and the Liverpool city region.
“It gives us real scope to go out and attract the big events we’ve not been able to engage with before. What we can achieve now is very exciting.
“It’s the first time Victoria Park has ever been able to operate with a capacity of this size. For large scale events, it is going to make a real difference. One thing I have always been very eager to do is to bring some really top quality music events to Victoria Park.
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“You look along the coast at what they’ve achieved with the Lytham Festival in recent years and it’s been fantastic. What we can create at Victoria Park in Southport, in terms of the quality of our events space, the facilities and the infrastructure that we have here, is huge.
“We love the Southport Flower Show. We love Victoria Park. Equally important to us is having an important role to play in supporting the wider economy and the wider community too so that hopefully everyone benefits.”
Each year, Southport Flower Show generates an estimated £5m for the local economy. Alan estimates the overall economic impact of Victoria Park events is around £25m.
He added: “That makes a substantial positive impact for so many local hotels, guest houses, restaurants, cafes, bars, shops, taxi firms and others.
“We’re keen for more and more people to realise that Southport is a superb destination. We want to attract more people to come and enjoy the brilliant events programme that we have here; stay over; go and visit the shops and restaurants; and really enjoy themselves.”