Southport has been nominated as a finalist in Visa and Nationwide’s Let’s Celebrate Towns competition, recognising its work to help local businesses and communities thrive.
Let’s Celebrate Towns is a UK-wide initiative designed to recognise towns building thriving local communities across the country. This year, more than 350 towns across over 280 constituencies entered the competition and were assessed across five categories: Backing Local Business, Community Pride, Connected Places, High Street Revival and Protecting Valued Places.
Each nomination recognises towns where local businesses, councils and community groups are adapting to help their communities continue to thrive.
Southport’s nomination in the High Street Revival category acknowledges the example the town has set in adapting to new challenges and opportunities in the rapidly changing high street environment.
A panel of expert judges will now review the finalists in each category and select winners from across the UK. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in Parliament on Monday 14th December 2026, where Southport could secure £20,000 to support a local initiative.
Patrick Hurley, Chair of the Town Centres APPG and MP for Southport and the Northern Parishes, said:
“It’s brilliant to see Southport recognised for the work going on across our town centre to support local businesses and give people more reasons to spend time here.
“We’ve got some truly unique business models, a growing cultural and creative scene, and a lot of people working hard to breathe new life into the town centre. This nomination is a real reflection of that effort.
“As Chair of the Town Centres APPG, I want places like Southport to have the tools and investment they need to keep adapting and thriving. If we were successful in securing the £20,000 award, it would be another opportunity to back one of the many brilliant local initiatives that are already making a difference.”
The 2026 shortlist
Backing Local Business
- Penzance
- Tamworth
- Newmarket
- Godalming
- Falmouth
Community Pride
- Ventnor
- Hornsea
- Barrow-in-Furness
- Bury St Edmunds
- Donaghadee
- St Ives (Cambridgeshire)
- Smethwick
- Penrith
Connected Places
- Okehampton
- Spalding
- Ipswich
- Stroud
- Wimborne Minster
High Street Revival
- Stockton-on-Tees
- Bo’ness
- Penzance
- Falkirk
- Scarborough
- Watford
- Southport
Protecting Valued Places
- Stranraer
- Telford
- Burnley
- Beckenham
- Dronfield
- Faversham
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