Distinctive and unique setting at town’s heart
DO you remember the fabulous Wayfarers Arts shop? The incredible stamp shop under the stairs, the fish pond in the middle?
Wayfarers Arcade on Lord Street in Southport is celebrating its 120th birthday with millions of visitors having enjoyed shopping in its many fine shops since it first opened in October 1898.
Last week we ran our first series of memories from readers about this truly palatial shopping emporium, with more to share with you today.
Rod Wood said: “I used to love Wayfarers Arcade and especially Wayfarers Arts in the 1980s.
“I used to visit my best friend’s sister in there when she was working on our way home from KGV sixth form.
“There was a lovely old lady who used to sit in the arcade called Rose (I think). She was really friendly and chatty and always wore a red coat.
“There used to be a vintage clothes shop at the end of the arcade where I bought a top hat which I still have.
“Lapel menswear was in there too, although maybe later, and I used to lust after the fantastic fashion which was way beyond my pocket.
“My friend and later landlord used to work in the furniture section of Wayfarers Arts, and later my girlfriend worked in the toy department.
“In the more recent past when mum was in a wheelchair and later suffering dementia, my brother and I would take mum and dad to the cafè and mum always enjoyed a look around the shops.
“And before that, mum won a competition to have a photographic portrait of she and dad taken by Paul Yaffe.
“Moss Bros used to be at the front where I bought my first new dinner suit. There was also a lovely little sandwich shop where I used to get an egg bap for my lunch when I worked in Next on Lord Street.
“Gosh; Wayfarers Arcade alone evokes so many memories of Southport as a wonderful town.”
Debbie Ireland said: “My aunt had a beautiful clothing shop there where I got my evening outfit for my wedding.
“Also in the early 1970s a lady from my mum’s church opened a juice bar in the arcade, long before smoothies were fashionable.
“I loved going in there for a juice on a Saturday.”
Linzi Turner said: “My mum used to have a shop in the arcade in the mid 1990s called Faerieland and sold porcelain and collectable fairies and all sorts of other bits and pieces.
“She made really good friends with a few ladies who also worked in shops in the arcade, and I would really love to try and get in touch with them.
“There was Joy and Eileen who worked in the coffee shop next door, and them Carol who worked in a children’s clothing shop across from us. I can’t remember their surnames.”
Barrie Gabbott said: “I loved the arcade. My best shop was Wayfarers, what else?
“They also had a record shop and Margaret the manager had an encyclopedic knowledge of music from classical to jazz to pop, and all the recordings available, and in the case of classical was able to let you see the reviews in an under-thecounter book.”
Joan Violet Stretch said: “I have good memories of the Wayfarers Arcade and especially when I sat across the other side of Lord Street painting it during a painting workshop I did with Philip Berrill’s Painting for Pleasure class in 1987.
“The shops are different now and that tree is much bigger now, and a ladies dress shop occupied that corner. I think I captured the essence of it then – a great place to visit in Southport with its lovely facade and interior.”
Alan Draper said: “I used to work at Wayfarers Arcade for Sefton Council Leisure Services department based at