A question posed in the Wirral Pubs Past and Present Forum:



I've managed to find a few photos of the area where your grandfather lived, taken in the early 1960s before the bulldozers moved in and flattened everything. I hope these give you an idea of what the area must have looked like in your grandad's day:

The first photo is looking down Lord Street from Cleveland Street. No 37 is just visible in the first block in the shadows on the right hand side.

The second photo is looking up Lord Street from the opposite direction, with Nos 17-23 on the left. To the right of the Mersey Vaults pub is the gable end of the block containing No 37.

The third shot shows the top end of Lord Street, looking from Cleveland Street towards Price Street, showing some of the oldest properties in the area.

The fourth photo shows the junction of Sandford Street and Elgin Street. No 32 would have been just round the corner on the left, next to the corner shop (No 34). The old house with the steps outside would have been what your grandfather would have seen as he came out of his front door.

The final pic shows the old property at the junction of Sandford Street and Sidney Street; again a view that would have been familiar to your grandad as he left his house.

marty99fred.thankyou very much for taking the time to find these for me,regards sue

just wanted to butt in to say------i've loved looking at these photo's of Lord St of how it used to look as i had my 1st job here in Sam Scotts Millinery in 1967, and as marty99fred says the bulldozers moved in in the early 60s, i never realized that the place i first worked was a fairley new building, of course Sam Scotts isn't there now but the building is still there.

Fascinating. I used to work in the hostels on Sandford st and Bridge st a few years back, hard to think how bustling that area once was.

Thanks for the excellent photos of the Lord St area, I was born in Somerville St in 1935 and have vague memories of the area, i know that my mother used the grocery shop but cannot recall the name of the owner, my last visit to the shop was in 1959, are there any photos of Somerville St available !, or an old map showing the location !.

1950s map
Looking at map the Somerville street numbers seem to be a continuation of Elgin st numbers

Many thanks Derekdwc, thats excellent, our house was no 31, i can remember the pub over the road, or should i say that i can remember the children waiting and playing outside, no doubt i was one also, we moved to 164 Rodney Street about1944 and used to use the TOCH which was behind our house as an air raid shelter, later on they built a shelter in the backyard, Memories.

My great grandfather Patrick Mccabe lived at no 39 Lord Street in 1901 and also Maddock street.

Just come across these wonderful photographs. Well done for posting them. Do you have any of Chapel Street or John Street? It breaks my heart to see all of these substantial buildings which would be worth a fortune if in the south of England, now all demolished, every one of them. How could it have happened?

I certainly have at least a couple of Chapel Street, but I'm not sure about John Street. I'll post them as soon as I get a chance.

Thats great. Look forward to it. Do you know who the photographer was by any chance?

These are the only decent photos of Chapel Street I have. I can't find any of John Street - I don't recall there was ever much down there worth photographing - but I've also included a few more of the immediate area, showing properties long since gone. I believe the photographer for most of these was Birkenhead-born architectural historian Edward Hubbard, who worked with Nikolaus Pevsner on his Buildings of England books. They were taken in the very early 60s.

wow, superb photos just brilliant.

marty99fred. These photographs are wonderful. I never knew they existed. Thank you so much for sharing them. I'm astonished that such superb historical buildings such as these could all be swept away so easily. Didn't anyone protest at the time? I can't remember anybody doing so. Towns and cities all over the world have preserved their old quarters or part of them and they are now treasured by residents and visitors alike, such as The Rocks in Sydney and the Old Town in Montreal. Some very poor decisions made with regard to Birkenhead sadly.

marty99fred
I know I am getting greedy but I can't help it faced with the riches of your photograph collection. Do you have any of:

Chapel Street, even numbers side of street. The two posted are both of odd numbers side.

Dacre Street

Henry Street

junction of Price/Watson Streets

Thanks

like willoughby I'd like to see any pics of Chapel Street, even numbers side of street and junction of Price/Watson Streets if you have any please
Looking for these pubs
Bird in Hand 11 Chapel Street
Welsh Harp 12 Chapel Street
Morpeth Arms Morpeth Vaults Public House, 28 Chapel Street
and
Westminster Hotel, 167, Price street, and 39 to 48, Watson street
and The British Queen on same crossroad