Woodside Ferry Village is located within the Woodside ferry terminal building in Birkenhead, offering food concessions from leading Mersey brands such as Bacaro and Caffe Cream. Tony McDonough reports

Wirral’s newest attraction for foodies is already proving a hit and one of the people behind the concept says it is “just the start”.

Woodside Ferry Village is located within the Woodside ferry terminal building in Birkenhead, offering spectacular views of Liverpool waterfront across the River Mersey.

Invited guests packed out the location for its launch event last Friday evening and enjoyed delicious food samples from well-known local food brands, including Bacaro, Caffe Cream, Sukhothai, Cowfish Smokehouse, EastZEast and the Refreshment Rooms.

The ferry village is the latest example of the food hall to open in Merseyside with Duke Street Food & Drink Market opening in Liverpool city centre just days earlier.

Woodside Area Community Interest Company is behind Woodside Ferry Village and its interim managing director, Sharon Stanton, told LBN the facility will be a catalyst for the start of a wider regeneration of that area of Birkenhead.

“The food hall is just the start – our aim is to get the wider community involved and make this a real place where people come to meet and eat and take part in other activities,” she said.

“Question we have been asking is ‘how do we get people back into Birkenhead?’. The Ferry Village is a starting point and we are looking at more space in Birkenhead. We are part of Woodside Business Park so we are talking to them about what we can do.”

One plan is to bring shipping containers on to the site which would be used for community activities. The CIC is being supported in its efforts by Wirral Chamber of Commerce.

“We did lots of research before we opened the food market, looking at other similar projects elsewhere in the UK and once we started the project it took us just six weeks to get it up and running,” added Sharon.

“We have kept the design very sympathetic to the ferry terminal and the old ticket hall and the views across the river to Liverpool waterfront are just amazing. We really want to give a new lease of life to this part of Birkenhead.”