Ranelagh Street
This view shows Ranelagh Street from the corner of Church Street and features in the distance is the original Adelphi Hotel. The street derives its name from the gardens that once occupied the site since taken up by the Adelphi. It was a quiet place for the well-to-do to take tea, stroll around the greenery and admire the fishponds that emulated those in London. The park was named after the original Ranelagh Gardens of Chelsea and they could only be accessed after paying a small fee. A recollection from 1836 described the floral setting:

The gardens extended a long way back. Warren-street is formed out of them. These gardens were very tastefully arranged in beds and borders, radiating from a centre in which was a Chinese temple, which served as an orchestra for a band to play in. Round the sides of the garden, in a thicket of lilacs and laburnums, the beauty of which, in early summer, was quite remarkable, were little alcoves or bowers wherein parties took tea or stronger drinks.

To the left of this image are a number of businesses with their awnings protecting passer-bys from the temperamental elements of the weather. To the right is Central Station which first opened in 1874 to transport travellers the length and breadth of the country via the increasingly popular mode of rail.
Ranelagh Street is a busy crossing point for both cars and pedestrians moving in and about the city. The Adelphi still stands at the foot of Mount Pleasant after being rebuilt in 1912 by hotelier Arthur Towle into a luxurious Edwardian hotel. Today it has 402 rooms for Liverpool tourists and business travellers and is one of the largest hotels the city has to offer. Central Station is still in use but with long-distance travellers now departing on trains from nearby Lime Street. In 2009 Central Station was identified as needing some much-needed improvements and is in line to receive a share of fifty million pounds worth of national rail refurbishment money. To the left of the photograph stands Miss Selfridge, the ladies fashion store, and up ahead stand a series of shops including a bookmakers, shoe seller, a fish and chip shop by the name of the Lobster Pot, and a branch of the travel agents, Thomson.

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