I went to liverpool yesterday and had a good look round the city since i havent been there for over 10 yrs.I have always thought Liverpool has an enviable location compared to leeds and manchester and at last the city is realising its potential by some of the developments along the waterfront esp with regards to the taller buildings.( newcastle and cardiff should take note !) The streets around the commercial district made for a very pleasant stroll but when i ventured further up towards lime street the opposite was true..I cant believe this area hasnt been revamped.I hope the council get there act in gear before 2008 and turn this important gateway into a pleasant and safe part of the city.I really hope Liverpool takes off but one thing i have to say is that there is still too much litter esp gum in places like bold street and surrounding areas. Maybe the council could distribute leaflets to make the citizens of liverpool take more pride in their city and come down hard on these litter louts.I would also knock that pub down with a fitness center on top at the bottom of the hill mear the crown courts..dont know geog of liverpool too well but it looks an eyesore
But all in all it was a pleasant surprise ..just hope liverpool grasps this huge opportunity into becoming no 1 destination in uk !!

That's the rpblems when so much regeneration is happeneing, the grotty places suddenly let us down.

There are many plans for around the Lime Street area, you should find em on here.

I went to liverpool yesterday and had a good look round the city since i havent been there for over 10 yrs.I have always thought Liverpool has an enviable location compared to leeds and manchester and at last the city is realising its potential by some of the developments along the waterfront esp with regards to the taller buildings.( newcastle and cardiff should take note !) The streets around the commercial district made for a very pleasant stroll but when i ventured further up towards lime street the opposite was true..I cant believe this area hasnt been revamped.

Around Another world Comic shop? Agreed it's disgraceful, the thing is the actual frontages are great, it's just the condition of them, a well considered conservation at they could look great.


but one thing i have to say is that there is still too much litter esp gum in places like bold street and surrounding areas. Maybe the council could distribute leaflets to make the citizens of liverpool take more pride in their city and come down hard on these litter louts.

That would mean huge great mounds of leaflests blowing around for months!

I would also knock that pub down with a fitness center on top at the bottom of the hill mear the crown courts..dont know geog of liverpool too well but it looks an eyesore

Yes, that needs blowing up.

Does Liverpool still have the chewing gum tax thing?

I've never liked all the pedestrianisation in Liverpool. I see huge old department stores run aground on banks of paving slabs. Cars and traffic are a pain but a street needs to look like a street for me to give it the grandeur it deserves. Liverpool has the best location of any city in Britain. It's gentle slope towards the river allows buildings like the Cathedrals to loom over the city, but the lack of surrounding hills and the presence of the river allow it to feel intensly urban.

I'm kind of not quite the same in that I like Church Street, and I think Bold Street should be pedestrianised as well...

It does at first seem a bit daunting, and 'almost' (dont hassle me for saying this) lacks soul, particularly on a sunday. It's a superficial apparence though because if you take other cities some have large open squares or large city centre shopping malls. Liverpool only has St Johns and its hardly adequate for the number of people that shop in the city. I've got some great pictures of the side streets off Church Street, and Church Street itself and during the day even outside office hours it is packed with people. I'll post some up in a day or so, which will hopefully show you its actually the opposite of large open paving slabs.

It is a very open city in places, admittedly. But the docks in summer on a hot sunny day are just fantastic.

I went to liverpool yesterday and had a good look round the city since i havent been there for over 10 yrs.I have always thought Liverpool has an enviable location compared to leeds and manchester and at last the city is realising its potential by some of the developments along the waterfront esp with regards to the taller buildings.( newcastle and cardiff should take note !) The streets around the commercial district made for a very pleasant stroll but when i ventured further up towards lime street the opposite was true..I cant believe this area hasnt been revamped.I hope the council get there act in gear before 2008 and turn this important gateway into a pleasant and safe part of the city.I really hope Liverpool takes off but one thing i have to say is that there is still too much litter esp gum in places like bold street and surrounding areas. Maybe the council could distribute leaflets to make the citizens of liverpool take more pride in their city and come down hard on these litter louts.I would also knock that pub down with a fitness center on top at the bottom of the hill mear the crown courts..dont know geog of liverpool too well but it looks an eyesore
But all in all it was a pleasant surprise ..just hope liverpool grasps this huge opportunity into becoming no 1 destination in uk !!


Banal.

I'm kind of not quite the same in that I like Church Street, and I think Bold Street should be pedestrianised as well...

