About Formby
A village on the Sefton Coast in Merseyside — 12 miles south of Southport, 12 miles north of Liverpool, and home to one of England's most important red squirrel colonies.
Where is Formby?
Formby is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, on the north-west coast of England. It sits on the Sefton Coast between Southport (12 miles north) and Crosby (6 miles south), with Liverpool city centre about 12 miles to the south-east.
If you're looking for it on a map: it's directly west of the A565, the main coastal road between Liverpool and Southport. The postcode for the village centre is roughly L37, and for the National Trust beach and pinewoods it's L37 1YH.
Distance from Formby
- 🚗 Liverpool city centre: 12 miles, ~25 mins
- 🚗 Southport: 12 miles, ~20 mins
- 🚗 Manchester: 40 miles, ~55 mins via M62
- 🚗 Wigan: 22 miles, ~35 mins via M58
- 🚗 Preston: 27 miles, ~35 mins via M6
By public transport
- 🚆 From Liverpool Central: ~30 mins, Merseyrail Northern Line
- 🚆 From Southport: ~15 mins, Merseyrail Northern Line
- 🚶 Station to NT beach: ~20 min walk via Victoria Road
What Formby is like
Formby is affluent, quiet, and genuinely nice to spend time in. It's not a tourist town — there's no seafront promenade, no amusements, no pier. What there is: a pleasant village centre with independent shops and good restaurants, a Merseyrail station, and — a 15-minute drive west — the National Trust pinewoods, red squirrel reserve, and beach.
The demographic is mostly families and professionals who want to be within reach of Liverpool but with more space. There's a strong community feel — lots of local sports clubs, independent businesses, and the kind of charity shops where you occasionally find something genuinely good.
As a visitor, you're mostly here for the National Trust site. But the village itself is worth an hour of your time — a walk along Chapel Lane, lunch at one of the restaurants, a browse of the shops — before or after the beach.
Formby at a glance
| Location | Sefton, Merseyside, north-west England |
| Postcode | L37 (village), L37 1YH (National Trust beach) |
| County | Merseyside (Metropolitan Borough of Sefton) |
| Population | Approximately 25,000 |
| Known for | Red squirrels, National Trust beach, pinewoods, affluent village |
| Nearest city | Liverpool (12 miles south-east) |
| Nearest town | Southport (12 miles north) |
| Station | Formby — Merseyrail Northern Line (Liverpool to Southport) |
A bit of history
Formby has been settled since at least Viking times — the name itself is Old Norse, thought to derive from “Fornr's farmstead.” The area was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, and the village grew gradually over the following centuries as a coastal agricultural community.
The 19th century brought the railway — Formby station opened in 1848 — and with it, wealthier Liverpool residents looking for a commutable home away from the city. The character of the place as a prosperous, leafy commuter village was established in this period and has remained broadly similar since.
The pinewoods were planted in the late 19th century to stabilise coastal dunes, and the red squirrels — native to the British Isles — have lived in them for as long as anyone can document. The decline of red squirrels nationally due to grey squirrel competition and disease made Formby's colony increasingly significant over the 20th century. The National Trust acquired the site in the 1960s and has managed it for conservation ever since.
The asparagus fields that made Formby famous in the 19th and early 20th centuries — “Formby asparagus” was a known local product sold at Liverpool markets — are largely gone now, replaced by housing. A few small-scale growers still produce local asparagus in season.
Is Formby in Liverpool?
Technically no — and this question comes up a lot. Formby is in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, not in the City of Liverpool. It has a Merseyside postcode (L37) and a Liverpool phone dialling code (0170x), but it's administered by Sefton Council, not Liverpool City Council.
In practice, most people treat it as part of the wider Liverpool commuter belt. It's on the Liverpool to Southport train line, draws heavily on the Liverpool day-tripper market, and is culturally more connected to Liverpool than to anywhere else. But if someone from Formby hears you call it “part of Liverpool” they'll probably correct you.