How Prescot’s Shakespeare theatre plays into Merseyside regeneration

Town on edge of Knowsley - and Liverpool city region's mayor - use cultural pull to help rebuild area's economy

Levelling up Britain's unbalanced economy comes in many guises and in Prescot, a town on the edge of Knowsley on Merseyside, it comes in the form of a replica cockpit-in-court theatre.

Shakespeare is reported to have connections with Prescot when he was a travelling player in the late 16th century and the idea is to make the new theatre the third side of a cultural triangle along with London and Stratford-upon-Avon.

This is not Field of Dreams, a case of build it and they will come; we are building and they have already come

We need a more diverse economy because we rely on the visitor economy