Liverpool’s Commercial District
Most people forget that Liverpool was and still is in many ways, a prosperous commercial city.
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- Oriel Chambers
I took these pictures as I walked round the city on Saturday morning, before I departed for Blackpool to see Ipswich.
Some of the buildings in the pictures like Liverpool Town Hall and Oriel Chambers are by any standard, some of the best commercial or civic buildings in the country.
Smokers At The Adelphi
This picture reminds me of something, that you’d perhaps see in Amsterdam.
The Adelphi Hotel with Added Smokers
I also smile at the thought of my twenty-first birthday dinner with C in this hotel. She wore a purple dress from Through The Looking Glass. To say it was short would be an overstatement.
It’s a pity that the dress was thrown out years ago. It might be worth a few bob, as I suspect none from this boutique exist now.
Narrowboats in Liverpool City Centre
Who’d have thought it?
Narrowboats in Liverpool City Centre
But they are here within walking distance of the Pierhead and the new shopping of Liverpool One.
Billy Fury
History has forgotten Billy Fury, who was one of the first real pop stars to come out of Liverpool.
It was good to see this statue at the Albert Dock, by the Tate Liverpool.
Ferries Across The Mersey
In the 1960s, the Mersey Ferries were an important transport link, that in truth has been superceded by the railway from Liverpool Lime Street and Central stations to the Wirral.
When I was in Liverpool, the ferries were then named Mountwood and Overchurch. Now the same ships are called Royal Iris of the Mersey and the Royal Daffodil. I remember one night in about 1966, the two boats hit each other in a particularly bad storm. For months, you could still sea the damage.
I was also roaring drunk on a ferry once. Never again. Drink and swells from the sea don’t mix. Boy was I sick.
If it can be managed on my my trip around the 92 clubs I should visit Tranmere on the 27th October. It looks like it might just be possible to use the ferry one way.
Around Liverpool Pierhead
I walked through the shopping centre, got my hotel for the night and then moved on to the Pierhead and the new Museum of Liverpool.
In the 1960s, the Pierhead was the bus terminal and much of the area was just bus parking. Now it is much better.
Around Liverpool’s Shopping Centre
Liverpool’s shopping area has changed a lot since the 1960s. The main change is that the buses no longer roar up the middle, like they used to and still do on Oxford Street in London. Liverpool shows just how poor Oxford Street is and how the latter would benefit from pedestrianisation.
I took these pictures on Friday afternoon and early on Saturday morning.
You will notice that buildings like Marks and Spencer are quite old, but well preserved. Although since the 1960s a lot has been torn down and rebuilt. And of course if you move towards the Pierhead, you come to Liverpool One, the new shopping area.
Sadly though the Kong Nam, where generations of students ate seems to have gone. In those days it was often you ate your Chinese meal with a bottle of Guinness.
The hotel above St. John’s market was the place, where C and I virtually had our first holiday without the children. It was terrible, but I could place the date exactly, as on the Saturday night, Abba won the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo. The link says it was the 6th April 1974. Breakfast was so awful, I can still see the restaurant manager wringing liquid out of the scrambled egg, when I complained.
92 Clubs – A Recce to Ipswich
I had to go to Ipswich to have some pictures taken for the 92 Clubs challenge.
Here’s a few I took from Ipswich Station to the ground.
As the pictures were all taken from a similar position, it just shows how close the station and the ground are.
The Garage Where I Parked My Bike For Spurs
This is a better picture of where I used to park my bike to for Spurs in the early 1960s.
The Garage Where I Parked My Bike For Spurs
Salubrious isn’t it! Obviously, the two shops either side have seen a makeover, but the garage certainly hasn’t. They have removed the sign that said “Slow Down to 50 mph. Through This Gateway” and added a litter bin.
Such is progress!
The Anonymous Widower 