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#615844 5th Nov 2011 9:50pm
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[Linked Image]

The opening of Birkenhead’s new Asda supermarket appears to have divided local opinion. Some are upset that this giant structure built slap-bang in the middle of Grange Road has taken away something of the town’s charm and spirit. Others including myself have lost patience waiting for that revitalising urban boost that never arrives. It is heart-breaking to say but the town centre died years ago and a walk down Grange Road is now a deeply saddening journey and a reflection on Birkenhead’s current state of misfortune.

It is thankfully true that ‘Wirral Waters’, a multi-billion pound scheme to transform the East Float has been given the go ahead and should, all being well, do wonders for not only Wirral but for whole of the North West; perhaps even the country. I for one cannot wait to see the day.

Of course such a mammoth project takes time and right now we have a lifeless town centre going down hill with each passing week. Will a gigantic Asda really cure our woes? Will it help resurrect the soul of this once much-admired conurbation? Unlikely, but it is something. More, lots more, needs to be done and our sister Liverpool is leading the way. We as a town need to follow strongly and no longer be content to be the hapless minor of Merseyside’s two siblings. Something has to be done. I implore the Council to save us from dereliction and help us become the great town, maybe even city, we were once so destined to become.

Liverpool Mercury

Friday, November 8, 1844

Birkenhead is and must continue to be a rising place. Whether that rising will be to the prejudice of Liverpool is another matter. Few think that it will; but many think that London will suffer by it. I have heard that London merchants have already prepared for making Birkenhead their head-quarters. The Wallasey Pool is a place which nature seems to have formed for docks. It is a long narrow lake of 150 acres of water which besides wharfs and warehouses requires little to render it one of the finest floating docks upon one of the noblest rivers in England, and in the very heart of our manufactures. Birkenhead, therefore, can hardly fail to rise, and rapidly; and it appears to me, that instead of Liverpool being jealous of its prosperity, it should rejoice and foster it, as it will be the means of concentrating on this spot more and more of the export and import trade of England. If any parties should feel alarm it is London, Bristol, Hull &c. These places may suffer, but Liverpool hardly can.


‘Railway Magazine’


http://www.facebook.com/DanielKLongman

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As a Birkonian I can only hope that the town does prosper and grow, as for Liverpool trying to shoot us down again, what's new? They think they have the God given right to dictate policy all over the area and have got away with it for too long. The ones who object are those with their hands in others back pockets anyway and now and again they get caught, but not often enough. The one-eyed city will rise again.


Birkenhead........ God's own Room 101.
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Stop building bloody shops for a town full of people who have no work,I dont think it makes them any happier spending there dole money in a new shop.What we need is manufacturing facilities so they can spend hard earned cash and feel good doing it...

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that photo is of Asda on the North end not Town Centre

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Just a thought , I was looking to go to a local shop around the New Brighton area in the end I gave up, due to double yellows wherever a bunch of shops exist or all car spaces taken and double yellows along the roads, but hey no doubt "safety" will be used to explain why you can't stop at a shop, I don't lose but the shops lose my custom, as far as Birkenhead is concerned I think it's finished, it finished when it was taken over in 1974 by the so called Merseyside Metro, it's been a slow death helped by the so called "elite" the town councillors, we voted them in and as with whoever is in goverment they have our votes and don't give a toss.

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Originally Posted by spider
Stop building bloody shops for a town full of people who have no work,I dont think it makes them any happier spending there dole money in a new shop.What we need is manufacturing facilities so they can spend hard earned cash and feel good doing it...


LMFAO raftl

Asda's main point in the photo is equal minorities.

[Linked Image]


The place is and always has been crap, I mean who the hell shops there anyway?

Trafford centre is a much better shopping experience or Cheshire oaks.


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The place hasn't always been 'crap' and actually Birkenhead was once very much well-regarded nationally. This was years ago but it still has so much potential. We're in a great position with a thriving international city just over the water. It seems bizarre the town appears to have just frozen whilst Liverpool city centre continues to develop and modernise.

Trafford Centre and Cheshire Oaks are great, but they are destinations in themselves and not a thriving high street as such.

