A popular bar in Churchtown has been lit up so visitors can enjoy their return - by order of The Peaky Blinders!

The Peaky Blinders bar, on the corner of Cambridge Road and Sunny Road, is now glittering after the tree inside the beer garden was wrapped with 20 sets of lights by local lighting and decorations firm Illumidex UK Ltd.

The venue was among local hospitality businesses which were allowed to reopen their outdoor areas under the Government’s ‘Step 2’ of easing Covid restrictions on Monday (12 April).

Famous for its thriving beer garden, it is one of two Peaky Blinders bars in Southport with the other one of Lord Street in Southport town centre. The firm also runs sites at the Baltic Market in Liverpool and on Peter Street in Manchester.

Peaky Blinders Director Melanie Sinclair said: “Our new tree is amazing! We love it.

“We saw the work that Illumidex UK Ltd had done with creating their ‘boulevard of lights’ along Lord Street in Southport town centre and were really impressed.

“We thought if we asked them to light up our tree outside Peaky Blinders it would make a really great addition to Churchtown.

“We were also really pleased to be supporting a great local company like Illumidex UK Ltd too. We always like to support local businesses whenever we can.

“It is nice to be able to support and bring something new to Churchtown too, it is a beautiful village.”

Peaky Blinders bars in Churchtown and on Lord Street in Southport are now both open seven days a week, and have enjoyed a busy couple of days so far. People can walk up to the Lord Street or Churchtown sites, while reservations can be made in Churchtown.

Illumidex UK Ltd owners Steve and Jan Clayton and their team have also been busy over the past few weeks creating new lighting at homes and businesses across the region.

They have installed new roof lighting and festoon lighting at Remedy cafe on Lord Street, and other local businesses.

They have wrapped lighting around trees and installed uplighting in gardens in locations including Lancaster Road and York Road in Birkdale and Victoria Road in Freshfield.

Steve Clayton said: “We are really pleased with the tree we lit up outside Peaky Blinders in Churchtown. We used 20 sets of lights, with 200 metres of lights.

“It’s one of those trees that has a lean over effect, so it creates a canopy of lighting over some of the outdoor tables there.

“It is great to see so many restaurants, bars, pubs and cafes reopening their outdoor areas to customers this week. We have enjoyed helping them by using our lighting to create some really attractive spaces for customers to enjoy.

“We went back to look at Remedy this week. With all the roof lighting and festoon lighting there, in addition to the trees which we lit up on Lord Street, Remedy is lit up brighter at night-time than it is in daytime!

“On the other side of the Town Hall Gardens, we have also lit up The Pavilion, which is looking really good as well.

“Now is a really good time to call us. With trees due to get their foliage soon, we only have a few weeks left to wrap most trees, although there are some types which we can wrap all year round.

“There are all sorts of things we can do to make local businesses and homes look good. We can install festoon lighting, string lighting on roofs, uplighting, internal lighting in pubs and restaurants.

“There are a lot of hospitality businesses in Southport that are looking for a better quality of decorative lighting both inside and out.

“We are already looking ahead to doing internal and external Christmas decorating and lighting this Christmas. We are already getting enquiries from both businesses and homeowners.

“Businesses need to be starting to think about Christmas now and up to June or July to ensure that they have everything they need ordered and ready to be in place for October or November.”