Lark Lane Are there too many bars?

[Kev]

Are there too many bars on Lark Lane?

Residents of a popular suburb of Liverpool are urging the city council to call time on the number of new bars being allowed to open in the area.

[taffy]

Are there too many bars on Lark Lane?

Residents of a popular suburb of Liverpool are urging the city council to call time on the number of new bars being allowed to open in the area.

Yes is the answer. The whole balance of Lark Lane has changed too much in favour of boozing. Come to think of it though, that's why the old police station was moved there from Aigburth Vale in the late 19th C. They were a boozy rough lot living then in Lark Lane. No doubt the class of clientele in the street has improved these days but I have to say, it's the only Liverpool street where I've felt the locals might part me from my camera.

[Paddy]

I recall lark lane in the sixties and it was such a nice quiet little place. You could directly access it from Aigburth road. The Masonic pub was always quite busy on a Sunday with park strollers popping in for a pint. Joes Caf? was my favorite haunt and you could get a big mug of tea for sixpence. They had a pinball machine I had mastered and the sounds of the sixties were always playing when we were in there. The Police station was going then but it was never busy. There was a little shop in the middle of the lane that sold old coins and war medals. I always looked in the window to see what he had as I liked coin collecting, he also did stamp collecting, it was very old world. Killey?s was the last shop before the Park I was his paper boy for a while. He sold little bottles of cider that were not alcoholic and they tasted fantastic. Lark Lane then was a small community and people knew each other; it was not as trendy as it is supposed to be now. I am glad that it is still functioning in someway as it has always been an alternative culture even when the old lane community was about. The students and the laners lived side by side as bed sit land was all around Parkfield road and Linnet Lane.I had a few flats in the area myself. The access to the Park was the best thing about the place and we played a lot of football there. I have been down once or twice but not in a decade so I cannot really comment on the new bars. I think if the bars are trouble free then it should be okay if you?re going to have that kind of culture I think the lane is the right place as it is secluded.

[Waterways]

The more bars the merrier. The higher the quality the merrier.

[Ross08]

I don't live there, so i can't really say what it's like to live with all the bars and restaurants, but I really love Lark Lane. It's definitely one of my favourite parts of Liverpool.
Especially some of the restaurants - really nice place to eat on a winter's night.

[Waterways]

I don't live there, so i can't really say what it's like to live with all the bars and restaurants, but I really love Lark Lane. It's definitely one of my favourite parts of Liverpool.
Especially some of the restaurants - really nice place to eat on a winter's night.

Exactly. It is a nice place. And those who don't like it, stay away or move away.

[taffy]

Listen to what the locals have to say:

BBC - Liverpool - Places - Are there too many bars on Lark Lane?

[Waterways]

The right sort of places, with the right atmosphere, do not encourage anti-social behaviour.

The place has been Bohemian for 40 or 50 years. They knew what the place was like before they moved in.

I lived not far away. I know what I am on about.

[BookCat]

The so called Lark lane 'residents' actually consists of a very small group of people (around six) and one vociferous woman who did not bother to ask what the actual residents and small traders of Lark Lane actually thought. They seem to want to gentrify the area and turn it into yet another failed Liverpool suburb full of traffic restrictions. Why is it that some people hate anything that smacks of success or individuality? We have an area that is lively and works. Any encouragement for further restrictions will gravely damage one of the few shopping and eating roads that isn't owned by the multinational retail outlets. If you want a quiet suburb go to Woolton (ten small shops closed in the name of double yellow lines), if you want to give your cash to the super wealthy try Liverpool 1; but if you want real diversity, a little bit of edge and feel like supporting real people who are doing their best go to Lark Lane. There is a very real danger of destroying viable communities based on misinformation i.e talking about bars when the priority of the Lane's trade is actually related to food. Tune up your bull**** detectors folks!

[Ged]

Yep. Lark Lane looks mighty fine and vibrant to me, a village within a city. Vibrant yet olde worlde, a million miles away from the busy Aigburth Road that's only a stones throw away. It must continue to thrive.

[Waterways]

Any encouragement for further restrictions will gravely damage one of the few shopping and eating roads that isn't owned by the multinational retail outlets.

That is very true and what makes Lark Lane a little special. And food is the main trade not bars. I would not call Lark Lane rough, does not have rough pubs either, so why this wanting to change a successful format?

How many outsiders actually use Lark Lane? You will find most actually live within a mile of the place. It is quite densely populated around there.

[Ross08]

Lark lane is a beautiful, vibrant place. I love it. It's one of my favourite parts of Liverpool.
One of my favourite nights out is going for a nice curry at a Lark Lane restaurant.

[naked lilac]

I agree.. Larklane is one of the few artsey and bohemian atmospheric places there.. It is unique, and not taken over by huge dept. shopping stores..

I love the restuarants ... a nice get away..and close to the park.. Very nice district... Don't change it..

I traveled over oceans to come to Liverpool, and Lark Lane was one place that will remain in my memories...Thoroughly enjoyable area.....

[kevin]

In the late 70s when we were first married, it was a stroll across the park from our flat to Lark Lane - loved the place and was there at least a couple of times a week. Not been there since we moved out of Liverpool in the early 80s - visits now tend to be restricted to visiting brothers and sisters and the city centre.
I'll now need to be in Liverpool a couple of times of year for business reasons, and my hosts will be putting me in the Alicia - a short stroll from Lark Lane. First visit isn't until June - two nights - but already looking forward enthusiastically to revisiting Lark Lane.

Long may it prosper.

[Norm NZ]

"It's good to read all the comments! and nice to know that the Lane is still a thriving aea! I lived in Haddasah Grove in the sixties, drove taxi's and wedding cars out of 'Logans Garage' in the midde of the lane, which I now believe is another restaurant, "THrive On!" Lark Lane' and all who live there and support the area!