A new sign for Formby to attract some of the 1.2m visitors to our village

Feb 9, 20172 min read

The Formby Business Partnership group has evolved from the local business network group 'First Tuesday' to establish a more formal entity.

One of the initiatives that is progressing nicely is to get more signage for Formby Village Shops. The Partnership have designed a brown tourism sign and identified a potential 21 sites to put them up! Basically it is to encourage tourists who are heading for the coastal attractions towards the village centre as part of their visit.

There are an estimated 1.2m visitors each year to Formby. However, local businesses and communities feel that the visitors often “drive through” the area. A relatively low amount of spend per visitor is made in the local economy. Businesses are keen to capture more spend locally. The signage needs to emphasise the facilities available in the village centre to attract some of the 1.2m to our village.

The suggestion is this:

The signage is to attract visitors accessing Formby from the BP Garage junction:

1. Ryeground Lane roundabout

2. Piercefield Road jnc. Gores Lane

3. Victoria Road jnc. Freshfield Road

4. Freshfield Road jnc. Brows Lane

5. Freshfield Road jnc. Duke Street

6. Duke Street jnc. Elbow Lane

7. Duke Street jnc. Three Tuns Lane

Formby Business Partnership is a formal group of Formby based business people. The Partnership is open to all businesses based or operating within the settlement of Formby. The Aims of the partnership are: - To improve communication among Formby businesses - To work together to promote Formby’s shops, services and facilities to local people and to visitors - To address shared problems and concerns - To work together with others to maintain Formby as an active community and attractive environment to live and work - To draw down funding from outside bodies to enable the Partnership to act on initiatives such as those outlined below. Initiatives:

The Partnership will work together with the Parish Council, voluntary groups, schools, faith groups and others on the following and other initiatives: - Promote events for local people and to attract visitors - Set up a website and linked social media (“We love Formby” or similar) to promote what Formby has to offer - Provide more interpretative panels, leaflets and other resources to make sure that visitors and new arrivals have easy access to information about Formby - Develop heritage and other themed trails - Improve connections to and uptake of public transport and cycling and walking networks