Southport & district · Local news you can trust
An e-scooter's lithium-ion battery started the Stone Square fire that killed four. Merseyside has had 150 such fires since 2023, 67 of them in people's homes.
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Formby
Formby Sports Bar on Brows Lane Can Open Until 12.30am
Sefton approved a sports bar with pool, snooker and darts above the shops at 27 Brows Lane, Formby. Customers are allowed in until 12.30am at weekends.
Martin Mere
Martin Mere winter 2026: swan feeds daily at 3pm
Martin Mere's daily wild bird feed runs 3pm from 17 October to 14 March, free with entry. Free late goose openings, dawn flights at £22.50, and winter prices.
Christmas
Southport Christmas market 2026: three weekends in December
Southport's Christmas market runs at the Market Hall on King Street over three December weekends, 4 to 20 December 2026. Opening times, and Formby Hall on 29 November.
Council
Sefton Cabinet 1 October: £7.7m Overspend, Hiring Freeze
Sefton forecasts a £7.689m overspend and proposes a recruitment freeze. Also on 1 October: Hesketh Park Conservatory, the Esplanade site and garden waste costs.
House prices
Sefton House Prices July 2026: £224,289, Up 3.7% in a Year
The average Sefton home cost £224,289 in July, up £7,901 in a year but 0.5% below June's record. Liverpool and Wirral prices are rising almost twice as fast.
Southport
Southport Town Hall Gardens: Have Your Say by 5 October
Sefton has published the designs for the £10m Town Hall Gardens rebuild. Comments close at 5pm on 5 October, with a model on show at The Atkinson.
Bootle
Bootle House Fire: Woman and Three Children Die
A woman and three children died in a house fire on Stone Square, Bootle, early on Tuesday. Crews were called at 3.38am. A fifth person is in hospital.
Schools
Formby High School Teacher Banned From Teaching For Life
A former Formby High School teacher is banned from classrooms for life, with no right to ask for it to be lifted. The decision was published on 16 September.
Southport
Queens Road Southport: Council Admits Drivers Ignore Ban
Sefton Council says early camera data shows drivers ignoring the Queens Road restriction, and it has no approval for camera enforcement at that junction.
Planning
Formby Lidl and M&S Scheme Refused Against Officer Advice
Councillors refused the Lidl and M&S scheme off the Formby Bypass against officers' advice. The council's own consultants put the village's trade loss at 15.9%.
Local Info
Southport Roadworks This Week: Switch Island Nights to 7 Oct
Switch Island shuts overnight every night to Wednesday 7 October, the M58 on Friday. New Lane, Crossens closes 6 to 8 October; Bescar Lane shuts 17 October.
Data
Sefton Claimant Count August 2026: Up 225 to 6,410
Sefton's claimant count rose 225 in August to 6,410, its biggest monthly jump since July 2024. Kew and Norwood led the rise across Southport's seven wards.
Sefton is a long thin borough down the Merseyside coast, and it was deliberately named after a small village so that neither Southport nor Bootle would get the credit. The council still runs offices at both ends. Southport is at the top, with Birkdale and Ainsdale below it, then Formby and Freshfield, then Blundellsands, Crosby, Waterloo, Litherland and Bootle facing Liverpool, with Maghull inland.
Southport Today reports what the record shows across that coast, with Southport and Formby at the centre of it. Planning decisions, licensing, council spending, crime figures, sold prices. Sefton Council publishes the evidence and we go through it, linking to the document each time.
Every fact carries a link to the source it came from.