Fred Risk remembers the shops on Wavertree Road when he was growing up
Resource Type: Audio | Posted on 13th March 2012 by Liam Physick
Fred Risk remembers how he was born in Gourley Road, and how he would come with his mother from Cicely Street, where she lived, to Wavertree Road. There were many shops on Wavertree Road in those days, including Woolworth’s and Stairer’s. Fred also mentions “the church at the top” of Wavertree Road, presumably St. Dunstan’s (though St. Dunstan’s is actually located in Earle Road), and Picton Clock. The Church of St. Dunstan, an Anglican Church, was consecrated on 18th May 1889, built by Aldridge and Deacon for the Earle family. The Picton Clock Tower stands at the junction of Childwall Road, Church Road North and the High Street. It was designed by James Picton, a prominent architect, antiquary, Liverpool councillor and member of the Wavertree Local Board of Health, as a memorial to his wife Sarah Pooley, who had died in 1879, five years before the Tower was completed. Picton chose its location so it could be seen by as many people as possible, and it was featured on the opening credits of the now-defunct soap opera Brookside
Interviewee: Fred Risk
Interviewee Gender: Male
Date of Interview: 16th February 2012
Interview Transcript
Jenny: Where were you born, Fred?
Fred: In Liverpool, in Gourley Road in, off Mill Lane.
Jenny: OK. And . . . what are your memories of the area or the station, did, did you ever come down here as a child?
Fred: Not as child, I never came to the station as a child because it, I used to come to Wavertree Road with my mother to my grandmother’s, she lived in Cicely Street, and, and, and she died there and, so we didn’t come down as often then after that, but I, I got a bit older then so, I, I’d stay at home while they came down here! (laughs) But, you know what I mean, Wavertree Road, you couldn’t hardly, you could hardly walk down the pavement, there were so many people on a Saturday, and the shops were down both sides, but it was strange that from Tunnel Road, up to St., the church at the top, the shops across did quite well there, but beyond, down past Tunnel Road, towards Picton Clock, the shops never did any, didn’t seem to do well at all . . .
Jenny: Oh, yeah.
Fred: . . . and there was a Woolworth’s in, in Wavertree Road, there was a Stirler’s that took cheques for people who used to buy, used that sort of thing, and it was a quite a, quite a busy shopping centre, really, then it gradually dropped off and, much as it is now, half the shops were shut up and locked (Jenny tuts), which is a shame.
Categorised under: Shops & Shopping
Comments
the church at the top is probably st Marys edge hill, this seen locally as top of wavertree road.