Friday 7th July 2017

A day at the seaside. 44 years ago, whilst waiting for A Level results, a friend and I took jobs as waitresses at a hotel in Southport. It was the original Fawlty Towers and we only stayed for 3 weeks and then moved to a much better hotel in the Lake District after claiming that we had Silver Service experience ( I think we had done one wedding with Silver Service ). I had never been back to Southport until today and couldn't even remember the name of the hotel but could remember some details about the interior.

Graham and I caught the train from Parbold and headed for the sea front. The sea was a long way out.

We walked along the pier and decided to try the penny arcade machines. They took old pennies when there were 240 to the pound. We changed a pound coin and received 10. That's an inflation rate of 2400%!

Unfortunately with 10 coins we didn't make our fortune.

From the end of the pier it was possible to see Blackpool in the distance.

Back on the hotel hunt we returned to the start of the pier and the 1896 carousel ride.

At the end of Lord Street we found a building undergoing renovations and I thought that this might be it. The workman told me that it was a care home undergoing renovations and had been called the Brunswick Hotel with a basement nightclub called Maxims. This was it! As soon as I heard the name I remembered it and we were able to look at what had been the dining room and see the corridor which led to the kitchen. 

Back into town for Friday fish and chips.

Rossi has homemade ice cream in many flavours and at only £1 for a cornet it must be the best price in Southport.

There was just time to buy the traditional stick of rock ( thought that I would try Pineapple flavour) before we caught the train back to the boat. 

A fun day but we wish the weather had been a touch warmer and the wind off the sea was definitely bracing!