It’s a sunny afternoon in the seaside resort of New Brighton in the Wirral, Merseyside and a group of young people has assembled with drinks from the nearby off-licence. The year is 1993, as evidenced by the baggy clothes and artfully dishevelled hair, at the height of the UK rave scene. Two loved-up couples embrace, leaning on a Mini. On top of the car, their friend looks on despondently.
“Sometimes it can get a bit intense when there are long days in the sun and people have been drinking, but that day it seemed quite innocent – just young couples doing what they do,” says photographer Ken Grant. “The Golden Guinea was one of those bars that had a late licence. When I’ve photographed [the area] over the years there’s always been a bit of a sound system going on outside, people would be drinking and dancing, and then heading to bars with bands on.”
Grant, then 26, had just moved from his native Liverpool, where he’d been working as a carpenter. “New Brighton was a bit of a sanctuary from the city centre. You’re at the edge of the coast where you have access to the Irish Sea and all that fresh air. It’s like going to Coney Island from New York.”
Grant’s photographs, along with those of Martin Parr and Tom Wood, make up a new exhibition capturing New Brighton from the 70s to the 90s. A popular tourist destination in Victorian times, the town languished somewhat when holidaymakers started heading to Mallorca instead of Merseyside, but recent redevelopment has returned it to some of its former glory.
“In the late 80s and early 90s New Brighton was a bit tired – now it’s been completely energised by new bars and retail and activities,” says Grant. “But then every time I’ve come here you see young people meeting each other and getting on in the way they always do. Certain things repeat.”
New Brighton Revisited opens at the Sailing School, Marine Point, New Brighton from 14 July to 25 August
