The Liverpool Nobody Knows Tour

13/08/2025

The many Hispanic owned businesses in nineteenth century Liverpool - on the next Duke Street and Rodney Street walk!

12/08/2025

A closer look at Vine House in Seaforth, Liverpool.
The 1960s tower block has stood empty since 2003.
A number of redevelopment proposals have never got off the ground and demolition seems likely.
There have been a number of reports in the Liverpool Echo about the building and the many rats who have made it their home…but I didn’t see any of my visit there!

30/07/2025

I was in Huyton yesterday and I came across this old church.
The Congregational Church dated fron 1856 and it was extended in 1861. The building was then used as a school until the 1930s. It then became a community hall - Park Hall - until 1986.
A report on the building appeared in the Liverpool Echo in 2020 - it was being transformed into luxury homes. But this appears never to have happened.
A sign on part of the building says ‘Do not enter - deep water.’

28/07/2025

Those who have been on The Liverpool Nobody Knows Tour St James gardens, the old cemetery, walk recently will know that I talk about the grave robbing that took place there in the late 1960s and early 1970s. My only source for this information came from a local man and an ex-police officer who worked in the area at that time.
The excellent Haunted Liverpool page has recently uncovered an actual newspaper report of the story.

From Tom's newspaper cuttings - Article about grave-robbers down in St James's Cemetery off Hope Street in the Echo, 1970s:

17/07/2025

The Dale Street and Castle Street walk.
This Sunday (20th July 2025) meeting outside the old Borough Hotel pub on the corner of Great Crosshall Street and Standish Street at 12 noon.
To book a place, just message this page!

15/07/2025

Today. It was sad to see the demolition of a big part of Bootle New Strand well underway.
Work on the construction of the Strand began in 1965 and it opened in 1968.
In 1965 there was a local competition to come up with a name for the shopping centre. The competition was won by a very smart Bootle girl, 11-years-old Dorothy Hawkins of 267 Bedford Road, Bootle. Miss Hawkins was later presented with her prize - £25 in premium bonds - at Bootle Town Hall. New Strand, her idea, was the clear winner.
Consolation prizes were also handed out. Mr George Penlington, aged 70, of 114 Bank Road, Bootle, received £5 in premium bonds for his idea 'Stanley Mons Strand' which referenced Stanley Road, Strand Road and Bootles twin town in Belguim.
Mrs May Taylor (age not stated) of Menai Road, Bootle also received £5 in premium bonds for her idea 'Little America.' The streets demolished to make way for the Strand were all named after American states.
It was hard lines for David Jones (age not stated) of 15 Highfield Road, Litherland - he also submitted the name New Strand. Under the rules of the competition, in the event of more than one person submitting the winning name, the winner would be the person who submitted the name first. All entries were numbered when received.
Dorothy Hawkins entry was number 19, David Jones' was number 126.

14/07/2025

An interesting but somewhat neglected find by The Liverpool Nobody Knows Tour!
An old print - Recollections of the Blue-Coat Hospital, Liverpool, St George’s Day, 1843. This lithograph by Thomas Picken was published in 1850 by Skinner, Professor of Water Colouring, Liverpool, and printed by G. Webb & Co, London.

02/07/2025

The Liverpool Nobody Knows Tour are walking tours away from the main tourist attractions in the city. Here you will find the most interesting stories!
There are buildings all over Merseyside that we just walk past - often they have poignant and fascinating stories attached to them. Some have had many changes of use and they have all survived - which is remarkable in itself.
One such building can be found on Knowsley Road in Bootle. The building started life as the Bootle Institute in 1882. The original emblem and date of construction is photographed below.
In 1908 the building was converted into a cinema - The Picture Palace. In 1912 it became The Empire Picture Theatre - the building was able to accommodate about 300 people.
There was fierce competition locally and the cinema closed. It reopened in 1922 as a dance hall - The Palais de Dance.
Over the years it had further changes of use, the Bootle Trades and Labour Club, the Knowsley Social Club, Madigans Lighthouse and the Bootle Labour Club.
In recent years, it became a health and beauty studio and it is now an antiques and collectibles emporium - which is well worth a visit.

01/07/2025

A lost Liverpool museum.
The Gregson Memorial Institute on Garmoyle Road in Wavertree was erected in 1895 by Isabella Gregson in memory of her parents and other family members. It was a lecture theatre, art gallery and museum. The institute housed what was left of the Gregson collection (put together by her grandfather Mathew Gregson)
The institute proved to be unviable and the collections were given to the University of Liverpool in 1906 and shared between the University and the City Museums in 1933.
The building was sold to Liverpool Corporation in 1936. It seems to have been used as a school annex and training centre.
The building was under threat of demolition in 1994 and it was sold by Liverpool City Council to a local charitable trust - for £5.
It is now a thriving community centre with lots of different things going on there..

29/06/2025

A walk in the countryside? No, today’s St James gardens, the old cemetery, walk!

26/06/2025

The St James gardens, the old cemetery, walk.
This Sunday (29th June 2025) meeting outside the Oratory at 12 noon.
To book a place, just message the page!

24/06/2025

A guest report from the city of Manchester.
Travelling into Manchester by train, you couldn't miss the old Hotspur Press building. Peering into the empty floors I liked to imagine that the video for Joy Divisions 'Love will tear us Apart' was filmed there (it wasn't) It stood out amongst all the new apartments and trendy restaurants and bars.
The building had a far older name - Medlock Mill. It was originally a cotton mill on the banks of the River Medlock. It dated back to 1794, there was a fire there in 1801 and a number of people lost their lives - it was then largely rebuilt.
Hotspur Press took over the building in 1902 and they remained there until 1996. The building had been empty ever since.
The building was of huge significance both locally and nationally.
SAVE Britains Heritage had this to say.
'The handsome building represents the early evolution of mill technology in Manchester where the cotton industry drove the city’s growth and development – and in turn powered the UK’s Industrial Revolution.'
The building had been subject to several redevelopment plans. For some strange reason the government had refused to grant the building listed status - despite Historic Englands recommendation.
Normally such a recommendation is all that's needed.
Well none of this matters now, the old mill was destroyed by fire yesterday in what was described as a 'raging inferno.'
The fire has made local and national headlines.
Very sad.