It does at first seem a bit daunting, and 'almost' (dont hassle me for saying this) lacks soul, particularly on a sunday. It's a superficial apparence though because if you take other cities some have large open squares or large city centre shopping malls. Liverpool only has St Johns and its hardly adequate for the number of people that shop in the city. I've got some great pictures of the side streets off Church Street, and Church Street itself and during the day even outside office hours it is packed with people. I'll post some up in a day or so, which will hopefully show you its actually the opposite of large open paving slabs.

It is a very open city in places, admittedly. But the docks in summer on a hot sunny day are just fantastic.

Soul - shopping - Na, too much cognitive dissonance. Church Steet and Bold Street are full of great buildings. That will do for me.

Banal.

Banana. :banana: What are you talking about?

L8, thinkbiginleeds is saying something that has been said before and that I think we need to hear - the view for a first time (or occasional) visitor to Liverpool, from the steps of Lime Street station, is a disaster. Liverpudlians/Liverpolitans simply avert their eyes - they do not even register St John's Precinct, they only see Rome. But new visitors see something like pre-redevelopment Birmingham. They do not avert their eyes, they see what is actually there - their eye is drawn to the beacon, then down, and it's just awful! Truly awful.

It is the very first sight many people have of Liverpool. I've made that mistake with new visitors to Liverpool before, and the trick is to escort them from the station via the Lord Nelson Street Street exit , then you avoid the horror and the visitor can believe, for at least a few moments, that they have arrived in the grand, magical and mysterious city you have promised them.

I have long regarded that particular view as the achilles heel of Liverpool City Centre, it's a pivotal place, literally a gateway (a much abused term), and I'm afraid I don't regard current plans as remotely good enough. I want a low building in place of Concourse House, and I think that a replacement of St John's Precinct, including the beacon, car park and hotel, should be Priority No 1. All the attention is on the Riverfront now, and the Lime Street plateau is neglected. It's simpy disgraceful that serious mistakes of the 1960s are still hurting Liverpool 40 years later. That is a long time to live with a serious mistake without doing something about it.

there is still too much litter esp gum in places like bold street and surrounding areas. Maybe the council could distribute leaflets to make the citizens of liverpool take more pride in their city and come down hard on these litter louts.

The city has a zero tolerance attitude towads litter with on the spot liitter fines.

But new visitors see something like pre-redevelopment Birmingham. They do not avert their eyes, they see what is actually there - their eye is drawn to the beacon, then down, and it's just awful! Truly awful.

It is the very first sight many people have of Liverpool. I've made that mistake with new visitors to Liverpool before, and the trick is to escort them from the station via the Lord Nelson Street Street exit , then you avoid the horror and the visitor can believe, for at least a few moments, that they have arrived in the grand, magical and mysterious city you have promised them.


The city shoots itself in the foot. Selective amnesia, the London disease.

L8, thinkbiginleeds is saying something that has been said before and that I think we need to hear - the view for a first time (or occasional) visitor to Liverpool, from the steps of Lime Street station, is a disaster. Liverpudlians/Liverpolitans simply avert their eyes - they do not even register St John's Precinct, they only see Rome. But new visitors see something like pre-redevelopment Birmingham. They do not avert their eyes, they see what is actually there - their eye is drawn to the beacon, then down, and it's just awful! Truly awful.

It is the very first sight many people have of Liverpool. I've made that mistake with new visitors to Liverpool before, and the trick is to escort them from the station via the Lord Nelson Street Street exit , then you avoid the horror and the visitor can believe, for at least a few moments, that they have arrived in the grand, magical and mysterious city you have promised them.

I have long regarded that particular view as the achilles heel of Liverpool City Centre, it's a pivotal place, literally a gateway (a much abused term), and I'm afraid I don't regard current plans as remotely good enough. I want a low building in place of Concourse House, and I think that a replacement of St John's Precinct, including the beacon, car park and hotel, should be Priority No 1. All the attention is on the Riverfront now, and the Lime Street plateau is neglected. It's simpy disgraceful that serious mistakes of the 1960s are still hurting Liverpool 40 years later. That is a long time to live with a serious mistake without doing something about it.

If anyone visits this city and their experience is mediated by chewing gum on the pavement and litter more than other things, IMO lacks an imagination. Liverpool will be wasted on them. If anyone can look up Bold Street, and not see St Lukes and appreciate the many interesting buildings in their line of vision ..., well, I'll leave that to your imagination. Heaven help them if they ever visit New York City!

