Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past History Information Request Youth(?) Club in Rake Lane , Upton

In the early 70's I went to a weekly gathering at a club for young people in a building in Rake Lane. I think it had some links with St Mary's church.I don't think it was a youth club as such (hence the question mark !)- going by the age of some of the people in there . I was about 12 or 13 at the time and most of the other people were my age and up to about 18 or so.Does anyone have any info on this ?I've found out a bit from Upton Library , but ther's not much to go on.

The youth club was in the old Parochial School Building. The school was built in 1852, however it soon became overcrowded and was replaced by a new school built next to St Mary's Church in 1869.

The old school building in Rake Lane remained in the ownership of St Mary's church and had various uses over the years. In the mid 1960s it was converted into a youth club, and later became the Cross Bar, a social centre for the young people of Upton.

The Cross Bar closed in 1979 due to complaints of noise and vandalism from local residents.

The building was sold by the church a few years ago and is now used for storage.

I visited that club a couple of times in the mid 70s; I'd forgotten all about it. I certainly wouldn't have recalled the name.
A bit further down Rake Lane, past the Co-op, was a green-painted metal square electricity sub-station building with a shallow pyramidical sloping top. For some reason sometimes I could climb up on to the roof, but other times I just kept sliding off......

I think the club might also have been called The Glory Hole. We used it for practice for the band I was in, in the late 70s.

The glory hole! Thats disgusting lol lol