By Christine McGregor, Chair, Southport Station Improvement Project

Regular users of the Southport Station Arcade will notice an improved environment following an extensive ‘Deep Clean’ of the flagstones in the Arcade passageway.

Until the early hours of Wednesday and Thursday morning last week, the flagstones had been disfigured with 3.5 kilos of hardened chewing gum and other unpleasant deposits.

Not only will people see that the whole passageway is cleaner and brighter. They will also be reassured that as footfall increases during the summer months that the private owners of the Arcade and Station Retail Complex were determined that the deep clean would be thorough and meet safety requirements.

This extensive work, carried out over two nights involved a team of four, who manually removed decades old stubborn deposits of chewing gum in preparation for cleaning fluid to be applied to the flags which were then mechanically ‘scrubbed’, followed by the application of an anti-slip solution.

Team leader of ‘4 Earth Solutions’, Andrew, said that the labour intensive nature of the work was worthwhile when the results made such a visible improvement to the Arcade passageway.

Sefton Council’s Street Cleansing Department’s advice in the early stages of this deep clean project was also very welcome.

However as more visitors come through the Station Arcade passageway into the town centre it is vital that the positive outcome of the Arcade passageway deep clean isn’t undermined by a resurgence of litter and chewing gum deposits which continue to blight many areas close to the Station.

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