Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, on the West Lancashire coastal plain about 17 miles north of Liverpool and 15 miles south-west of Preston. At the 2021 census it had 94,421 residents, the third most populous settlement in the Liverpool City Region. Founded in 1792 when William Sutton, an innkeeper from Churchtown, built a bathing house at what is now the south end of Lord Street, it grew through the Victorian era into a planned, tree-lined resort, and it still depends on tourism.
A business mortgage is a long-term loan secured on the building a trading company occupies. As a broker, we arrange it and never lend it: we prepare the case, approach the lenders whose criteria fit and manage it to completion. It is commercial finance for business premises, not a residential mortgage. Southport is one of the towns on our Merseyside page.
Buying shop premises on Lord Street and Chapel Street
Lord Street is Southport's main shopping street, a wide, tree-lined boulevard often described as one of the great shopping streets of northern England and said to have inspired the boulevards of Paris. Chapel Street was pedestrianised in the 2000s and holds well-known brands, with a farmers' market on the last Thursday of each month. The indoor market sits on King Street and Market Street.
Many of the town's Victorian commercial buildings have offices or flats above the shop. Lenders treat a mixed building as semi-commercial premises, indicatively priced at 6.5 to 8.5% a year and up to 75% loan to value, subject to status, accounts and valuation. Commercial lending to a limited company is unregulated and falls outside the FCA's regulated mortgage perimeter. Where a deal would be regulated, for example lending to a sole trader or individual, or a property where the borrower or a close family member will live in part of it, we refer it to an appropriately authorised firm.
Care homes and contractors: the Sefton business mix behind Southport
ONS UK Business Counts 2026, local units. Figures are for the Sefton local authority area.
Show as a table
| Sector | Businesses | Southport share | UK share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction and building trades | 1,295 | 13.7% | 12.5% |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 1,160 | 12.3% | 14% |
| Retail | 1,110 | 11.8% | 9.4% |
| Business support services | 750 | 7.9% | 8.1% |
| Health and social care | 740 | 7.8% | 5.6% |
| Restaurants, cafes and pubs | 720 | 7.6% | 6.2% |
| Personal and other services | 525 | 5.6% | 4.1% |
| Transport, logistics and storage | 420 | 4.4% | 4.2% |
| Manufacturing and engineering | 375 | 4% | 4.3% |
- 2.0xresidential care205 businesses
- 2.0xgambling50 businesses
- 1.6xcivil engineering115 businesses
- 1.5xpersonal services415 businesses
A figure of 2.0x means the trade makes up twice the share of local businesses that it does across the UK.
The Southport figures cover the whole of Sefton, and the standout is residential care, running at 1.99 times the UK share. Health and social care accounts for 7.8% of the borough's 9,445 business units against 5.6% nationally. A care home owner refinancing is underwritten on occupancy and fee income as well as on bricks and mortar. Construction is the largest single sector at 13.7%, and civil engineering firms sit at 1.59 times the national rate, many of them wanting a yard and plant store they control. Only 30 local units employ 250 or more people, so this is overwhelmingly a market of owner-managed firms.
Trading-business finance for hotels and leisure on England's Golf Coast
Southport sits at the centre of England's Golf Coast. Royal Birkdale is on the Open Championship rotation, having hosted the men's championship ten times since 1954, most recently in July 2017, and the women's five times. Hesketh, Hillside, Southport and Ainsdale and the 9-hole Southport Old Links in High Park add to the draw. The calendar includes the north west's biggest air show, the largest independent flower show in the UK in Victoria Park, the British Musical Fireworks Championship and a jazz festival. In 2011 the town was named the fourteenth most popular coastal resort in the country, after a 23% rise in visitor spending that year.
Hotels, guest houses, restaurants and bars that serve those visitors are trading businesses to a lender, so profit and its seasonality matter as much as the building. Indicative pricing is 7.0 to 9.0% a year, often at around 70% loan to value, subject to status, accounts and valuation. Owners who already hold their premises can release capital or replace an expiring deal by remortgaging business premises.
Southport's shops, offices and units on the Sefton rating list
Valuation Office Agency, non-domestic rating stock of properties, March 2026. Figures for the Sefton council area. Average rateable value is the VOA's estimate of annual rent, not a sale price.