Banal.

Have you been taking John-MK injections?

If anyone visits this city and their experience is mediated by chewing gum on the pavement and litter more than other things, IMO lacks an imagination. Liverpool will be wasted on them. If anyone can look up Bold Street, and not see St Lukes and appreciate the many interesting buildings in their line of vision ..., well, I'll leave that to your imagination. Heaven help them if they ever visit New York City!

So you don't mind the problem you just don't like people mentioning it?

You don't work in Middle management do you?

Have you been taking John-MK injections?

:lol: Wouldn't be at all surprised to find that we're related in an L8 kind of way. :nuts: :nuts: :crazy2:

So you don't mind the problem you just don't like people mentioning it?

You don't work in Middle management do you?

erm... interesting inference. Your interpretation was not the one I was trying to elicit but to answer it, I don't really mind the problem, don't mind people mentioning it. Having said that, if I were going to start a thread on a subforum, for example, gifting the citizens of Birmingham with my impressions of their city having just got off a train at Moor Stree and walked up to the Town Hall, even if I saw chewing gum and litter and was extremely distressed by how it let the city down, I'd like to think I might have the wit not to mention it unless I had other fish to fly.

Very unlikely that I will ever work in middle management.

Be good to keep this as a sticky and restricted 'our' input, allow the thoughts of visitors to come to the fore. We see things every day and some things become invisible to us, the visitor sees things from a different perspective.

Bammy, the Sunday point is relevant, that's a consequence of having a 'city centre' approach to down town and specifically having an almost exclusive retail only district. I'd argue that we don't need malls however, but reinstating proper streets would help.

To Liverpool8 .. My overall impression of liverpool was very positive
and not determined by the amount of litter and gum on the pavements.However i think cleanliness is an important aspect to any city and would help to reinforce the grandeur and wealth of some of Liverpools beautiful buildings . ... maybe your tired of hearing that but i thought you maybe interested in views from visitors
. I didnt know zero tolerance was in place but i'm all for that as long as its action and not words.

Be good to keep this as a sticky and restricted 'our' input, allow the thoughts of visitors to come to the fore. We see things every day and some things become invisible to us, the visitor sees things from a different perspective.

Bammy, the Sunday point is relevant, that's a consequence of having a 'city centre' approach to down town and specifically having an almost exclusive retail only district. I'd argue that we don't need malls however, but reinstating proper streets would help.


I like this idea - especially if it were possible to incorporate a measure of whether the post was helpful or not. Amazon does this really well with reviews of CDs, movies etc. Maybe I'm an out and out cynic but reading posts in the SSC skybar and the current Leeds - Manchester hissy fit on the Leeds forum makes me very suspicious of threads such as this one. An official Liverpool guestbook (or Liverpool City Region) sounds a great idea.

The city has a zero tolerance attitude towads litter with on the spot liitter fines.

Do you even live in Liverpool?

There was ONE day last year I think when the council sent undercover litter police out onto the streets and if they saw anyone drop any litter, they were stopped and fined. One man got fined £100 for droping a match stick.

But this was just one day, it never happens any other time - the streets are testament to this!

thinkbigleeds - thanks for your comments. Glad your overall impressions were good.

Views like this are really important. It's easy for us to 'big up' our own city, but the views of visitors are far more important.

I think it is an excellent idea to make this a sticky so we can slowly add some thoughts as and when.

One thing I was thinking about the other day... not to defend trolling like... but quite often when others react to something written here they think it is groundless gloating or hyperbole, simply because they are ignorant of the city's history and former pre-eminence... because nobody has told them.

Think about this, as it involves another major moan we have in this city, i.e. no media, nobody to tell the story of the city to the world, so is it a surprise that even those just down the M62 are unaware of the city's history and special qualities? Granada and BBC Manc tell nobody!

There is a great story there, and we could use this thread to explore this tale sometimes.

An important part of the city's recent history, directly contributing to it's cataustrophic post war decline can be partly discovered in tis book
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0954687191/qid%3D1146827103/sr%3D1-27/ref%3Dsr%5F1%5F2%5F27/203-1937436-7904703

So many people's impressions about Liverpool have been shaped by those subsequent problems... and are still played out today... as we have seen recently.