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#everysinglestreet [08/07/21] Upper Stanhope Street and the ghost of the Toxteth riots

Graham Holland        

This week marks 40 years since the Toxteth riots. On 3rd July 1981 police stopped a motorcyclist on Melbourne Street. A crowd gathered and within minutes there was a major disturbance in which three police officers were injured and a local man, Leroy Cooper, arrested for assault. The following evening the police mounted extra patrols which were met with crowds armed with bricks and petrol bombs. 

What followed were nine days of violence and disorder which ended with one person dead, hundreds of police and public injured, CS gas used on the mainland for the first time, 500 arrests, and 70 buildings destroyed. The total damage was estimated at £11m. 

Most of the rioting took place in the Granby triangle, but it was the destruction of one building in particular – The Rialto – that became the most visible symbol of the Toxteth riots. 

chesterwalls.info/gallery/riot7.html

The Rialto stood at the junction of Upper Parliament Street and Princes Road. Opened in 1927, it was home to a cinema, ballroom (The Beatles played here numerous times), and cafe. It closed in 1964 and was a furniture warehouse called Swainbank’s when it was burned down in 1981.

You can read more about The Uprising of Liverpool 8 – Forty Years On here.

Rialto House now stands where The Rialto used to be. The former bank building opposite it on Berkley Street replaced the bank that was destroyed in the riots. The new building was a novelty as it was the first drive-through bank in the city. 

There’s a memorial to Florence Nightingale at the junction of Upper Parliament Street and Princes Road. It’s on the external wall of Nightingale House, originally built for the Liverpool Queen Victoria District Nursing Association.

Other notable buildings at this end of Princes Road include the Greek Orthodox Church of St Nicholas, the Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre, St Margaret’s Toxteth, Streatlam Tower, and Princes Road Synagogue. 

My dad’s paternal grandparents lived at 123 Upper Stanhope Street, on the corner with Barkley Street. On the other corner 125 is still standing, but there’s now only a plot of wasteland where 123 used to be. 

One notable resident of Upper Stanhope Street was Alois Hitler Jr, half brother of Adolf Hitler. The location, 102 Upper Stanhope Street, no longer exists after it was destroyed by a German bomb. 

Toxteth Library is at the end of Windsor Street. Dating from 1902, this Grade II listed building was designed by Thomas Shelmerdine, the same architect who designed Everton Library and the Hornby Library.

Winners Chapel International Liverpool is based in a dreary brick building on Upper Stanhope Street. They describe themselves as “a faith-based, bible-believing church”.

Toxteth TV on Windsor Street is an independent commercial TV studio, providing space for YouTubers, independent film makers, companies, and community groups. The space contains a retro gaming arcade, VHS hire shop, and a full scale replica of the Little Shop of Horrors.

Also on Windsor Street is the St James Mission Hall. Built as (not surprisingly) a mission hall in 1889, it’s since been the offices of Toxteth TV and a law centre. It’s now a community hub and gallery. Another multi-purpose community arts and culture space is John Archer Hall in the former Windsor Street Council School building. 

I’d heard about Squash but never passed it before. Squash Liverpool is a CIC (Community Interest Company) “committed to affecting creative, participatory, positive social change in our neighbourhood”. Their community-designed building (winner of the People’s Prize in the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products Awards), opened in 2018, has space for events and workshops, meeting and office rooms, and a food garden. The affordable, sustainable, ingredients-based food shop won Best Shop in the BBC Food and Farming Awards 2019.

On Bluefields Street I stopped to take a photo of a group of pigeons having breakfast on the pavement. At roof level there were two gulls, one on each chimney stack, having a rather vocal conversation. I was passed by Alice who was also intrigued by the gulls and stopped to take a video too. 

There are lots of former pubs in this area, most of them on street corners. When these pubs were built the whole area would have been terraced streets. In 2001 five people were shot inside a packed Alexandra Hotel. 

Stats

  • Thursday 8th July 2021
  • 23 streets
    Alex Close, Arnold Crescent, Berkley Street, Blair Street, Bluefields Street, Carter Street, Chesterfield Street, Chester Street, Corinto Street, Dexter Street, Emerson Street, Gibson Road, Hampton Street, Head Street, Lestock Street, Pomfret Street, Rialto Close, Sandino Street, South Chester Street, Tace Close, Thackeray Close, Upper Hill Street, Upper Stanhope Street
  • Total: 4,144 (72.92%)
  • Remaining: 1,539

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To view them click here.

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Great North Run

I’m running the Great North Run for the first time on Sunday 12th September, raising money for Alzheimer’s Research UK. My mum has Alzheimers so this charity is close to my heart. If you can spare a couple of quid to help me reach my target I would be extremely grateful.

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