Guide to New Brighton

There are seven schools within a three mile radius of New Brighton that achieved the top ‘outstanding’ rating from Ofsted at their last inspection. This includes primary and senior schools and also a school specialising in education for children unable to attend mainstream schools for medical reasons. The number of available schools rises to 53 when including those schools that achieved the ‘good’ rating in their last inspection.

This means that parents in the New Brighton area can expect to provide their children with outstanding levels of education from ages 2-19 and in turn makes New Brighton a popular location for young families seeking a place to settle down.

New Brighton, as part of the Wallasey area, has around a dozen doctor’s surgeries within a relatively short distance, as well as ten or more dentists – many of which accept NHS patients – and a similar number of chemists. All in all, for everyday ailments and day to day care, New Brighton is well covered.

For more serious illnesses and treatments, residents of the area will generally be closest to Victoria Central Hospital, while for accident and emergency they will need to travel a little further (around 7 miles, or 15 minutes by car) to Arrowe Park Hospital. Services in New Brighton fall under the NHS Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) – you can find out more about them here. 

New Brighton residents are spoiled for choice when it comes to options on the doorstep. With a fantastic selection of cafes and pubs for a daytime meal, or a coffee and a bite to eat, takeaways of the kind you would expect in a seaside town from Chinese to Indian and all of the standard fast food restaurants.

There are also a number of restaurants which cater for pre-theatre dining and evenings out, with everything from Italian and Middle Eastern to Seafood and Pub grub, there’s something to appeal to everyone.

If you’re looking for something for a special occasion, or just because, then there’s also the option of nearby Leasowe Castle which serves meals beneath a star-studded ceiling which was once a part of the Palace of Westminster, or Fraiche, the Michelin starred restaurant a little further away in Birkenhead.

New Brighton railway station is on a branch line of the Wirral Line – operated by Merseyrail – and has a service to Liverpool and national rail services approximately every 15 minutes. The service takes around 30 minutes while journeys to Chester take approximately an hour including changes.

The area is a little better connected by road, however, and even Manchester can be reached in little more than the UKs average 59 minute commute time, while Chester drops to just 34 minutes and Liverpool a leisurely 16 minutes, making it possible to commute with relative ease to any of the north west’s 3 major cities.

New Brighton’s history prior to the 19th Century is shrouded in tales of piracy and smuggling – with stories of Mother Redcap, friend to the fugitive sailors, and of smuggler’s tunnels. It was in the 19th Century that New Brighton began its journey to become the place it is today when, in 1830, James Atherton, a Liverpool merchant, purchased 170 acres of land at Rock Point.

From 1830, the area filled with large, luxurious buildings which would become hotels as, in the second half of the 19th Century, the area became a seaside resort. The promenade between Seacombe and New Brighton – which is the longest continuous prom in the UK – was completed in 1901.

If there’s one thing you won’t want for as a resident of New Brighton, it’s nearby attractions. The area still serves as a popular tourist destination and is filled with things to do. There’s a funfair which is ideal for young families – containing child friendly rides, a traditional arcade, a soft play area with slides and climbing frames suitable for children up to twelve – there’s Championship Adventure Golf, a miniature golf course with a course based on famous landmarks, Marine Point retail and leisure park, an Airsoft shooting range (located in the World War 2 tunnels beneath New Brighton) and plenty more.

If you’re looking for something a little more natural, there are still plenty of options. Whether you take a walk along the longest promenade in the UK (between Seacombe and New Brighton) or a nature walk through the North Wirral Country Park with its wonderful views and woodland wildlife, you’ll find plenty of England’s native wildlife within a short journey.

As you would expect from a seaside resort, New Brighton offers plenty of entertainment, from the Floral Pavilion theatre which runs a programme of ballet, drama, opera and even Christmas Pantomimes, to The Light Cinema which offers coffee and cocktails to go with a selection of live music and theatre as well as the latest releases.

New Brighton has a slightly more active nightlife than most of the Wirral, but if you want to carry on with your evening after dinner and the theatre, then you may need to cross over the water to see the many bars, nightclubs, music venues and more that Liverpool has to offer – all within range of a late night taxi ride.

There is an embarrassment of riches in the New Brighton area when it comes to available beauty salons and stylists (including one of my favourite punny business names – The Little Hairmaid), with multiple options for any treatment you’re looking for. Whether you frequent tanning parlours, need a regular colour treatment or enjoy fine nail art, there will be a choice of venues for you to choose from, making it almost certain you’ll find somewhere that matches your personal tastes and aesthetic.

For many people, such services can be forgotten about when we’re choosing for somewhere to call home – and can leave us having to take long trips to find what we need, but that won’t be the case for newcomers to New Brighton, who will be delighted with the local beauty businesses.

New Brighton is set up more for a coffee and a bite to eat with a friend than it is for big brand retail stores – while that might be disappointing news for the dedicated shopper there are several retail parks on the Wirral within easy reach of New Brighton by car.

Nearby options include JunctionONE Retail Park, The Croft Retail and Leisure Park in Bromborough, the Coliseum Shopping Park in Ellesmere Port, and a few more besides. If you still can’t find what you’re looking for, then there’s fantastic shopping available both in Chester and in Liverpool city centre and the purpose built LiverpoolONE retail and leisure park.

Although New Brighton may be an area designed for your social life more than your shopping, there’s still plenty of good shopping within a reasonable distance.

Your need for a supermarket should really begin and end in New Brighton’s Marine Point – which has an Iceland frozen food store, Morrisons and Home Bargains stores that should allow you to pick up your weekly shop in the one place (while maybe stopping off for a coffee or an ice cream). 

However, if none of those are your particular brand, there’s also a Tesco and an Asda in nearby Liscard. If your tastes run to something a little more unique, you’ll also find independently owned gems like Vintage Weighs – which is an organic refill shop that sells plastic free organic, sustainable produce refills for your detergents and washing liquids.