Table 42: our week at the awards

We knew as soon as we sat down at table 42 that it was going to be a special night. If you know, you know.

Artwork by Bobby Newall. Forty-two: the answer to life, the universe and everything, and very nearly Best Creative Business.

Thursday night, the Rum Warehouse at the Titanic Hotel. Black tie, low light, and a room full of the people who keep Merseyside's independent businesses going. Bakers and barbers. Architects and accountants. Artists, makers and ice cream makers. People who open the doors every morning whether it's a good week or not.

Around our table were our directors Rory Wilmer and Phil Olsen, our resident artist Adam Bresnen, who many of you know as Brezaux, and our designer Bobby Newall. We were honoured to be joined by Captain Mike Lowe, the retired ferry captain whose portrait Adam painted at The Master Mariner, along with Jean-Paul Redding, Hayley Green and Sean Martin, chair of the New Brighton Coastal Community Team. A night like this belongs to the town as much as it belongs to us.

We were one of five finalists for Best Creative Business at the Merseyside Independent Business Awards 2026, alongside K2 Architects, LoveLossDiscoballs, Palm House Studio and Wild Thang. Good company. Serious company.

We didn't take the top prize. We came away with something we're just as proud of. New Brighton Creative Futures was Highly Commended, and we brought a trophy home to New Brighton.

The award went to LoveLossDiscoballs, Rachel and Warren Hart-Phillips, and it was well deserved. Congratulations to them, and to every finalist in the room.

Then the week got bigger.

In the same week, we were shortlisted twice at the Liverpool City Region Tourism Awards 2026: for Independent Tourism Business of the Year and for the Regenerative Tourism Award. Our name now sits on a list with Speke Hall, Strawberry Field, Hope Street Hotel, Shiverpool and The World of Glass. Not bad for a gallery with no front door, no ticket desk and no closing time.

We're not the only New Brighton name on that shortlist either. The Floral Pavilion is up for Entertainment Venue of the Year, and Sandy Davies from the Floral Pavilion is nominated for the Unsung Hero Award. Wirral has nine nominations in all. Good luck to every one of them.

So what does all this mean for a small not-for-profit run by volunteers?

It means something we've been saying for a long time is starting to land. Creativity isn't decoration. It's infrastructure. The OpenAIR Gallery isn't paint on walls for the sake of it. It's a reason to get off the train at New Brighton. A reason to walk up Victoria Road before you head for the prom. A reason to stop for a coffee, browse the independents and stay for lunch.

That's what regenerative tourism means to us. Visitors who leave the town a little better than they found it, and money that stays here when they've gone home.

It's why this year VisitEngland featured the Victoria Quarter as a "Locals Love" pick in its North West coastal campaign. It's why, this autumn, we built Hello New Brighton: five free web apps for trains, food and drink, places to stay, things to do and shopping. No ads. No sign-up. Nobody pays to be listed.

None of this happens alone. Thank you to the Merseyside Independent Business Awards, to Morecrofts Solicitors, who founded them, and to Forresters IP, who sponsored our category. Thank you to the Liverpool City Region Destination Partnership and everyone behind the Tourism Awards, and to Liverpool BID Company, headline sponsor of both.

And thank you to the people who make the OpenAIR Gallery what it is. Every artist who has painted a wall here. The independent businesses of the Victoria Quarter. The building owners who said yes. Our partners, our volunteers, and everyone who has shared a photo, made a donation or simply stopped to look up.

The Tourism Awards winners will be announced at Liverpool Cathedral on Thursday 4 February 2027. Between now and then, the judges will be taking a closer look at what we do. We'd love you to do the same. Come down, get off the train, and look up.

Table 42 was a good night. February could be a better one.

New Brighton Creative Futures CIC