[Cardenio123]

I'm opposed to the wanton harvesting of decent buildings for crappy new ones but when discussing the lower end of London Road specifically I can't think of much there worth preserving. Perhaps the pub is worth keeping, has anybody been in there? It doesn't look too inviting hopefully a larger student population in that area will alter the custom. That building next to the computer shop is okay but isn't it already earmarked for demolition? I suppose that's a shame in the same way that we lost all of those buildings on Commutation Row. I'd happily take a new build with clean lines in this location over and above the tat that's there at the moment; clearly though I'd prefer it to be better quality than most recent developments in the city.

 

[B&I]

I'm opposed to the wanton harvesting of decent buildings for crappy new ones but when discussing the lower end of London Road specifically I can't think of much there worth preserving. Perhaps the pub is worth keeping, has anybody been in there? It doesn't look too inviting hopefully a larger student population in that area will alter the custom. That building next to the computer shop is okay but isn't it already earmarked for demolition? I suppose that's a shame in the same way that we lost all of those buildings on Commutation Row. I'd happily take a new build with clean lines in this location over and above the tat that's there at the moment; clearly though I'd prefer it to be better quality than most recent developments in the city.

Those newbuilds with clean lines just aren't on the horizon. While the aesthetic quality of new buildings has in general.improved in recent years, some of what is being built in Liverpool still looks like, and is, cheap rubbish eg Lime Street.

Re London Road below Norton Street, the only worthwhile buildings left on the north side are the one housing the computer repairers (great blokes, btw, thoroughly recommend them) and the pub. The south side, though, is an unspectacular, neglected but fundamentally decent line of (mostly) 19th century buildings, easily capsble of renovation. There is buckets of space for new buildings with clean lines, including just yards away.

 

[Liverpool1207]

Another long time empty unit has had contractors in off and on over the last few weeks, again today, the former Freshway store on the right-hand side going out of town

 

[Liverpool1207]

Another long time empty unit has had contractors in off and on over the last few weeks, again today, the former Freshway store on the right-hand side going out of town

Looks close to opening, but the one further down, old Picture House 'CostCutter' looks as if it may have closed..
DSC_4342 by R S, on Flickr

 

[mmcd]

This section of London road now has to be the city centre's most depressing strip.

 

[Scarecrow]

The architecture might be turd, but as long as they're providing what the local community needs..

The proprietors of Best-One aren't likely to be in the business of knocking down shite, but they'll at least smarten up that stretch of streetscape, provide some jobs and provide for the locals who wanna read shite like the Echo!

 

[mmcd]

Is this what the locals want? Who are the locals these days who want what’s on this strip of decay? It desperately needs investment.

 

[Scarecrow]

A paper, pack of smokes and some knock-off Red Bull shite before they go to work? If they're anything like me, then yeah.

 

[Scarecrow]

Michael, I'm not having a dig, but things take time. This area had its arse ripped out and the population was replaced with tarmac and grass verges. With the student stuff going up further down the street, there will be possibilities for real regeneration of this area, just not in the current climate. We'd all love to see a vibrant London Road, but unless there's a local population to sustain it, it isn't gonna happen. The numbers just don't add up.

However, if the government or one of their crony groups were willing to pump-prime it..

 

[mmcd]

It's ok, this is a discussion and of course things take time, but, the era in which this area was decimated is long behind the city and there has been a series of cycles of regeneration across central Liverpool which this area, like Lime St (ION) has fallen through the cracks of continuously. There is a population nearby of not only students but ever more commuters and those using the hotels and air bnb's popping up nearby.

What I think is needed is a total wrecking ball to a lot of this to compliment the clear ramp up in density that is eating around the edges of this section of London Road.

Without however some serious focus on tidying this area up I fear it will again fail to organically evolve and people will bypass it as they do now because it offers literally nothing to anyone except a cheap box of **** and a paper.

Given it's location this should be so much more and it is still a key bus thoroughfare so there really is no excuse for the state this area is in and the total lack of effort business and property owners have put into the place.

