Concourse House the city’s worst eyesore
Era very different from our own
The view is from St John’s Gardens looking towards the Queensway Tunnel. Old style, rear-platform, two-man buses, Liverpool owned and run, with their iconic green livery, operate around the tunnel entrance.
In 2021, privately run buses operate under the fragmented system imposed by the Conservatives in Westminster in the 1980s, but that’s about to change. Many older brick buildings have since disappeared. The Ship and Mitre pub, with the name Bents, is now hidden by trees. The art deco style column was moved to a spot between the tunnel access roads on the Wirral side. Much has changed in the six decades between both views, but the Queensway Tunnel, opened in 1934, still serves the city 24 hours a day with efficiency and style. This is Bold Street, then, with the bombed out church and lots of parked cars. Now, people have taken over the street, walking out in the sunshine. Since Covid, tables and chairs have appeared outside the bars and restaurants.
Along Bold Street, shops, eateries and their signs have changed. Matta’s International Foods with the blue sign is there, then as now. Ropes and Twines coffee and wines is there, but what about Pez Tellett’s. Big Saturday Night Out? What hasn’t changed is Bold Streets’ unique character and layout, rounded off at the top by the iconic clocktower of St Luke’s church. This is Church Street, named after St Peter’s church, demolished in 1922. In its place, a stylish-inter-war-style building appeared, containing offices and shops, now an entrance to. Liverpool One. Look at the entrance.
Can you see what’s appeared? A clock. River Island took over from WH Smiths, which moved across the street. The trees have also moved from right to left. This panoramic view from the steps of the Walker Art Gallery has changed little in the intervening years. Then, the Steble Fountain was a working fountain, now, it’s bone dry, except when it rains, like today. When will it be fixed? What else has changed? Concourse House, by Liverpool Lime Street, has gone. The other small change is that the heritage lamps have been refitted and look more authentic. So let’s pause to admire the scene, the Liverpool Empire, the Steble fountain, the Midland hotel about to become a hotel again, and St George’s Hall, until onto my lens, a raindrop falls, time to move on to Concourse House, designed by Richard Seifert, Swiss-British architect of Centre.
Point in London and Gateway House by Piccadilly station in Manchester. It was taken down in 2008.
Look how much better the scene looks,
With that open expanse of sky.
What other buildings in Liverpool should be removed? From the corner of Lime Street, Radio City Tower, or St John’s Beacon and the Holiday. Inn Hotel, built above St John’s Shopping centre, opened in 1969. So what’s changed? The exterior of the shopping centre, was recently renovated, the colour of the hotel, formerly 70s beige, now contemporary graphite. And Holiday Inn have a new logo.
On Castle Street, in my ‘then’ photo, the 433 to New Brighton, operated by Arriva, stops for a moment. It’s standing where the tables and chairs of Castle St Townhouse are today. This is a Leyland Olympian, with Northern Counties body, built in Northern England. Now, at the bus stop around the corner on Cook Street, a Northern Ireland built Volvo / Wrightbus. Gemini hybrid operating the 432 service is about to depart for New Brighton via the Queensway. Tunnel. The green livery recalls the old Liverpool Corporation buses. Why not just bring it back? Then, on the Strand, there was a big road sign but now, the layout has changed.
Most notably, the pedestrian bridge leading to the Pier Head, was removed some years ago. The new sign is much smaller than the old one with fewer destinations, and straight ahead, that tall building is the Lexington apartment tower, opened in 2021. This is the Pier Head and the Three Graces on a sunny Sunday afternoon before the construction of the new canal link. This new stretch of water, with its walkways, bridges and vistas has transformed one of the best places in Liverpool into something even more magnificent. Once a working dock, then a bus station, this is now a place to walk, relax and admire the heritage, or to ride your bike, scooter or segue along the waterfront. Back in an era very different to our own, ships were built on the Mersey. Across the river, we see the shipyard cranes and the double-arched roof of Riverside Station, Birkenhead. Today those cranes and the station are gone.
The Egremont approaches the landing stage from the left. Built in 1951, it operated to Woodside and Seacombe until 1975. Today, Snowdrop, the former. Woodchurch, built in 1959, now the Dazzle ferry, approaches the landing stage from the right. Then and now, the Mersey Ferry is one of the most spectacular short river crossings in the world. So that's it.