1950s & 1960s Buildings. No longer with us.

Ribble Bus Station.
Skelhorne Street, Liverpool.
Next to Lime Street Station.
It opened in 1960 and closed 11 Sept 1989.
These photos were taken on 9 Sept 1989.
The office block and cafe shown on the first photo were demolished and the rest of the building became a night club called Buzz.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/152/3...374fc938_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/47/34...d8f4d277_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/144/3...85dc4db2_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/136/3...d7a4fdab_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/140/3...61d66bb7_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/143/3...5987981a_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/149/3...4dc61662_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/154/3...0956b9e0_o.jpg

Excellent :celb (23):more more more

Brilliant pics. Thanks:PDT_Piratz_26:
Memories of My Mum and Dad waving me off to London as a lad from there.

:) fantastic as always philip!

I don't remember it being such a tight turn in for the buses, although I was too busy losing my pocket money in the Las Vegas facing!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by scouserdave

Brilliant pics. Thanks:PDT_Piratz_26:
Memories of My Mum and Dad waving me off to London as a lad from there.

---

...and that smell SD that you always get around bus stations, its like a mixture of rubber, engines etc...takes me back too.

Thanks for posting these Philip, brings back a few memories! For the amount of time I spent here waiting for the bus to Waterloo (where my boyfriend lived), I'm surprised I never took a photo. It looks pretty much exactly like I remember it, too. I also used to go to the chippy across the street quite often.

Thanks Folks.
It holds a special place for me because I was a bus conductor there.
Starting at Southport, I transferred to Skelhorne Street when I moved to Liverpool in 1968.

The Local services were on the lower level, and the coaches left from the upper level.
Sounds strange to visitors, but Copperas Hill was so steep.

Once again Philip, great photos.

I'm very interested in the history of that area - Skelhorne Street and Bolton Street.

I'd be very pleased if anyone has any photographs of the old taxi facilities that used to be on this site at the Adelphi side.

The old taxi showroom used to be here - Taxifix - The company is now at Gt. Howard St.

Any info. or photos appreciated.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i36/taxipix/TFX.jpg

- You can see the old Taxifix in this photo (one of Philip's)
I think if you look in the red circle you can just about make out the taxi on the roof. You'd have to know what you were looking for.

In all honesty, this is the one part of Lpl that I wish I had managed to photograph before all the changes.

Oh yes, I do remember that tight turn, the bus very nearly even used to topple over just turning into Skelhorne st from Lime st, never mind trying to turn into Bolton st from Skelhorne st and you can see what I mean in the book Liverpool Memories. I remember getting on the open back Ribbles here too in the late 60s it may have been. Although the bus stop was right outside our tennies at Gerard Gardens, my dad always used to walk me to the Ribble depot to either get the L3 to Crosby or the 59 to Old Road so we could fish using nets at the canal behind the old Vernons pools which became the Paradox.

Superb pictures.

I am hoping someone can post something similair for Queens Square & South Castle Street prior to them being re-developed in the 70's / 80's.

I think Chavasse Park was built over South Castle Street around 1976 and the Law Courts came in the early 80's.

As for Queens Square, I would appreciate any photos of it following its clearance in the 70's after which it became a wasteland / car park prior to the new development.

Thanks

I think there's a pic of it as a car park, next to St. John's House (where I worked in 1979) on another thread in the Liverpool past pics, the one with all the buses by the bubble bus stops in Roe Street.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 5th beatle

As for Queens Square, I would appreciate any photos of it following its clearance in the 70's after which it became a wasteland / car park prior to the new development.

Thanks

---

I posted some here a while ago.

Brilliant Philip:)

I remember it well but those pics bring it all back again.

really great pics.

Tony

you have left us thirsty for more pics now Philip!:)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PhilipG

Ribble Bus Station.
Skelhorne Street, Liverpool.
Next to Lime Street Station.
It opened in 1960 and closed 11 Sept 1989.
These photos were taken on 9 Sept 1989.
The office block and cafe shown on the first photo were demolished and the rest of the building became a night club called Buzz.

---

Interesting to see, Philip. Thank you very much. I travelled to and from that bus station on quite a number of occasions on my way to points north. :celb (23):

Chris

Quote Ross,

The old taxi showroom used to be here - Taxifix - The company is now at Gt. Howard St.

Any info. or photos appreciated.



What do you want to know about Taxifix, I was in the taxi trade before I emmigrated in 1982 and knew the owners. It was commonly called "The Hill" in the trade, there was a hole in the wall cafe there run by the Sharpe family where the drivers hung out. :037:

Cracking pics Philip! I remember going there many a time to catch a coach up to see family in Newcastle. From what I remember, to get from the coach station to the basement area, there used to be a massive spiral stone staircase at one end - and the whole place smelt like a swimming baths!

I'm really quite overwhelmed! :celb (23):
Is it because it's the Ribble Bus Station, or because they're from the past?

I've got more photos from the 1980s & 1990s taken with my untrustworthy old Zenith camera.
All slightly out-of-focus but showing a Liverpool that isn't there anymore.

