I'll put these scrappy notes together in one place, I thought there was already a thread somewhere on the site?
Built 1881, closed as a Church in 1938. Being a church it was not numbered so was allocated 295B, 295A having already been taken because 1 Eastbourne Road was subdivided, 295 is the adjacent house to the right.
It was a general venue for events (community, clubs, company and social parties etc) since at least 1951. Labour May Day Rally 1951, OAP Tea Party 1954, MANWEB North Wirral xmas party 1967.
Used to be pop concerts there in the 1960s when it was called McNaught Hall, the concert venue officially opened in May 1964 but was operational from at least 1962 partly due to the Cavern Club being temporarily closed and the promoter being in the lurch, last concert date I found was 1967.
The new Methodist Church across the road and further east (Charing Cross Methodist) tried to retain the name McNaught Hall for their youth club etc so we had two McNaught Halls for a period of time.
At some time between the 1940's and 1970s it might have been a Birkenhead & District Co-operative Society Store as it is in their database of shop front photos.
Since then its been a furniture shop, carpet shop, bed shop, flooring shop etc. Bought in 2023 for £160,000, it is and already was on lease to the various shops.
I have it in mind that one of the theatre groups used it before it became the current succession of home furnishing shops (1980s?), I remember being disappointed in the change of use but I can't remember what it was, or was it a Co-op then? Can't be the Carlton Players because they got the Grange Road West Church in the 1950s.
There's a real danger that the left will drag Britain back to the 1970s, with secure well-paid jobs, ample housing, properly-funded NHS and social care, free tuition, student grants, final salary pensions, affordable rail fares and fabulous films and music. David Osland 2025
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
