In 1792, a Churchtown landlord, William 'Duke' Sutton, built a bathing house in South Hawes to cater for the fashionable new trend of sea bathing. A few years later, he built a hotel and named it South Port. The town took its name from Sutton’s hotel, which was situated at the junction of Lord Street and Duke Street. Southport catered for an influx of visitors and its population grew to 2,000 in 1801. Visitors first travelled by canal and road. Rail services became available from Liverpool in 1848 and Manchester in 1853.
Lord Street is claimed by some to be the inspiration behind the tree-lined boulevards of Paris. Napoleon III lived on Lord Street in Southport, before becoming Emperor of France in 1851. During his reign, he caused much of the medieval centre of Paris to be replaced with broad tree lined boulevards, covered walkways and arcades, just like Lord Street. On the strength of this coincidence, it has been suggested that the redevelopment may have been inspired by memories of Southport's town centre! Many attractions where built during the 19th century to cater for visitors to Southport. The wide valley between the sand hills, which faced Sutton’s Hotel, developed into the famous Lord Street. Southport is proud of its Victorian Heritage. The town's parks, gardens, and tree-lined streets, are a wonderful legacy and provide the town its genteel image.
In 2008 Lord Street remains Southport’s most prestigious and famous street. Southport sees itself attracting the focus away from Liverpool’s recent boom as the new investment opportunity.
Click here to view how Lord Street used to look.
