Week to week there are beautiful pieces of antique furniture displayed invitingly outside this…read moreshop: an elegant chaise lounge beside a stunning ornate mirror; an old church pue and tradiitonal school desks and chairs, all manner things that would appeal to anyone from an antique collector to an amateur with a mere fondness for the old-fashioned. I am the latter and, having neither the money to fund the interest nor the space to store any potential buys, I have never purchased anything here. I have, however, and a nose on various occassions! The stock changes quite frequently, and the prices, while I'm no expert on valuations, seems reasonable in the context i.e. you could buy a cupboard in Argos for £20 but these are quality, solid wood, one-off originals! The staff are friendly, despite my chronic abstinence and offer to find any item you desire that you do not find in stock. I believe there is a delivery service and I'm not sure but I presume there would be a small fee for this.

This is a great place. They have recently moved accross the road to 6 & 8 Portland Street Southport…read morePR8 1JU tel 07714 32 22 52

My boyfriend and I happened upon the Heskin Hall Craft Center during our recent UK Road trip. It's…read moremuch larger than it appears from the outside and has many local crafts vendors. You could easily spend a few hours perusing the stalls. We are not really into crafts, but we did enjoy the market side of the building. Unfortunately, we had a big lunch shortly before finding Heskins and we were not ready for another meal. There were loads of food options that looked fantastic. Instead, we grabbed a snack for the road- locally made potato chips and lemonade. The Rose Lemonade was unique and delicious. We enjoyed looking at the chickens and cows!

It's impossible to wander around Parkinsons without remembering the old Yellow Pages advert where…read moreJ.R. Hartley tries to track down a copy of his Fly Fishing book. A characterful, old building that occupies three floors, it's packed floor to ceiling with all kinds of secondhand books from new and old to Victorian and antiquarian. What makes browsing here more fun is the fact Parkinsons also stocks antique coins, shells, badges and memorabilia - which are housed in wooden cabinets or stacked haphazardly between shelves and piles of books. As for the books themselves, there's a real mish-mash of material from old issues of National Geographic to weighty tomes on archaeology, astronomy, physics, nature, travel, religion, theology and philosophy. I'm sure there's also at least one copy of Fly Fishing too...

This is a great used book shop in Southport--one of those places where you never know what you're…read moregoing to find, and where you almost always find a bargain. There are several floors, and a great selection of genres, paperbacks and hardcovers, old and new. Prices range from high to bargain. You could easily spend a couple of hours in here and still not browse through everything. Definitely an afternoon well spent for book lovers of all kinds.

I visited this place for the first time on Saturday 8th October. You have to pay a small fee for…read morelifetime membership which I didn't mind. The stuff inside is amazing. It varies from genuine antiques to curiosities from your childhood. And there's so much of it. There's even a cheap cafe that serves reasonably good snacks. So, why the one star review I hear you say? That's because the man on the security desk was bigoted, rude and deliberately upset me. I saw something a friend might like but it was in a broken box. There were plenty of others at the same price so I asked if I could swap the plastic case. The security man referred to me using male pronouns while speaking to his colleague then called me sir. At 6' I am tall but I'm not a man and this was just plain rude. Later on I passed him in another area and I held his gaze. He didn't apologise but stared back as though he'd done nothing wrong. If you're physically within the average range for your gender and you want an afternoon of interesting things to look at then go - I bought lots of things to decorate my apartment - though I won't be going back because of the attitude of the security man. What's worse is that after he'd said those things the other two security guards stared at me as though trying to decide if I was a man wearing a skirt!!! If Botany Bay is a sister company then I won't be going there either. It seemed as though these people have never seen a tall woman before.

An old mill converted to a high class shopping market/mall. Unusual gifts and furniture. A sister…read morecompany to Botany Bay which is similar. Only disadvantage is that you have to pay to get in but definitely worth a look especially if you're decorating your house.

Yes, I'm a little bit odd and like owning stuff nobody else has, and usually this means either…read moremaking it myself, having it made by somebody else, or finding really old stuff that doesn't get made anymore. As far as the latter goes, it seems this is a catching on trend, and is known as 'vintage'. Everyone wants something vintage. Which makes me want it less. However, 69A manages to keep me grounded. It's just off-the-cuff enough to stay out of mainstream, and has a feeling that you've clambered into the boot of a Lada at a car boot sale (those not as old fashioned as me may want to google Lada cars...) It is packed with goodies from all eras, and has enough variety to keep you sifting through for a whole afternoon, should the feeling take you. Hopefully not about to be hijacked by the kids who view it as a fad, 69A has been around long enough to hold its own in the vintage stakes and outlast the craze. And then I can go back to liking vintage again.

I always come here for a browse, just because I'm never really sure what I'm going to find!…read more Dust-covered hardback poetry and prose share shelving happily with Dance and Acid House records and 18th century chinese dynasty clocks share cabinet space with tatty looking curios. It is all seemingly a jumbled explosion of antiques with an Art Deco style figure, worth £450 rubbing shoulders with a disused chimney pot. However, clearly although there are second hand clothes, earrings, ties galore, records and brooches, knick-knacks and badges there are also some pretty good buys if you fancy yourself as a bit of a collector (or at least have seen enough episodes of Antiques Roadshow to think you can spot a bargain). Mainly you need to look up to see these, the expensive stuff tends to be locked away or like the vases which line the walls, a little out of reach. In the glass cases at the front I noticed 69A has a great selection of pottery from Poole's to a really cool 1960s Wedgewood blown glass art vase. The wierdest thing that sticks out in my mind which I've seen in one of the back cabinets is an unused pair of 1965 pajamas Age 2-3 still in its cellophane. Odd. So come here if you want an interesting and strange trip back in time!

There aren't many places in Southport (if any) where a collection of shops can vary in products so…read moremuch as in the Royal Arcade on Lord Street. I would review each shop individually, but many of them don't have separate names and I feel it's better to review them all together under the Royal Arcade name to get a sense of the eclectic nature of the shops there. The items on sale in the different shops in there (about 3 or 4 altogether but they pretty much blend in to each other) vary wildly, such as the shop as you enter the arcade that sells a rather impressive range of cowboy boots that my girlfriend and I picked several pairs we would 'buy' from. Opposite from there is a shop that sells various types of watches and jewellery which whilst not expensive, are of a decent quality for the money you're paying. Then there's the shop at the back which sells various antiques and collectibles, such as a reasonably-sized sword at the front which fascinated me, as well as a selection of vinyl near the back of the shop (including a copy of the original Band Aid single). If that's not enough, there's also an upstairs section which is FIVE TIMES bigger (something they're happy to point out to you). Odd, but fascinating nonetheless.

Retro Interiors'...is the kind of place where one can get lost on a rainy afternoon. There are…read morethings in there which take you flooding back to your teenage years, the flower power age and beyond. This place has all kinds of wierd and wonderful items that would make your home ideal from retro furniture, lamps picturs...hey there is even a Mummy in there Ha Ha. Now imagine that by your bed or in your front room when Granny comes for tea! Take a look at this place your sure to find something for yourself. ://http://www.bscollectablesandantiques.co.uk

Great shop they specialize in retro design and have some really fabulous retro furniture,they also…read morehave antiques art and modern design and loads of interesting nic nacs. stuff comes and go all the time you never know what you are going to see in their shop or on their website next. trouble is this shop is only open on Saturdays