Southport BID's contracted media partner is also paid by Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group
Andrew Brown's Stand Up For Southport has held a paid contract with Southport BID since January 2021. In a published interview, Brown states he also provides paid media and PR services to Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group. He covers both organisations without consistent disclosure of either relationship. This analysis documents what the public record shows.
Every factual claim in this analysis is sourced from publicly available documents, linked directly below. SIBA does not allege misconduct by any individual. SIBA welcomes corrections or responses from any party named and will publish them in full at damian@siba.digital.
What this article is about
Southport BID is funded by a compulsory charge on around 720 town centre businesses. Part of that money, allocated under the “Promotion” budget line, is used to pay for media and communications services.
Since January 2021, Southport BID has held a contract with Stand Up For Southport Limited, a company owned by journalist and PR consultant Andrew Brown. This contract is confirmed on the BID's own website, with a quote from BID CEO Rachel Fitzgerald.
In a published interview in November 2024, Andrew Brown stated in his own words that he also provides paid media and PR services to Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group. That is the hospitality company whose Chairman is Andrew Mikhail, and whose Commercial Director, Geoffrey Wareham, is simultaneously listed as an active director of Mikhail's holding company while serving as Treasurer of Southport BID.
Stand Up For Southport publishes promotional content about Mikhail venues and covers the BID's own annual awards, which Mikhail businesses have won and which are held at a Mikhail venue. Individual commissioned pieces carry sponsored labels. What is never disclosed is the broader, ongoing commercial relationship between the outlet and Mikhail as a PR client. News articles about Mikhail are presented as independent editorial.
This article documents the structure. SIBA does not allege that any individual has acted improperly. SIBA does say that the public record raises questions about transparency that levy payers deserve to have answered.
The company and the man behind it
Andrew Edward Brown is a Southport-based journalist and PR consultant with 25 years of experience. He was previously an editor at Reach plc, running the Southport Visiter, Midweek Visiter, Formby Times, Crosby Herald, and several other regional titles. He was made redundant in 2019 when Reach closed the Southport Visiter office.
In April 2020, Brown incorporated STAND UP FOR SOUTHPORT LIMITED, company number 12553604. He is its sole person with significant control, holding 75% or more of the shares and voting rights. He is also the sole director. The company is classified under SIC code 96090, Other service activities.
The company operates the Stand Up For Southport website and social media channels, which have grown to over 60,000 followers. Brown also trades separately as Andrew Brown Media, providing freelance writing and PR services.
Companies House Record
Company name
STAND UP FOR SOUTHPORT LIMITED
Company number
12553604
Incorporated
9 April 2020
Status
Active
PSC
Andrew Edward Brown
Nature of control
75%+ shares, voting rights, director appointment
The BID contract: confirmed since January 2021
On 24 January 2021, Southport BID published an announcement on its own website confirming a formal contract with Stand Up For Southport. The announcement was simultaneously published on the Stand Up For Southport website. Rachel Fitzgerald, BID CEO, is quoted directly.
“Southport BID has now contracted Stand Up For Southport to support its media, PR and communications strategy, highlight the BID's ongoing work and promote local businesses in the town.”
Rachel Fitzgerald, CEO, Southport BID. Published on southportbid.com, January 2021.
Source: southportbid.comThe contract has been in place for over four years. Stand Up For Southport's own About page, currently live, lists Southport BID as a client alongside Southport Market:
“He launched Stand Up For Southport alongside Phil Gee, providing media, PR, social media and marketing services to firms and organisations including Southport Business Improvement District (Southport BID) and Southport Market.”
Stand Up For Southport, About page. Sourced April 2026.
Source: standupforsouthport.com/aboutThe total value of payments made by Southport BID to Stand Up For Southport Limited over four-plus years is not publicly disclosed. Southport BID allocates £150,000 per year to its “Promotion” budget line, described as covering the YourSouthport platform and associated marketing. This contract sits within that line. The specific contract value is the subject of FOI Request 15.
The Mikhail relationship: his own words
In November 2024, Andrew Brown gave a detailed interview to Behind Local News, published on Medium. Asked about his business model, he described his income sources. What follows is a direct, unedited quote.
Andrew Brown, in his own words (November 2024)
“We provide media and PR services for local businesses, working with the likes of Southport BID, Southport Flower Show, Southport Comedy Festival, Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group, and others.”
Behind Local News UK, Medium. Published 3 November 2024.
SourceBrown also confirms the awards co-organisation on the Stand Up For Southport About page, currently live:
“We are proud to co-organise the Grand Pride Of Sefton Awards with Mikhail Hotel And Leisure Group which celebrates the amazing people across our borough.”
