Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral Pubs Past & Present 103 Shakespeare Hotel 234 Chester Street

Shakespeare Hotel on the corner of Chester Street and Waterloo Place



The Prince Alfred is on the opposite corner (on the left).

Just to correct the caption. The Shakespeare is the pub on the left and the Prince Alfred is the pub on the right.

dont know how many times we have made this correction regarding the shakespeare been on the left hand side of waterloo place. when i read the caption last night i thought NOT AGAIN

Never mind the pub. WHY is there a coke brazier in the middle of the tram tracks ?

this would probably be a cocky watchmans fire

They are the rails for horse drawn trams. The electric cars needed heavier rails and were laid (or re-laid)to a higher specification. This included the way the sets were to be laid around them. Note the pattern here and compare with the later ones.
This could have been taken around the time of the conversion, circa 1901. The photo is comparable with others taken on Borough Road at the time, which also include a watchmans fire.
Note the numbers to the right of the doorstep - 2604. I don't know what it is for, but in the Borough Road ones, the photographer kindly included a board with the date on it.

confirmed on map

I notice on the map it's spelled "Shakspere". Anyone know which it was?
(I would have expected the Ordnance Survey to get it right).

a pic

The Shakespeare in December 1965.

wow, it took a while to get my bearings but the above pic is exactly where the wall is then to the end of the shops were pc word is isn't it.
If so then its totally unrecognisable.

But.. you recognised it.

No actually, I looked on street view to make sure I had the right place and followed road to the end where pc world is.

Good picture, not seen that one before. It also gives us an idea when the Prince Alfred was demolished, as the ground seems freshly cleared.

My best guess is that its location is now part of the central reservation between the northbound lane going to the flyover / link road to Central station, and the southbound lanes coming from the Woodside direction towards Lairds main gate roundabout.

In the background, far left, is the old railway bridge which got replaced with a wider one to coincide with the new road layout. This became redundant and was eventually removed. The area of the railway sidings became the new trading estate. The PC world building, at the north end, was actually a later addition to the others, but in the same style. Just wind back Google Earth to 2000 and you'll see.

I don't think the road alignment moved very far on the river side of New Chester Road at this point, perhaps only the width of the pavement, while the west side, including the pubs, were completely demolished for the approach roads.

The picture below is taken from almost the same place as the one above. As far as I can tell, the bus is cutting through the last part of Wellington Place, intended to be a works access, but he had come along the wrong bit of road in error. ( I know, I was there!)

I would never in a million years of recognised it.