Street Views - Speke

[Ross08]

As part of my continuing effort to catalogue Street Views across Merseyside, I paid a visit to Speke this morning. I was able to take quite a number of photographs, mainly of housing and shops. They appear below...

Western Avenue:









Speke Pubs:


Mill House - Corner Alderwood Avenue and Miners Way


The Orient - Corner Eastern Avenue and East Millwood Road

Central Way:


Corner Central Way and Oldbridge Road

Southern Road:



Shops at Speke Church Road / Speke Town Lane "The Crescent":







Shops at Alderwood Avenue:

... and Buckley Walk, on the perimeter of the airport.



... More Speke photos soon.

[pablo42]

Can't see 'em Ross.

[Ross08]

You should now

[Ged]

All still very thirties - curves and lines - like the old airport and hangars. Won't be long before those shops are down by the look of the tinned up flats above them.

I like pics like this Ross.

[pablo42]

Nice one Ross. Good shots. It looks very run down. Are all the shops empty.

[Ross08]

I'm glad you like the photos... and, yes - very thirties. That's one of the reason's why I'm interested in these buildings. As far as I know, the estate was built between the mid to late thirties and the late fifties.

Social housing is of great interest to me, and these large estates such as Speke (and Norris Green) are fantastic examples of quality social housing on a grand scale.

The estate - from what I saw today - is not bad at all. Many of the houses are well-kept, and occupancy is high. The shops are a different matter, but that's the same story on most estates today. Just look at the new Morrisons store only a short walk away, and you can see why the shops are empty.

I'll add some more photos of this sort - and if anybody else has any I'd be very interested to see them.

Incidentally, there is a website at www.spekeliverpool.co.uk that looks interesting, although I've not yet had a proper look at it.

[kevin]

The shops at Speke Church Road - are they the ones that were called 'The Crescent?' Lived in Dymchurch Road until I was 10 and used to have to go to The Crescent for 'messages' (as we used to call shopping) for my mum.

The first shop was a barbers - he'd put a plank across the arm rests for us kids. He wouldn't cut your hair if it was wet - yet these days they only seem to cut hair wet.

[underworld]

Yes it is "The Crescent". Many of the shops in speke have been boarded up for years and probably will be for years to come. The crescent was one of the nicer parts of Speke. I remember a shop there called I think "Gouldings". I hevent been around there for a good while but last time i went it was pretty dire. Didnt the Dymmy get flattened?

[kevin]

Yes it is "The Crescent". Many of the shops in speke have been boarded up for years and probably will be for years to come. The crescent was one of the nicer parts of Speke. I remember a shop there called I think "Gouldings". I hevent been around there for a good while but last time i went it was pretty dire. Didnt the Dymmy get flattened?

Yes - most of Dymmy was flattened. We lived in the prefabs that were the last row of housing before the recreational field and the old airport. We moved to Allerton in 1961.

[Ged]

Plenty of similiar pics on my site below Ross as I too are interested in housing, street views and maybe the more mundane type of local photography other than our prestigious buildings. Check out the streets ahead page.

I always thought that funny Kevin, the way going to the shops was on the 'messages'

We always called our lino oil cloth too and the place we cooked was the back kitchen with what we now call the living room being the kitchen.

[gregs dad]

Messages was because your ma gave you a bit of paper with what she wanted on it because she knew you would forget by the time you got there

[kevin]

Plenty of similiar pics on my site below Ross as I too are interested in housing, street views and maybe the more mundane type of local photography other than our prestigious buildings. Check out the streets ahead page.

I always thought that funny Kevin, the way going to the shops was on the 'messages'

We always called our lino oil cloth too and the place we cooked was the back kitchen with what we now call the living room being the kitchen.

My mate next door - Ronnie Gerrard - use to go for the messages for his mum. He used to go to a farmer's field nearby and dig up potatoes and put them in the bag (potatoes were always loose and covered in soil in those days so you had a special potato bag). He'd then keep the potato money.
He had no way of weighing the potatoes so would just dig up a load. Eventually, his mum went for some potatoes and complained in the shop when the bag didn't get filled the way it normally did.

Busted!

[kevin]

Messages was because your ma gave you a bit of paper with what she wanted on it because she knew you would forget by the time you got there

Yep - and if any of the messages were from the Coop (there was one in the Crescent), she'd write the divvy number down as well.

[underworld]

Then in the late 70s they built brand new housing on the Dymchurch and it was wrecked within 20 years. It was like Beiruit there.

[kevin]

Then in the late 70s they built brand new housing on the Dymchurch and it was wrecked within 20 years. It was like Beiruit there.

Lots of young kids when I was there. We'd play out all day and wander miles - kids as young as 5 and up to about 12 or 13. Always safe. How times have changed.