The Atkinson is Southport’s fantastic home for arts, entertainment and heritage. It’s at the centre of the community offering a safe and welcoming place for everyone to come together to discover, explore and play.
The venue boasts a top quality live music and performance programme that attracts the best names in the business across comedy, music, theatre and film. Beautiful state of-the-art galleries host a changing programme of major exhibitions using our own permanent collections alongside national loans.
We tell the story of Sefton in our interactive museum Between Land & Sea – 10,000 years of Sefton’s Coast and we showcase Mrs Goodisons remarkable and previously hidden collection in the Discover Ancient Egypt gallery that takes you back thousands of years to the time of the Pharaohs.
The Library is at the heart of the daytime offer, with over 50,000 books, community groups, clubs, rhyme time and Linaker Children’s Centre on site.
While you are with us – don’t miss the chance to visit the Gift shop specialising in Handmade in Merseyside jewellery and craft. It’s a great opportunity to pick up something unique that isn’t found on the high street. We also have a wide selection of greetings cards and Southport memorabilia.
You cannot leave without having tried a piece of cake from A Great Little Place, the busy café on the ground floor.
With a variety of road networks leading into Southport taking in some stunning views, it is easy to travel to Southport by car:
From the South, take the M6 to exit 26; the M58 will take you to Ormskirk and then take the A570 to Southport.
From the North, follow the A59 from Preston (exit 31 from the M6) and then follow the signs to Southport.
For direct routes please visit the AA Route planner.
Parking
We have partnered with NCP Southport Train Station Car Park to exclusively offer visitors to The Atkinson 4 hours of parking for £2. (3-4 hours £7.00 full price). This car park is just a short walk away from The Atkinson.
There is on-road pay and display parking around Southport as well as a number of off-road car parks. For more detailed car parking information in Southport please visit Sefton website for car parking information
Disabled Parking
There is more information on our accessibility page. There is disabled parking at the front of the building that is available but is limited to two spaces. These spaces are offered on a first come, first served basis. We will provide a ‘The Atkinson Visitor Parking Permit’ for three hours for the first two visitors who require them. These can be issued to any visitors who are blue badge holders. The permits are available from the Box Office/shop counter (Call 0151 934 2179) and we do ask for them to be returned at the end of the visit.
By Train
It could not be easier to visit The Atkinson by Train as Southport station is just 3 minutes walk from the venue.
Merseyrail run fast and frequent services between Liverpool South Parkway (for Liverpool John Lennon Airport), Liverpool City Centre and Southport. You can plan your journey straight to our door with their journey planner application and as we are the last stop on the line – it is easy to find us!
Northern Rail operates regular services to Southport from Manchester Airport, Manchester (Piccadilly, Oxford Road, and Victoria stations), Bolton and Wigan. Connecting services to / from the North East and Yorkshire are available at Manchester Piccadilly and from the North, Scotland and the South at Wigan.
For further rail enquiries please visit the National Rail website.
By Bus
With a network of travel centres across Merseyside, Merseytravel operate a number of bus services to and from Southport.
National Express coaches serve Southport from all major UK towns and cities making the town easily accessibly by coach.
| Opening Times (1 January 2019 - 20 December 2019) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Day | Times | |
| Monday | 10:00 | 17:00 |
| Tuesday | 10:00 | 17:00 |
| Wednesday | 10:00 | 17:00 |
| Thursday | 10:00 | 17:00 |
| Friday | 10:00 | 17:00 |
| Saturday | 10:00 | 16:00 |
| Sunday | Closed | |
* We are also open when there are shows on, please see our website for details www.theatkinson.co.uk
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