New Brighton

New Brighton, on the northern tip of the Wirral peninsula in Merseyside, was once a booming holiday destination boasting the longest promenade in the country, a pier and a tower bigger than Blackpool's.

But in the mid-1980s, after cheap package deals to Spain had become the first choice for many holidaymakers, New Brighton found itself struggling to keep up, and photographer Martin Parr's famous 1986 collection The Last Resort depicted it as a scruffy, litter-strewn town whose glory days were behind it.

Now, though, it is undergoing a huge renaissance: in 2020 house prices rose faster in New Brighton than anywhere else in the country, investment is returning and businesses are thriving.

Fran Barrett, 35, returned to New Brighton after going away to London to study and work as a journalist.

He moved to London, where he opened the Comedy Café in Shoreditch, before returning to New Brighton to open up Tallulah's in 2022.