The Grand Pride of Sefton Awards is a borough-wide community awards event. It is organised jointly by Stand Up For Southport and Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group, with the awards ceremony held at The Grand, a Mikhail venue on Lord Street. Southport BID staff have attended the event launch. The BID's Head of Operations, Luke Randles, appeared in the official launch photograph alongside Andrew Brown, Andrew Mikhail, and Mikhail's Head of Marketing.
Andrew Brown is therefore simultaneously contracted by the BID to promote its work, and commercially linked to the group whose Chairman's company is run by the BID's own Treasurer. These relationships exist in parallel and are confirmed by public sources. Neither has been publicly disclosed in the context of the other.
What Stand Up For Southport publishes about Mikhail
Stand Up For Southport regularly publishes articles about Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group. These are written by Andrew Brown, presented in editorial news format, and carry no disclosure of the commercial relationship between Brown and Mikhail. The table below documents a selection from the public record.
| Date | Article | Disclosure |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2024 | Mikhail Hotel And Leisure Group reports 50% rise in revenues as growth continues Promotional financial profile of Mikhail. Byline: Andrew Brown. | None |
| Jan 2026 | Mikhail Hotel And Leisure Group to invest further in Southport thanks to town's huge potential Investment announcement. Byline: Andrew Brown. Contact: mediaandrewbrown@gmail.com. | None |
| Feb 2026 | MHALG to appeal decision to decline planning permission for retractable canopy at The Bold Advocacy piece supporting Mikhail planning appeal. No disclosure. | None |
| May 2025 | The Bold celebrates winning Southport Hotel of The Year honour at Your Southport Stars Awards Dedicated follow-up on Mikhail venue winning BID award. Labelled as a The Bold sponsored feature. Does not disclose the broader ongoing commercial relationship with Mikhail. | BID sponsored |
| May 2025 | Town's top businesses honoured as 2025 Your Southport Stars Awards winners and finalists revealed Main Stars Awards roundup. Labelled as BID sponsored feature in article header. | BID sponsored |
Andrew Brown does label some content as sponsored: individual articles directly commissioned by the BID carry a “Southport BID sponsored feature” label, and articles directly commissioned by Mikhail venues carry a “The Bold sponsored feature” or similar label. What is not disclosed in any of these articles is the broader, ongoing commercial relationship between Stand Up For Southport and Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group as a PR client. News articles about Mikhail's revenues, investment plans, and planning appeals are presented as independent editorial. Readers have no way to know the outlet covering that news is also being paid by the subject for media and PR services.
The Stars Awards: a case study in converging interests
The Your Southport Stars Awards is the BID's annual business recognition event. It is organised by BID staff, funded from the levy, and promoted across BID channels. Coverage of the awards is provided by Stand Up For Southport, the BID's contracted media partner.
In both 2024 and 2025, the Stars Awards ceremony was held at The Grand on Lord Street, a venue owned and operated by Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group.
In 2025, the Hotel or Guest House of the Year award, the Business Leaders Award category judged by a panel rather than public vote, was won by The Bold Hotel. The Bold is owned and operated by Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group. The Lord Street Hotel, also owned by Mikhail, was a finalist in the same category.
Stand Up For Southport published a dedicated follow-up article about The Bold winning. The article carries no disclosure that Andrew Brown provides paid media and PR services to Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group.
Awards venue
The Grand, Lord Street
Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group, 2024 and 2025
2025 Hotel of the Year
The Bold Hotel
Won Business Leaders Award. Panel-judged, not public vote.
2025 finalist, same category
Lord Street Hotel
Also Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group.
The 2026 Stars Awards night is scheduled for 14 April 2026, again at The Grand. Stand Up For Southport is promoting the nominations process. The article carrying the nominations announcement is bylined Andrew Brown and includes his contact details at the footer.
To be clear about the structure: the BID's contracted media partner promotes an awards event funded by the levy, the ceremony for which is held at a venue owned by the company that also pays the media partner, whose award-winning entries are then covered by the same media partner without disclosure of the commercial relationship.
How this connects to the wider structure
In our earlier analysis of the BID Treasurer's directorship, we documented a six-step loop showing how levy money consistently routes through connected interests back to the Mikhail group. Stand Up For Southport is an additional layer in that structure. It is the media operation that amplifies the loop.
720 businesses pay the compulsory BID levy
Levy funds go to the BID board. No business in the zone can opt out.
The BID board controls the budget
Includes a Treasurer who is an active director of Mikhail Hotels and Leisure Holdings Limited on Companies House. No termination has been filed.
