BID backs desperate calls for major Cambridge Arcade improvements

Southport BID is backing local businesses in their calls for urgent improvements to be made to the historic Cambridge Arcade in Southport.

Recent visits by the BID have revealed a range of issues of concern for hardworking local traders.

They include holes and cracks in the arcade canopy; dead pigeons in the netting; and uneven paving which they say has led to shoppers suffering nasty falls.

A decade ago, Cambridge Arcade and Cambridge Walks were beset with empty units.

But the Victorian Grade Il Listed landmark has recently enjoyed a real renaissance, with some top quality new businesses including Megafauna and Naked Peak and innovative new social enterprises such as The Jukebox Joint and Area 51 joining popular established local and national businesses such as Hungry Monk, Tap & Bottles,
The Entertainer, Clinton’s Cards, Osiris Antiques,
Cranberry’s Coffee Shop and more.

They have fostered a real community spirit, working together to do all they can to create attractive outside seating areas, planters, flowers and other measures to do all they can to make the area look more attractive to shoppers and diners.

A BID spokesperson said “In the past few years Sefton Council has invested heavily in sites on either side of the arcade, leading the £20million
transformation of The Atkinson cultural centre on Lord Street and the £4million pedestrianisation of Chapel Street.

But Cambridge Arcade and Cambridge Walks have consistently missed out on funding and it shows.

“Now traders are asking for urgent support for
improvements to be made.”