A Victorian village at the centre of a viral TikTok video offers a window into the past.
Tucked off Long Lane in Aintree, you’ll find the remains of Harley’s Jam empire. Hartley’s Village was built by William Hartley in 1886 when he moved his jam making business to Liverpool and was designed to be self contained.
Mr Hartley was a staunch Methodist and strongly believed in improving the living and working conditions of his workers. He built 49 houses for his employees on streets named after ingredients used in jam making - from Sugar Street to Cherry Avenue and Spice Lane.
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Since the Grade II listed factory's closure in the mid-1960, elements of the village have been lost, including factory roofs – and Mr Hartley’s own villa on Long Lane. The square behind the houses was once home to tennis courts and a bowling for the workers to enjoy, which have now been tarmacked over.
The surviving parts of the factory are now derelict apart from garages which partially occupy the building. It forms part of a conservation area along with the former worker's houses which have retained their charm and character.
Alex, who runs the LivingLiverpoolTour account on TikTok, recently took a look around Hartley’s Village in a video that racked up over 54,000 views.
Alex told the ECHO: "I’ve driven down that road lots of times but didn’t know there was this little model village there. For me it’s that bit of intrigue - there’s probably people who are familiar with the area and didn’t know that was there.
"It’s a residential street now. The cottages are really pretty and there’s something different about them. The factory itself has definitely seen better days but the houses are beautiful.
"My main aim is to reveal enough information to make people interested but not everything so you never need to visit it. I want you to see the video thinking 'I want to go see it for myself.'”