Read BID Treasurer analysisThe BID contracts Stand Up For Southport for media and PR
Confirmed January 2021. Rachel Fitzgerald, BID CEO, confirmed the contract in writing. It has been running for over four years. The contract value is not publicly disclosed.
Stand Up For Southport is also paid by Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group
Andrew Brown's own words, published November 2024: working with Southport BID and Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group. Both in the same sentence.
Stand Up For Southport covers Mikhail as news, without disclosure
Revenue announcements, investment stories, planning appeals, award wins. All published in editorial news format. No disclosure of the commercial relationship in most articles.
The BID's Stars Awards are held at a Mikhail venue, won by Mikhail businesses, and covered by Mikhail's media partner
The 2024 and 2025 awards ceremonies were at The Grand. The 2025 Hotel of the Year went to The Bold. Coverage by Stand Up For Southport. No disclosure.
The public sees apparently independent local coverage
Stand Up For Southport has 60,000+ followers and is widely trusted as local news. Readers have no way to distinguish sponsored content from editorial from this platform.
8 April 2026
On 8 April 2026, at approximately 13:05 to 13:15, two LinkedIn profile views of SIBA founder Damian Roche were recorded within five minutes of each other. One was from Rachel Fitzgerald, CEO of Southport BID. The other was from Andrew Brown.
This occurred within the same timeframe as a phone call from Andrew Mikhail, Chairman of Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group, requesting that SIBA remove its published analysis of the BID Treasurer's directorship. That call is documented as entry CL-001 in SIBA's public contact log.
SIBA makes no inference about the cause of the coordinated profile views. SIBA notes the timing as a matter of documented public record, drawn from LinkedIn's own “Who Viewed Your Profile” feature.
What we do not yet know
The public record confirms the existence of both commercial relationships. It does not confirm:
- The total value of the BID contract with Stand Up For Southport Limited since 2021.
- Whether the contract was competitively tendered or directly awarded.
- Whether any council-administered funds have at any point been paid to Stand Up For Southport Limited or Andrew Brown Media.
- Whether Andrew Brown has declared his Mikhail commercial relationship to Southport BID in his capacity as their contracted media supplier.
- Who sits on the Business Leaders Award judging panel for the Stars Awards and what process governs their selection.
These are the questions that FOI Request 15 is designed to answer, at least in part. Not all of this information is held by Sefton Council. The BID is a private company and is not directly subject to the Freedom of Information Act. However, if any council-administered funds reached these entities, those records are FOI-able.
FOI Request 15: BID Media Contractor Payments and Procurement
SIBA has submitted Freedom of Information Request 15 to Sefton Borough Council. The request asks for three things:
- 1.All payments made by Sefton Council, or from any council-administered fund, to Stand Up For Southport Limited (12553604), Andrew Brown Media, or Andrew Edward Brown personally, in the period January 2019 to the date of the request.
- 2.Confirmation of whether any such payments appear in the council's transparency publication data, and whether any records were previously published but have since been removed.
- 3.Any tender documentation, procurement records, or contract award notices held by the council in relation to the appointment of Stand Up For Southport or Andrew Brown as a media supplier to the BID.
The response is due by 7 May 2026. It will be published in full on WhatDoTheyKnow and on this platform.
FOI Request 15: BID Media Contractor Payments and Procurement
Submitted to Sefton Borough Council. Response due 7 May 2026.
View on WhatDoTheyKnowQuestions for the record
SIBA is not in a position to answer these questions from public records alone. They are addressed to Southport BID, Sefton Council, and Andrew Brown.
Was the Stand Up For Southport contract put out to competitive tender by Southport BID, or directly awarded? If directly awarded, on what basis?
What is the total value of payments made by Southport BID to Stand Up For Southport Limited (company 12553604) since the contract began in January 2021?
Has Andrew Brown declared his commercial relationship with Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group to Southport BID as a potential conflict of interest in his role as contracted media partner?
Who within Sefton Council, in its capacity as BID ballot administrator and levy collector, has oversight responsibility for the BID's procurement of media and communications services?
Why is some Stand Up For Southport content labelled as a BID sponsored feature while other BID-related content carries no such label?
Was the decision to hold the 2024 and 2025 Stars Awards at The Grand, a Mikhail venue, made with any involvement from Andrew Brown in his capacity as BID's contracted media partner?
Right of reply
Andrew Brown, Southport BID, Rachel Fitzgerald, and Sefton Council are each invited to respond to the factual claims and questions documented in this analysis. Any response received will be published here in full and without editing. Contact: damian@siba.digital.
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