King Street in Wallasey is sandwiched between a massive development project at Wirral Waters and the new Eureka! museum at Seacombe on one side and a revamped New Brighton and its gateway road along Seabank at the other.
This "forgotten" road that many will agree has been declining has some new champions who are trying to bring back a sense of community and encourage investment.
While there may have been a will for residents, businesses, Wirral Counci l and its councillors to see the street fulfill its potential, the real catalyst for the area has come via a six-strong group of residents headed up by Maria Kershaw.
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The 62-year-old has run a newsagent on King Street for more than 30 years and says she could "write a book" about all the comings and goings along the road over the years.
She said: "I had come to a point where the levels of antisocial behaviour had become too much and police advised me to start a residents association.
"I had never done anything like this before and had a lot of help from other groups and officers in the council."
A little over three years ago The Voice of Egremont Residents & Tenants Association was created to bring back pride in the area.
Like many parts of Wirral along the east coast, in the 1800s King Street was a key area for the trade, commerce and tourism along the River.
The street was lined with shops - many of the buildings still intact today - and there was a tram service.
Also like many parts along the east side, King Street suffered as the manufacturing industries of the 60s melted away.
A building collapse in 2014 was symbolic of the neglect the street had endured as shops closed and the Victorian homes fell into disrepair.
But things look, literally, a little brighter now as the residents association has worked hard to raise money to have Christmas lights on every lamppost.
Maria said: "We do have a lot of HMOs now [homes of multiple occupancy] where shops once stood, but most of them are fine and Magenta [Wirral-based housing association] work with us, even allowing us to take over a corner of their land for us to care for and they contributed towards the cost of the lights alongside other businesses and councillors.
"This street has been forgotten about in the past, nobody cared about it and nothing was getting done, I have seen it decline so much over the 30 years.
"I remember standing outside my shop at 5.30am, waiting for the first customer of the day and watching a young man walk down the road who looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"And I just thought we needed lights, to even brighten just one person's day."
Maria fundraised tirelessly with the rest of the team and said she was "blown away" by the response from the community.
She said: "The response has been amazing, I have seen people stopping with their children to take pictures, and it is so lovely to see after all these years.
"And it seems like such a small thing, but it has a knock-on effect, not just to encourage investment and other businesses into the area, it makes people talk to each other, especially for the elderly and vulnerable who could be on their own.
"One woman said when her mum saw the lights, she cried."
Leader of Wirral Council and ward councillor Janette Williamson said: "Maria came to one of my surgeries three years ago to raise issues with HMOs and antisocial behaviour and we started working together.
"We helped in any way we could, I helped secure some money from my own council budget and we helped them adopt a piece of land at the end of King Street on Seabank Road.
"But they are the group behind all the changes, they are the ones who show the power of community."
Asked if there is criticism of leaving improvements to the community, Janette said: "People know council resources are dwindling and I don't necessarily think people want the council to come in and do things.
"But this is defiantly not just about telling them to just crack on with it.
"The local community are the ones who are best placed to understand what they need.
"Yes, some of the changes are cosmetic, but I think it is symbolic of a community that takes pride in their area and it is through effective changes like this that will improve the area."
Recently, the residents association organised a trip to see Blackpool lights with families from the area who otherwise might have not been able to afford it.
Maria said: "We only charged £10 a seat and people were paying it off £1 a week, but I had been fundraising and when they got on the coach, they all got envelopes with their money back."
Maria said the residents association is always looking for more volunteers and added: "We have our social problems just like anywhere else, but there is such a deep sense of community here.
"The way the everyone came together to fund the lights, the Vaults Pub raised so much money, I even had kids coming up to me with money.
"I can just see this getting bigger and bigger and better for King Street and the people of Egremont."
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