Apart from pubs, cinemas, schools, I'm not sure exactly where to post them on this forum, unless I start a Liverpool 1980s/1990s thread?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PhilipG

I'm really quite overwhelmed! :celb (23):
Is it because it's the Ribble Bus Station, or because they're from the past?

I've got more photos from the 1980s & 1990s taken with my untrustworthy old Zenith camera.
All slightly out-of-focus but showing a Liverpool that isn't there anymore.

Apart from pubs, cinemas, schools, I'm not sure exactly where to post them on this forum, unless I start a Liverpool 1980s/1990s thread?

---

Hi Philip

I think it is because the bus station was part of our daily lives and that at the time we took it for granted. Now it's gone, it's a case of missing it and looking back on it nostalgically.

By the way my first "good" camera was a Russian Zenith camera as well, after the Kodak Brownie I started out with. More recently I have had a couple of Pentaxes, the first of which was bought second hand from a shop besides the Kingsway Tunnel.

Chris

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PhilipG

unless I start a Liverpool 1980s/1990s thread?

---

Yes, please do. I'm sure a lot of people would appreciate it.

Phillip, yes, please share them. It's great that people had the presence of mind to capture these images and i'm sure your work will be appreciated, look at Nancyo's - brilliant, even if of delapidated but now gone past Liverpool. Btw, please post those tenement ones on the Early Liverpool housing thread if you can, thanks.

I remember there being a postcard thread but I can't seem to find it, so I'll stick this one here. St. Johns Precinct, so shiny and new...I'm not sure how much of the shopping center still exists in this form, maybe someone can set me straight on this.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/129/3...d9d8564930.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by nancy o.

I remember there being a postcard thread but I can't seem to find it, so I'll stick this one here. St. Johns Precinct, so shiny and new...I'm not sure how much of the shopping center still exists in this form, maybe someone can set me straight on this.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/129/3...d9d8564930.jpg

---

St John's Centre was practically destroyed in a fire, so was rebuilt, and it was refaced a few years ago.
The postcard thread was successful, but it ran off on interesting tangents and was moved somewhere, where unfortunately it died.
Thanks for reminding me of this thread, Nancy.
It's the right one for Concourse House.

Kind of sad that Concourse House is ending its life as a giant billboard. What about all that ugly business in front of the train station? I think I read somewhere it was going to be removed and the entrance to the station restored?

I have a postcard (c. 1994, at least that's the postmark) with about the same view as your photo, kind of a nice night shot.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by nancy o.

I remember there being a postcard thread but I can't seem to find it, so I'll stick this one here. St. Johns Precinct, so shiny and new...I'm not sure how much of the shopping center still exists in this form, maybe someone can set me straight on this.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/129/3...d9d8564930.jpg

---

Bloomin' eck thats a snapshot in time.. The buses have changed their livery colours from green and biege these days..

Does anyone know the name of the very small bar that was in the bus station?

:noid:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PhilipG

Ribble Bus Station.
Skelhorne Street, Liverpool.
Next to Lime Street Station.
It opened in 1960 and closed 11 Sept 1989.
These photos were taken on 9 Sept 1989.
The office block and cafe shown on the first photo were demolished and the rest of the building became a night club called Buzz.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/152/3...374fc938_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/47/34...d8f4d277_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/144/3...85dc4db2_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/136/3...d7a4fdab_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/140/3...61d66bb7_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/143/3...5987981a_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/149/3...4dc61662_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/154/3...0956b9e0_o.jpg

---

what was the name of the bar / cafe in the bus station ?

Was the bar called "The Ribble Bar " ???.......:beer:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jobby

Was the bar called "The Ribble Bar " ???.......:beer:

---

Sounds familiar.:nod:

The bar was called " The Valentine Bar " and was at the back of the bus shed near to the entrance of the drivers canteen. I remember that cos it was one of the easiest bars to get served in if you were a little on the junior side !!

Only in Liverpool!! Large buses, and many of them, had to get into the bus station, via a narrow side street. Who thinks of this garbage? Who approves planning?

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/144/3...85dc4db2_o.jpg

That brings back memories. :)

Was that a cafe on the end?

Looks like another site has had a similar discussion about the bar.. Yo even gets a mention

http://www.bootlehistory.co.uk/forum...204a7fe4de7f51

:034:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jobby

Was the bar called "The Ribble Bar " ???.......:beer:

---

the bar was called telfords L3 to seaforth station

I remember that place well, especially the way the bus would tilt over alarmingly when negotiating that final sharp turn into the station. I recall a couple of times when the bus scraped its side on the doorway on the way in.

I used to love getting the Ribble L2 or L8 from Crosby into town as a kid. Upstairs, front seats..

I also remember the bus station. I worked on the Ribble around 1967 and It was terrible trying to reverse off the stands downstairs. Especialy when another bus was comeing in.I also remember the canteen upstairs(that shutter was dangerouse too). Does any one remember a mini car getting "crushed" with a National Express coach, when it was parked on the far wall.?
I was with Bill (Jock) McRae and he was a driver in Aintree. Saddley he has passed away a few years ago.
I am now involved with THE RIBBLE VEHICLE PRESEVATION TRUST in FRECKLETON and am enjoying driveing and keeping these old vehicles back on the road.
Doreen