Guide to Seacombe

There are twelve schools within three miles of Seacombe that were awarded ‘outstanding’ ratings during their last review from Ofsted. This includes two single sex senior school one for boys and one for girls, a mixed gender senior school St John Plessington Catholic College, and infant and junior schools. This means that parents in Seacombe can generally provide their children an outstanding education from start to finish.

As you can imagine, this makes Seacombe a popular area for young couples and families hoping to settle down. You can find out more about the outstanding schools available to the residents of Seacombe here.

The nearest doctor’s surgery to Seacombe is likely Somerville Medical Centre which was awarded a ‘good’ grade during its last review by the Care Quality Commission, though there may be closer options in Egremont and Birkenhead depending on where you are in the area. There are also two dental practices in the area offering both general and cosmetic dentistry and four pharmacies, meaning that your general day to day health and wellbeing is well catered for.

However, for more serious conditions, accidents and injuries, is also located a short distance from both Clatterbridge Hospital (7.3 miles) and Arrowe Park Hospital (5.8 miles)  – the latter of which has an accident and emergency service. Services in Seacombe are part of the NHS Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), and you can find out about them here.

Seacombe is a gateway to the Wirral from the Mersey and dining options begin with the Cafe Cross the Mersey within the ferry terminal itself – a nice venue with a great menu (including Sunday Dinners). 

From there, the whole of the Wirral is within reach, and for residents in Seacombe, the area offers a range of dining that includes everything from one of the last remaining Wimpys in the UK all the way to the Michelin starred Fraiche in nearby Birkenhead. However, with dozens of restaurants in the area achieving 4.5 stars or higher on Tripadvisor, there’s ample opportunity for visitors and residents alike to take a culinary world tour without worrying about quality.

For something a little more casual, however, there are also plenty of traditional English public houses serving food and a range of real ales.

Sadly, the last train left Seacombe station in 1960, and most of the line it ran on became part of the Kingsway Tunnel. The nearest train stations are likely to be either Birkenhead Park on the West Kirby branch line and Hamilton Square on the Liverpool to Chester main Wirral Line and you can reach Liverpool in 25 minutes and Chester in an hour (including a half mile walk to the station).

By road, things are a little quicker and you can reach Liverpool in 15 minutes and Chester in a half hour, while Manchester is available in just over an hour – opening all three cities in a reasonable commute time.

Like much of the Wirral, Seacombe dates back more than a thousand years and is referenced – albeit as Seccum – in the Domesday Book of 1086. The town had marshland behind it until the seawall was erected in 1845 by civil engineer George Turnbull (better known as the first railway engineer of India).

Wallasey Town Hall, the foundation stone of which was laid by George V in 1914, sits on the banks of the Mersey at Seacombe and was used as a Military Hospital during World War 1. It is now a Grade 1 listed building and one of the most prominent and unique buildings on the Wirral bank of the Mersey.

The area of Seacombe has plenty to do – although Spaceport, a fantastic attraction at the ferry terminal is set to close at the end of 2020 and will not reopen until 2022 when a major programme of refurbishment has been completed. That still leaves days out such as the Manchester Ship Canal Cruise which departs from Seacombe for a six hour cruise along the historic waterway to Salford and back – with the option of traditional ‘scouse’ (the stew that gives the people of Liverpool their nickname) for lunch.

There are also numerous museums; from the tram museum to the U-boat story and the historic pottery and sculptures of The Lady Lever Art Gallery, there’s plenty to see – and with New Brighton nearby, there’s also plenty to do (from adventure golf to a fun fair) as well as to see with a walk through the North Wirral Country Park which takes in the coast and woodlands of the area.

Seacombe is a short distance from some of the Wirral’s best entertainment – you can take in a game at Prenton Park, or see a show at New Brighton’s Floral Pavilion, you can visit The Lady Lever Art Gallery in nearby
Port Sunlight, or, if you’d rather just catch the latest blockbuster, then there’s the Vue cinema in Birkenhead.

While there are few nightclubs nearby, there are plenty of restaurants and bars available for an evening out in both New Brighton and Birkenhead as well as in Seacombe itself – and if you’re craving a night on the tiles, Liverpool and Manchester (both regularly voted among the top 10 for nightclubs and bars in the UK) are both close enough for a late night taxi ride to be easily affordable with a little help from your friends.

The Seacombe area has dozens of salons and stylists in close proximity, all offering a variety of services from hair styling to nail art, tanning to pamper sessions. While the sheer number of possible options should allow you to find the perfect therapist, stylist or technician for your needs and style, it’s worth noting that Birkenhead – 10th in a UK survey for number of beauty treatments within a square kilometre – is right next door.

It may not be your first consideration while looking for property to rent or buy, but it’s nice to know there’s no need to travel or to wait days appointments. As with anything in such a well connected area, however, the immediate vicinity is just the beginning – and there are plenty of spas in the surrounding towns and villages.

Avid shoppers may want to skip Seacombe entirely and instead take a trip to LiverpoolONE, a short journey over or under the Mersey to the city’s retail and leisure complex, or to Manchester’s giant Trafford Centre, or even the Designer Outlet Cheshire Oaks, but there are smaller shopping parks available closer to home – such as The Rock Retail Park, or Birkenhead’s Pyramids Shopping Centre.

It may take a little convincing for a real shopaholic to miss out on a trip to one of the huge complexes on offer in the north west, but there are plenty of independent stores on offer locally, as well as half a dozen smaller retail parks. The town’s excellent transport links and position in relation to three major shopping destinations should make it an ideal place for even the most committed shopper.

It won’t come as much of a surprise, in modern day Britain, that Seacombe offers a wide selection of supermarkets in the local area. The area has all the major brands, with larger Tesco Extra and Asda stores within a few miles range – easily within reach of the weekly shop, and smaller ‘local’ style Sainsburys, M&S stores and more. 

What everywhere else in the country can’t say, however, is that they have gems Vintage Weighs in nearby Liscard, an organic refill shop selling sustainable, plastic free refills for your detergents as well as sustainable produce. There are lovely farm shops in nearby villages able to offer locally sourced vegetables, meat and dairy – including The Vineyard Farm in Bromborough, and Claremont Farm in Bebington.