- Industrial and warehouse1,750properties on the rating listDown 3.3% since 2016Average rateable value £25,500factories, workshops, warehouses and trade units
- Offices1,110properties on the rating listUp 14.4% since 2016Average rateable value £15,100offices, including converted buildings
- Shops and retail3,000properties on the rating listDown 6.5% since 2016Average rateable value £20,400shops, showrooms and retail warehouses
- Other commercial1,990properties on the rating listUp 5.3% since 2016Average rateable value £28,600pubs, hotels, surgeries, nurseries, garages and more
Owner-occupied units in Southport: Kensington, Canning Road and beyond
Named estates and parks listed on Google Maps near Southport, October 2026. Listed to show where premises trade locally; we have no connection with the owners or agents.
- Kensington Industrial EstateSouthport PR9 0SF
- Kensington Industrial ParkSouthport PR9 0NY
- Phoenix WorksSouthport PR8 2AF
- George Business ParkSouthport PR8 5EF
- Southport Business ParkSouthport PR8 4HQ
- Canning Road Industrial EstateSouthport PR9 7SN
- Crowland Street Industrial EstateSouthport PR9 7RQ
- Old Hall Farm Business ParkSouthport PR9 7RJ
- High Park Business CentreSouthport PR9 7QL
- Crowland Close Industrial EstateBlowick, Southport PR9 7RR
- Enterprise Business ParkSouthport PR9 7RF
- Clifford WorksSouthport PR8 4NX
Across Sefton, total rated stock is essentially flat, down 0.1% since 2016, but the mix underneath has moved. Shops are down 6.5% to 3,000, while offices are up 14.4%. For a retailer hoping to buy, fewer shop units can mean a thinner set of comparables, so a valuer may draw on sales from elsewhere in the borough. Industrial units average £25,500 in rateable value against £20,400 for a shop.
Commercial property loans in Southport, Sefton: road access, sea defences and costs
The town is linear, set along the coast, and is the second-largest town in Britain with no direct dual-carriageway link to the motorway network. The nearest connections are junction 3 of the M58 via the A570, junction 7 of the M57 via the A565, and the M6 and M65 via the A59 and A582. That favours customer-facing businesses over heavy distribution, and valuers will reflect it on industrial sites. Much of the town is only slightly above sea level; new sea defences built between 1997 and 2002 ended the regular flooding of Marine Drive, but a lender may still ask about flood cover.
Planning sits with Sefton Council. The lender takes a legal charge registered at HM Land Registry, and the purchase pays Stamp Duty Land Tax. Illustrative example. A limited company buys a freehold guest house for £425,000 and the lender advances 70%: a loan of £297,500 and a deposit of £127,500. SDLT at HMRC rates as at October 2026 is £10,750, being £2,000 on the slice from £150,001 to £250,000 and £8,750 on the £175,000 above. Our costs page lists the other fees.
Southport districts and neighbourhoods
Lord Street and the town centre
Lord Street, Chapel Street and the indoor market on King Street and Market Street form the retail core. Victorian buildings with upper floors are typical, and independent retailers, cafés, salons and professional firms are the usual buyers, often of semi-commercial freeholds.
Birkdale
Birkdale, to the south of the town, is home to Royal Birkdale Golf Club and the dunes that run down from Woodvale. Restaurants, shops and service businesses here serve residents and golfers, and hospitality premises benefit when championship golf comes to town.
Ainsdale and Woodvale
The Ainsdale dunes are a national nature reserve and Ramsar site, home to natterjack toads and sand lizards, and Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club sits nearby. Local shops, cafés and small businesses here serve residents and visitors to the coast, usually from modest freehold premises.
Churchtown
Churchtown is where the town's founder, William Sutton, kept his inn before building the first bathing house. Hesketh Park, at the northern end of the town, is named after the family that released land for the resort, and Hesketh Golf Club. Small hospitality and retail businesses are typical buyers here.
The seafront and Marine Lake
Southport Pier, the second longest seaside pleasure pier in the British Isles, the Marine Way Bridge opened in May 2004 and the proposed Marine Lake Events Centre anchor the seafront. Leisure, food and event businesses are the typical owner-occupiers here.
