It's a city centre street everyone in Liverpool has walked down and Church Street is known for many things.
Situated in the heart of the city centre, Church Street is now home to the likes of Primark, M&S and River Island, but it wasn’t always filled with shoppers.
The street comes from humble beginnings with horses and carriages and church-goers more likely to be found wandering around than people carrying shopping bags.
READ MORE: Changing face of Liverpool's quirkiest street
Over the years the iconic street has been a go-to place for shoppers, whether it’s been them nipping into Littlewoods, Woolworths and George Henry Lee or coming to see the street’s enormous Christmas tree each December.
Nowadays, you will find hundreds of shoppers moving through the hustle and bustle of Church Street, passing by the man in the multicoloured suit and admiring the talented performers making their own stage in the centre.
But what used to stand on Church Street? And how did it get its name?
Looking back at a selection of fascinating images , it's clear to see Church Street has always taken pride of place in the city, as a home to high street names, buskers and performers.
The photos show Church Street in the 1940s with a horse and carriage and a tramcar in view, the street in 1962 filled with cars, buses and shoppers outside Marks & Spencer, and even the former Littlewoods, which is now occupied by Primark, in 1977 with bustling trade outside.
Church Street has seen some of the most well-loved, and well-missed, retailers come and go in its long history.
Perhaps the most well known of them all was George Henry Lee, which was founded by Henry Bowell Lee in 1853 as a bonnet warehouse in Basnett Street.
In 1940 the renowned chain was sold to John Lewis but it wasn’t until 1961, that John Lewis took over their neighbouring store Bon Marche, facing onto Church Street, that the company merged it into George Henry Lee. In 2002 the store changed its name to John Lewis until the store made the move to Liverpool ONE in 2008.
T he ECHO has launched a new 8-page nostalgia section in print every Wednesday. You can order a copy here.
Hendersons opened its doors on Church Street in 1924 and operated there until they were bought out by Harrods in 1948. Eleven years later, Harrods was sold to House of Fraser.
However, the story of Hendersons will always be linked to tragedy. On June 22, 1960, 11 people were killed when a fire ripped through the building. The shop was rebuilt after the fire and two years later it reopened its doors.
In 1975 the store rebranded as Binns which remained on the road until it closed in the 1980s.
Woolworths is another name closely associated with Church Street. Known to many as “woolies”, the iconic store sold everything from clothing and books to games and chocolate fountains.
The ‘80s saw the rise of Chelsea Girl, which was based in the building that is now home to River Island. Chelsea Girl was a huge hit during the 80’s and known for stocking all the latest trends.
In more recent years Church Street has seen the arrival of huge names such as Primark, River Island, Kurt Geiger, Pandora and even Next, which loved the street so much that even when it closed its doors it just moved down the road.
An iconic street throughout the city, Church Street took its name, aptly, from the church that once stood on it.
St Peter’s Church once stood where the entrance to Liverpool ONE is now - and it wasn’t just any church either, it was actually Liverpool’s Anglican pro-cathedral, a church that serves as a temporary cathedral while the true one is being built.
The church was opened in 1704, but became the seat of the Bishop in 1880 when the Bishopric of Liverpool was created by Queen Victoria at the same time that that town was granted city status, according to Chris Cannon of Hidden Liverpool .
Explore the past: Get free access to our archive of thousands of photos taken as far back as 1878 with Memory Lane
In 1919, the Anglican Church sold the land occupied by St Peter’s church to Liverpool Corporation to build funds for the new cathedral - it was then sold on to Woolworths.
St Peter’s Church was demolished in 1922 - but that doesn’t mean all traces of the church have been lost.
There are several subtle hints to the church’s existence along Church Street, including the names of the surrounding streets such as Church Alley and Peter’s Lane.
The throughway to Peter’s Lane from Church Street is even called Keys Court, a reference to the Keys of St Peter - and if you look high above the entrance to Keys Court nowadays, you’ll see a carving of those very keys.
For anyone seeking to look even closer, there’s an even smaller indication of the church’s existence hidden on the flagstones of Church Street.
Embedded in the pavement outside of Keys Court, there is a small brass cross, made from melted-down altar rails of the demolished church - which marks the entrance to the church in years gone by.
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