 

[gazzaa2]

It's ok, this is a discussion and of course things take time, but, the era in which this area was decimated is long behind the city and there has been a series of cycles of regeneration across central Liverpool which this area, like Lime St (ION) has fallen through the cracks of continuously. There is a population nearby of not only students but ever more commuters and those using the hotels and air bnb's popping up nearby.

What I think is needed is a total wrecking ball to a lot of this to compliment the clear ramp up in density that is eating around the edges of this section of London Road.

Without however some serious focus on tidying this area up I fear it will again fail to organically evolve and people will bypass it as they do now because it offers literally nothing to anyone except a cheap box of **** and a paper.

Given it's location this should be so much more and it is still a key bus thoroughfare so there really is no excuse for the state this area is in and the total lack of effort business and property owners have put into the place.

I think this should be the priority rather than Williamson Square which is what it is really. WS might be a dive but the problem with it is low quality shops and businesses (Pound Cafes and bookmakers) but it's not a complete tip like this stretch.

It gives a terrible impression and is only a minute from Lime Street station and is the main walk up to the Knowledge Quarter from the station.

We don't have to just accept this kind of decay anymore. Look at Edge Lane which looked like a war torn ghetto a decade ago (the main road into the city centre off the motorway) and has improved immeasurably since at least.

 

[Pietari]

With the population aound London road having been shredded + the inner city road way that is Islington. London road is the little more than an into + out off way to, well, not want to be there. My mothers generation that shopped in TJ Hughes + the small market on that way into town first before walking down to St John's + browsing along the way are dead. Some pleasant pubs perhaps slowing the walk down. Seymour Street is just another large junction of nothing. Either London road progressively residential or the University moves in completely swamping the area with new facilities. The street Scape is neither this nor that. Alternatively two or three mini talls at the cross roads to provide some definition + footfall. When the old Royal closes there will be even less reason to be in the area...

 

[Liverpool1207]

The small unit sandwiched between what was The Picturehouse and then a convenience store (now closed), and The Paramount is being stripped out today.

Up on Pembroke Place the corner unit of Pembroke House is now being prepped (did someone mention a Chinese restaurant?)

 

[Tent City]

Chinese eatery, Good Taste, opening on London Rd.

 

[openlyJane]

Interesting to see the complexion of the area gradually change. Immigrants, especially, offer a lot to run down areas.

Noticed this Shisha shop on London Rd:









.....and interesting to see how this row of old shop units is taking shape:



.. a charity that supports the families of murder victims; along with a print/media communications service offering translation facilities

 

[CGV11]

That first pic actually makes London Road look good! Not sure if that's truly the reality or more your superb photography skills. I also agree that immigrants are playing a huge part in bringing some life and entrepreneurship to the area.

 

[Keayman]

I can remember London Road as a thriving shopping area for the locals and other shopper alike. Lots of Menswear stores and a number of pubs just from Norton st down. I notice the retail units under the building that replaced Colliers have never taken off.

 

[gazzaa2]

That first pic actually makes London Road look good! Not sure if that's truly the reality or more your superb photography skills. I also agree that immigrants are playing a huge part in bringing some life and entrepreneurship to the area.

And that's only because it's not London Road

Pembroke Place is okay. London Road an absolute tip that frankly needs knocking down and starting again, be it for commercial, leisure, education or residential/mixed use.

 

[openlyJane]

That first pic actually makes London Road look good! Not sure if that's truly the reality or more your superb photography skills. I also agree that immigrants are playing a huge part in bringing some life and entrepreneurship to the area.

No, it actually doesn't look too bad in that section - and improving.

 

[B&I]

I wish we were seeing something a bit more material (bddm) in the Fabric District. The student gaffs going up along Islington are a start, but there really needs to be more to draw people into that area. A couple of hotels wouldn't go amiss, bearing mind the proximity of Lime Street, or some university facilities or commercial developments. That will increase throughput around the London Road and make it a more desirable place to do business.