Industry and new jobs must surely be a key factor. There needs to be a real need for people to move here for any real investment to be justified. Wirral Waters may well bring it but that's no gurantee either.

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cheshire oaks,the trafford centre,there are a lot of people who cant get to these places.us who can remember the 50s know what a great town we had,great spirit,great people who looked after each other,stuck together through the bad days.now everyone bows down,when will people realise what a great town birkenhead is.stop knocking it,use the market butchers and greengrocers use your local bakers,paper shops etc.back the town stop knocking it.

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Originally Posted by cathcart
when will people realise what a great town birkenhead is.stop knocking it,use the market butchers and greengrocers use your local bakers,paper shops etc.back the town stop knocking it.


Well when you have security guards watching over people like hawks because they dont know who to trust and pickpockets stealing from baby's prams, street hustlers on every corner, tramps with cans of tennants super, bent traffic wardens, pubs with pissheads hanging around at 1:30pm and pedophiles selling poppys outside supermarkets not to mention the broken bottles and counterfeit goods, the low stocked shops blah blah, I could go on, there's no hope for the place.

Need I say anymore?


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Residents make a town what it is. If this is the state of current inhabitants, (but I assume it is probably a minority) then the greater good should show some optimism and drive to improve our streets and improve where we live. Wallowing in self-pity and defeat will not change anything and we'll do nothing but continue to slide into poverty.

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well put dan,ste seems happy to turn his back and just go elsewhere.bit like the rovers,half the supporters go to see them lose,the town isfull of no hopers,need i say more !!!

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The town has gone down the nick over the years for sure,Because more and more people came out of work with every place shutting down or moving abroard,look at the docks and Lairds,both big employers at one time and just hanging on by the skin of there teeth now,as I said, building shops for people who have no wage coming in and making the docks into luxury homes and boat marina and play place for well off working people.This will make just a few long term jobs from the thousands that will apply for them and short term jobs for the building of the marina,homes etc and dont forget yet more shops...

Last edited by spider; 7th Nov 2011 3:51pm.
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Well according to the 'Hansard Debate', (Wirral Council) was given £10,000000.00 for use in Birkenhead over a five year period around the turn of the century. I assume that must have been put into the Historic Warships, Pacific Road Theatre, Trams, Antique Triangle,Wirral Museum and various other tourism ventures. Of course the Historic Warships long gone, Wirral Museum has closed, Pacific Road sold off and the Trams in a tricky place, so it would all seem to have been a waste of money! In fact there is no longer very much in Birkenhead or even Wirral to bring visitors into the area.
As for Peel Holding's plans for developement, they seem to hold most of the land down by the river as they took Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. I am sure it will be very beneficial to local communities with regard employment etc. but I imagine Mr Whittaker will be long gone by the time it's finished and so will a lot of us!.
No one of high esteem seems to fully appreciate how a place of decline can be so detrimental to the wellbeing of the local population but we must be positive and hopeful that soon the tide will turn and Birkenhead will move forward once more.


Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.
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Ste reminds me of Corporal Fraser in Dad,s Army. "We,re doomed Captain Mainwaring, Dooooomed I tell ye". You seem to have lost heart Ste. Mind you. as a long-time expatriate Birkonian, if you were to tell me that Mannings no longer sold those lovverlee meat pies, from their shop in Grange Road, I think I might get disheartened as well. Please tell me that they still do. In which case I will contact them, and order a dozen.

I left my old home town in mid 1960. It was still thriving then.Too many manufacturing jobs have been exported to the East East, for it ever in my opinion, to get back to that time of almost full employment. I wish you all well, for the future.


OO?? ME?? Yer jokin officer.
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I left in 1956. Grange Rd. was thriving then. It's hard to see how there's going to be any improvement owing to lack of jobs. When I visit these days, I still enjoy visiting my old haunts; Birkenhead Park, Storeton woods, Oxton is still attractive, but of course very few of the houses remain in family occupancy. Perhaps the strangest difference for me is to be able to drive in the Cleveland St. and dock area and find it almost deserted; in my youth you could hardly move for all the traffic.


Carpe diem.
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